Thor

Strike two!

Okay, it was slightly better but not by all that much. Thor is a passable movie, it sets up the lore and characters we'll see time and again no doubt in future films, but there were things that irked me. Positives first, Chris Hemsworth can act when necessary I mean he has that bravado and strong prescence but when Loki lies about his father's death Chris actually does really good work. I love the aesthetic and design of Asgard, though it reminded me a bit of Gallifrey. I think Sif was the most interesting and cool character but she didn't have much to do. And I have to say Tom Hiddleston delivers a strong first outing and I'm genuinely curious to see how he evolves through the series. But that's about it. Now the story is sort of middle ground not much good and not much bad, with Thor disregarding his father Odin's wishes and starts up a real shit storm with the Game Of Thrones looking Frost Giants, that gets him banished from Asgard and stripped of his powers. What then follows is a lot of meandering on Earth as apparently Thor's strongheaded, vain, and totally egotistical persona gets mellowed out in 2 days by hanging out and making eggs with Natalie Portman, with little interesting character motivations or history from any main players during this time on Earth while Loki crafts and decieves his way to the throne of Asgard which is a way more interesting and entertaining story. I'm sorry, but I am so not a fan of fish out of water stories, and the movie doesn't even clock in 2 hours with credits but it feels a touch padded. The action is serviceable, the humor didn't do much for me, and the characters were more miss than hit. Now do I like the mythology of the nine realms and how everything is connected? Yes, but this movie didn't come up with it you know. I'm a bit rusty on my Norse mythology but I appreciated the terms and references in dialogue that I caught. This director though, ugh this director is ass. If I had a damn dollar every single time this movie had a dutch angle in it, I would have enough money to live on for the rest of the year! I felt like I was right back in Battlefield Earth, not a good f***ing move, but please continue to take notes from it. In fact I feel I should quote a much better film critic because it feels so appropriate, "The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why.". It was so goddamn aggravating! Put the f***ing camera on a flat level plane, it does not give your movie substance, it does not give your movie style, you look like an utter twat! 2 stars, 5.5/10, if I think Reb Brown is a better Captain America than Chris Evans I am done with these movies.