MCU Sunday #4: Thor

 

Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the fourth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

MCU Sunday Part IV:

Casting got serious for Marvel Studios after Iron Man 2.  According to the previously mentioned book MCU (see previous entries), the studio wanted long term commitments because Robert Downey, Jr. had used his prestige from the hit title role to get a bigger payday in future entries. So the studio started looking at the bottom line and negotiating long term contracts, with an eye for future movies either with the individual as a solo in a superhero movie by himself (or herself) or as part of an entourage (ala the future Avengers series that was still forthcoming in the narrative.)

Thor had a who's who of possibilities to play the title role as the banished Asgardian.  Many of those would manage to go on to get different roles in the Marvel Comics Universe, but the one that stuck out to me when I read it was.... Daniel Craig.  Daniel Craig?  Yes, he had the physical wherewithal to play a superhero if his stunt work (assuming it is actually him doing some of it) in the James Bond movies.

But I honestly can't imagine him in the role.  Triple H (the wrestling star) was another. Never saw him do any acting other than in the ring during his wrestling career, so I can't say how he might have worked out.  Also, believe it or not, Chris Hemsworth's brother was being considered, and actually had made it farther in the initial casting process.  But the one that really intrigued me was Tom Hiddleston. 

Perhaps Hiddleston might have made a good Thor, but then we would have been deprived of what I consider to be the best and most well-fleshed out villain in the MCU, Loki.  Who, I ask you in all honesty, could have done Loki as well?

Of course, there were others. And like I said some of them came back to garner other roles in the MCU.  Like Chris Pratt, who eventually got to play his own Marvel character, Star Lord, in the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

I won't shy away from saying that Thor is close to the top of my favorite MCU movies, possibly even #1.  And Chris Hemsworth is one of the sexiest men alive.  That coming from a man who is firmly entrenched in his own heterosexuality.  But if I were a woman (or a gay man, for that matter), I would be dreaming about him.

The movie got a prestige director in the mix, that of Kenneth Branagh.  One of the things people said about the original comic book character was that he had a bit of Shakespearean feel to his dialogue, so who else but an accomplished Shakespearean actor and director would be better suited?

Thor (2011):

The initial opening sequence actually makes no sense until later in the movie. I think the pre-credit sequence is just a come-on, anyway, to pique the interest  of the audience, It involves what is the arrival of Thor on Earth after what turns out to be his banishment by Odin from Asgard. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her team which include her mentor, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), are on hand to observe Thor's descent to Earth.

The real meat of the  movie starts after the opening credits.  This opens in, as the title sequence says, Norway in the 10th century CE.  Odin (Anthony Hopkins)  and the hardened battle soldiers of Asgard are defending the Nine Realms from an attack by the Frost Giants of Jotunheim.  Earth is one of the Nine Realms, hence we are in Norway.  The Asgardians defend against the Frost Giants and regain possession of a mystical artifact called The Casket of Ancient Winters, which is the object that causes the contention between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants. A truce eventually is put in place with the Frost Giants and their leader Laufey.

 

 

 

Flash forward a thousand years. (The gods of Asgard, like all gods, are immortal, although they do age somewhat. Hence in the earlier sequence both Thor and Loki are children, but now are full fledged adults.) Odin is approaching the age when it is time to pass his kingship on to his heir.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the firstborn and most obvious candidate.  However, Thor is a bit rash and combative and Odin has to remind him that the truce between Asgard and Jotunheim rests on his soldiers and he needs to keep his combative nature under control. (Good luck with that).

 

 

 

There is a new fly in the ointment however.  A group of Frost Giants invades the hallowed halls of Asgard,  attempting to take repossession of the artifact that Odin had claimed.  They are no match for the Asgardians however.  But as a result, Thor wants to take the fight to hem.  Odin forbids it.  But Daddy doesn't have as much control over his son as he may have once had.  

Thor and four others cross over the bridge to the enemy. (Five against an entire army?  They've got balls, I'll give them that.)  He is accompanied with Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and Fandral (Josh Dallas), along with Sif (Jaimie Alexander), a female warrior with some balls of her own. (In Norse mythology, even the women are badasses.)

 

 

 

Thor and crew are captured by Laufey, the leader of the Frost giants and it requires the intervention of Odin to save him.  As the result of his rash indiscretion, Odin casts Thor into the realm of Earth, without his powers. He also sends Mjolnir, Thor's hammer to Earth, which gets lodged into the Earth.

 

 

 

Thor is found by Jane Foster and taken to a local hospital.  Even without his power he is still a handful.  Meanwhile, the hammer is discovered by the Earthlings and an all-out effort is made, unsuccessfully, to dislodge it. (BTW, I don't know about the comic book legend, but according to Norse mythology on Thor himself could even touch that thing.  Anyone else would have been basically blasted to atoms, or something like it.)

Where is Stan Lee? Stan is one of several who are trying to get the hammer out of it's location.  He uses a pickup truck and a chain, but only ends up destroying his truck.

The reason that the Jotuns were able to get into Asgard is that there was a traitor among them. At least one, maybe more.  It turns out that Loki was not actually a son of Odin, but a baby Frost Giant that Odin had taken from a temple during that earlier war 100 years previous.  It explain why when every other Asgardian touched by a Frost Giant freezes up, but Loki remained unharmed.

As Loki confronts Odin, Odin has a lapse and basically falls into a coma. Loki uses the opportunity to make himself king of Asgard, in abence of Thor, who would be the rightful king if he were in Asgard.  But since Thor has been banished and Loki as king refuses to renounce his "father"'s decree, Thor remains banished.

Back on Earth, Jane helps Thor get to his hammer.  But Thor's confidence in being able  to retrieve it is shattered as even he is unable to budge it. Perhaps because when Odin cast it to the Earth he put a spell on it that only the most honorable and forthright person could remove it and Thor still has a ways to go to becoming man enough to get it. 

In the Bifrost, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has continued his evil ways, making a pact with Laufey (Colm Feore) to let in some of his soldiers to kill Odin while he is in his sleep. He also creates a Destroyer to send to Earth to kill Thor.

The interesting thing about this film is that, up until now, this has just been a standard drama.  There hasn't been much superhero action.  But when Thor sacrifices himself to save his friends from the Destroyer he has proven himself worthy of his hammer and it returns to him, reviving him in time for a final battle with his brother, But in the process, the bridge to Earth is destroyed and cuts him off from the Earth, and the woman he has grown to love.

And the Credits Roll: Erik Selvig meets up with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Fury shows Selvig an object that he claims has incredible power, if only he, Selvig, will start researching it. We are first introduced to the Tesseract, the object that will become, over the course of the next few movies, the center of the saga.

Thor, for me, marks the beginning of the Marvel saga, the previous 3 films notwithstanding.  It was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie I actually got to see in the theater. And even having watched the first three later, it still remains one of the better movies.  I think the early part of the movie, the setup that ended up with Thor on Earth is one of the better opening sequences.

Well, folks, until the next time we meet, it's time to get on the road.  Drive safely. 

Quiggy