Black Lagoon review on Monday. I'll try to get through all these if I can, but I'm not putting up too much hope on getting the first season of Agents of Shield done. Maybe, we will see. I don't know how much I get paid today though if we are quick we may be able to get it next week. We will see. That being said, we will be getting the movies done most likely. We will finish Captain America next Wednesday, Avengers next Friday, Iron Man 3 the 15th, Thor Dark World on the 20th, Captain America Winter Soldier on the 24th, and Guardians of the Galaxy on the 29th. If I can get through the first season during this month, I'll throw in a review in between all the movies. Then come May, opening night, we will be going to Avengers Age of Ultron. Don't expect a review of it right away though as I will be working as well. If asked I'll do a review that Saturday, if not expect it Monday. Okay let's begin all of this.
Thor Review
Captain America Winter Soldier Review
Guardians of the Galaxy Review
WARNING spoilers WARNING
So the plot is that the Norse god of thunder is an alien. Odin is going to pass on the throne to Thor, but suddenly frost giants attack trying to steal a special artifact however they are destroyed by a powerful guardian armor. Thor seems to want to go to war with the giants, but Odin tells him he isn't king yet. Loki convinces Thor to go to the Frost Giant planet, and they go fighting. After a large battle, Odin steps in to save Thor, Loki, Warriors Three, and Sif. Thor for punishment is then banished to Earth without his powers, and a spell is put on his hammer that whoever be worthy can lift the hammer and become Thor. The original Thor runs into scientists or is run over by them and a bit of comedy comes from it. The hammer however lands and a bunch of rednecks are trying to lift it and failing. Then Agent Coulsen and Shield show up and set up a base over the hammer. Jane Foster, the head researcher who ran into, or over, Thor when he fell as a human has all her things stolen by Shield, and they help release Thor feeding him and trying to figure out what it was like in the middle of that polar storm they were studying. Eventually Thor realizes he can't lift the hammer, Loki convinces him Odin is dead, and while Thor decides to live on Earth, the Warriors Three end up on Earth with Sif. They find Thor and tell him Odin lives and Loki is a liar. The Destroyer Armor is then sent to Earth by Loki. After some fight scenes, Thor regains the use of his hammer and destroys the armor. Thor and the Warriors Three along with Sif end up on Asgard and Thor confronts Loki. After a fight scene on the Bi Frost Bridge, Thor defeats Loki and destroys the bridge in an effort to save the frost giants as Loki was trying to destroy them all. Loki then flies off into space as Thor begins to live on Asgard while his love Jane Foster is stuck on Earth.
Is the plot good? Well it is okay. It is a bit convoluted despite the movie being a bit plot heavy. If you can keep track of everything though which on paper sounds worse then it is, then yeah the plot is pretty decent here. It is a story about redemption and learning what is important, which is love not war. There is a lot of magic/science fiction here which is pretty interesting. So yes I feel the plot is pretty good even if it is a bit convoluted.
Well this got mucked up. Let's start with Thor.
Thor starts out this movie as an arrogant warrior who'd rather wipe out an entire race then take an insult. He is banished to Earth where he continues to be arrogant up until he tries to lift his former hammer. Loki tells Thor that Odin is dead and Thor really begins to understand what a piece of work he has been. However, only movie minutes later after a night drinking and talking to Jane Foster Thor learns Odin wasn't dead. Thor is still a kinder soul now. This happens so fast it doesn't make his transformation believable in a few ways. On paper this all makes sense, but in the movie it literally happens as fast as could be which isn't good. Sometimes people need to simmer with the idea.
Loki is another shell of issues. It is never shown what motivates him making him seem like he is a little insane. Loki is shown to be a master mind, but it is never discussed what his true end goals are. He ruined his brother's big day and got his brother banished, nearly kills Odin and then destroys an entire planet all for... what proving he is the better man to be king? I think that is what is going on here, but I'm not sure how he thought he'd gotten away with it without killing Odin, unless he only spared Odin's life in an effort to discredit his brother perhaps? I'm not sure exactly what is exact plan is as it makes little sense at this point. Also almost directly after leaving Asgard, Loki is looking into the first infinity stone, so what is his plan exactly? This movie really leaves Loki as an enigma, which may be done on purpose, but they could have at least explained him a little better here in the movie.
Odin is an okay character, loving father and then he sleeps.
Jane Foster and her team are seen a bit more. They aren't bad characters but at times I think they are only there to further the plot. I see little reason for them to be there outside of "Thor needs humans to pal around with because plot demands it for him to learn". Jane Foster is a scientist who does little science outside of observing Thor. Eric is probably the better of the characters. The third one is a whiny kid I nearly forget is in the movie. These aren't bad characters, but there are times they don't feel as strong of characters as others.
Sif and the Warriors Three are friends of Thor and fighters. They are intelligent and can smell a plot from Loki pretty quickly, probably faster then Loki expected. They became a threat to him so he sent the Destroyer Armor to stop them from returning Thor as well as freezing Baldur. Baldur is a pretty decent character but he isn't seen much. Actually Sif and the Warriors Three aren't seen nearly as often either if I'm to be honest.
Characterization in this movie is scattered at times, as if it was rushed. This really hurts this movie as the side characters aren't that great outside of Hawkeye's cameo and Agent Coulson. Thor is a decent character and so is Loki, but their progression just doesn't seem to make sense or is just rushed. The good characters are hardly seen and the ones that are seen are either flawed or already a little mediocre.
So if the characters aren't good, can the emotional pull be good? Well the characters are good, just flawed in a serious manner. See, the emotional pull works out really well. Seeing Thor defeated by his own arrogance in the rain is a great scene as you feel for him despite him doing it himself. The humor in the movie is great excluding the "oh my god" eye roller near the end. The action is great. Loki is a great liar as you at times believe him if you've never seen the movie before. There is a lot of good emotional pull here mostly dealing with the Asgardians. Jane Foster, well you know why she is flirting for sure. Great emotions from action, to humor, to things in between.
The main issue I have with the scene quality is how much blue is in the Frost Giant planet. The setting there is so bland it is difficult to tell up from down in that fight scene when not looking at Thor or his colorful friends. None of the scenes or special effects look bad here, and Asgard is a great and well designed setting, but the town in New Mexico that Jane Foster is at? Boring. It is literally a street. I've lived and seen many small towns, but a street? There is literally no houses anywhere. The entire town focuses on Jane's lab. This is kind of cheap. Then as I said the Frost Giant's home is kind of bland as well. Great action scenes except the camera going back to Jane and Friends during the final fight with Loki which made little sense. It was the settings that really do harm to the scene quality though.
Based on a comic, there are a ton of creative liberties in this movie. The Destroyer is suppose to be armor worn and the wearer defenseless. Loki isn't suppose to act like he did. Donald Blake was an identity Thor had as a doctor. Jane Foster was also suppose to be working at a hospital. Still, the Destroyer is cool, Loki works for the most part excluding is overall plan, Donald Blake was used incredibly well, and Jane Foster worked in her own way plot wise though her character was a bit bland. All the creative liberties works in the movie and the costume designs and powers are ripped from the comics so yeah.
The final characterization for the main characters seems really rushed and the side characters aren't interesting enough or seen enough to carry the characters through to a better spot. Thor and Loki aren't bad characters, but they have huge issues with them. Also some of the settings brings down scene quality. Outside of those issues this movie isn't bad, with great action scenes, excellent emotional pull, a story that while convoluted is pretty good, and creativity that works in the movie's favor.
If you are looking for excellent characterization then look away from this movie. If you are looking for characters to care about no matter how bad their arc gets then look no further. If you are a Marvel fan check this movie out. If you haven't seen Avengers or this movie, watch this movie first. If you are on the fence about all of this, then try renting it.
Important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe because...
- Introduces Loki
- Introduces Thor
- Introduces Jane Foster
- Introduces Eric
- Connects to Iron Man 2 through Agent Coulson
- Introduces the Destroyer
- Destroyer destroyed on Earth
- Introduces the first view of the first Infinity Gem
- Shows Eric working with Shield to study the Infinity Gem
- Shows Loki knows about the Infinity Gem and has Loki watching over Eric maybe even manipulating him
- Destroys the Bi Frost
- Introduces Sif
- Introduces Warriors Three
- Thor sides with Earth and shows Shield that Thor is an ally
- Introduces Odin
- Introduces the spell that makes only worthy people move Thor's hammer