![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexA solid 4 out of 5. Most of the cast of the first movie return and the movie does a good job of telling more of their story as well as developing the characters. The extra lift this movie gets is largely from Anthony Hopkins (Odin) and Rene Russo (Frigga) both of whom knock it out of the park in their pivotal roles. Christopher Eccleston also turns in an excellent performance as an over-the-top yet out-of-his-depth villain.
The first Thor movie was largely about a god finding his humanity. This movie is about him coming into his own as he's forced to deal not just with his own limits but with the death of his mother. That he does so in tandem with Loki makes the movie stronger, as you get to see the two men's different-yet-similar responses. When Loki hisses "Trust my rage" it feels entirely right. Kudos to both Tom Hiddleston as Loki and the screenwriters for getting that emotional high point spot on.
To get there Frigga has to die, and frankly that surprised me. Her fight with Malekith is fantastic - she was clearly going to kick his ass the way an Asgardian queen ought to. Her range of interactions with everyone from Odin to her sons to Portman's Jane Foster felt good and true and unforced. There's an exchange I can't remember the exact wording of between her and Odin where she expresses concern about him going into battle and he says something about "after all these years you still worry about my safety", to which she replies something to the effect of "it's because I worry that we've been together all these years." I want that exchange on a poster or T shirt, and I totally want Russo to get a Best Supporting for her work.
Speaking of Odin, wow he is so much better. I found Odin disappointing in the first Thor movie because Hopkins is so good as a close-up actor and I thought he was lost in the fat suit. This movie gives him a lot more face-time on screen and a better make-up job; the result is a brilliant performance. The Odin of legend (and sometimes the comics) was a brutal and stubborn man with no room for compromise except when he found some, somewhere. This is that Odin brought to life on the screen and I loved it.
The thing(s) I didn't love, which I thought brought the movie down, were the over-the-top screwball attempts at comedy. I cringed every time Erik Selvig or Darcy Lewis were on screen. It's hard to do humor well in the middle of a serious movie but it can be done. Resorting to vaudevillian buffoonery just seemed out of place. There were honestly good bits of humor, such at the Foster-Odin "not a goat" exchange, and I felt the movie would have been stronger if they'd used more integral humor and left out the slapstick.
Finally, I want to give extra kudos both to the fight coordinators and the make-up guys. From what I've read the Kurse villain suit was like 40 pounds, but it looked, felt, and moved in natural and scary ways. Props to Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje for carrying that off. And I've written before about how hard I think it is to visualize properly what a super-powered being fight ought to look like. This movie carried that off extremely well, from the first scenes with Thor versus the giant to the climactic battles at the end. I have some quibbles with the way plot timing was handled, but they're quibbles - overall the punch-ups were good and that's an important part of any superhero movie.
The first Thor movie was largely about a god finding his humanity. This movie is about him coming into his own as he's forced to deal not just with his own limits but with the death of his mother. That he does so in tandem with Loki makes the movie stronger, as you get to see the two men's different-yet-similar responses. When Loki hisses "Trust my rage" it feels entirely right. Kudos to both Tom Hiddleston as Loki and the screenwriters for getting that emotional high point spot on.
To get there Frigga has to die, and frankly that surprised me. Her fight with Malekith is fantastic - she was clearly going to kick his ass the way an Asgardian queen ought to. Her range of interactions with everyone from Odin to her sons to Portman's Jane Foster felt good and true and unforced. There's an exchange I can't remember the exact wording of between her and Odin where she expresses concern about him going into battle and he says something about "after all these years you still worry about my safety", to which she replies something to the effect of "it's because I worry that we've been together all these years." I want that exchange on a poster or T shirt, and I totally want Russo to get a Best Supporting for her work.
Speaking of Odin, wow he is so much better. I found Odin disappointing in the first Thor movie because Hopkins is so good as a close-up actor and I thought he was lost in the fat suit. This movie gives him a lot more face-time on screen and a better make-up job; the result is a brilliant performance. The Odin of legend (and sometimes the comics) was a brutal and stubborn man with no room for compromise except when he found some, somewhere. This is that Odin brought to life on the screen and I loved it.
The thing(s) I didn't love, which I thought brought the movie down, were the over-the-top screwball attempts at comedy. I cringed every time Erik Selvig or Darcy Lewis were on screen. It's hard to do humor well in the middle of a serious movie but it can be done. Resorting to vaudevillian buffoonery just seemed out of place. There were honestly good bits of humor, such at the Foster-Odin "not a goat" exchange, and I felt the movie would have been stronger if they'd used more integral humor and left out the slapstick.
Finally, I want to give extra kudos both to the fight coordinators and the make-up guys. From what I've read the Kurse villain suit was like 40 pounds, but it looked, felt, and moved in natural and scary ways. Props to Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje for carrying that off. And I've written before about how hard I think it is to visualize properly what a super-powered being fight ought to look like. This movie carried that off extremely well, from the first scenes with Thor versus the giant to the climactic battles at the end. I have some quibbles with the way plot timing was handled, but they're quibbles - overall the punch-ups were good and that's an important part of any superhero movie.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-12-02 08:41 pm (UTC)OTOH, Darcy is my favorite character. She only disappointed me once, and that was having to be saved from the dark elves by her intern. *She* should have saved *him*. But really, that's my only quibble about her. And her "Hi Mjolnir!" was perfect.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-02 08:50 pm (UTC)Oh, wait, wrong movie. :-)
no subject
Date: 2013-12-03 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-03 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-05 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-05 03:27 am (UTC)