So I realized as I was trying to collect my thoughts about this next blog that I never addressed any of the major super-hero movies that permeated this summer's cinema viewing. I expressed some thoughts about them in advance with an earlier blog (How Much Is Too Much?) but never actually wrote about them after my viewings Bad fanboy, bad! So, now that all four of the major comic book properties of the year have come and gone from theatres, let me take a look back at them in the order in which they were released. First up...THOR!
I'll be honest, Thor was the movie that I didn't care one way or the other if I actually saw in the theatre. Well maybe "didn't care" is a little strong, but it was certainly the flick I was the least interested in. I don't read any Thor books now, nor have I ever, so perhaps that makes me an ideal audience for the movie version of the character. In many ways, it seems that the less invested a movie-goer is in the comic book version, the more likely they are to be fair-and-balanced in their cinematic critique. Too frequently I find that the comic book audience expects the movie versions of their favorites to adhere to a strict continuity that is, more often than not, an impossibility for films. At least impossible if the film wants to be received by so-called mainstream audiences.
Quick aside: is there anything NOT mainstream in today's society? If you can find EVERYTHING on something as readily available as the Internet, doesn't that basically make it all mainstream? Go read "Crooked Little Vein" by Warren Ellis (Amazon Store)...
Back to the movie I had no connection to, the only one of the four I didn't bother going to see at a midnight show, Thor. My expectations from the trailer were not high, I'm not saying I was expecting the Batman movie that shall not be named, but I just said to myself "that looks alright".
Well when I finally got around to seeing the movie, suffice it to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Chris Hemsworth looked the part, maybe not to a "T" as I envision Thor to be a much thicker man, but he was every bit the Nordic God one would expect. Arrogant, brash, and most importantly blond, Hemsworth filled the Thunder God's boots quite admirably. Natalie Portman did a fine job as Jane Foster I suppose...she was brainy and cute, casting the appropriate glances at shirtless Thor, and serving quite well as the inevitable love interest for him. Was there really any reason for the two characters to end up together?
Nah, not in my look back on the film, they didn't exactly have moments that brought them together, or shared interests in which to establish their relationship. Certainly nothing happened that justifies the whole close of the film & the endless love that apparently exists between Thor and Jane Foster. Falling in love during times of extreme duress I suppose? Or maybe it's just that Foster has additional scientific curiosity that requires her to see more of shirtless Thor.
Sarcasm aside, I did like the film but I felt it was the weakest of this years film offerings. The Warriors Four were an interesting part of the cast, even though the movie itself did little to really establish why they were so fiercely loyal to Thor. It's not as if Thor was a guy anyone would want to hang out with; he'd be a great guy to have fight at your side and party with after, but why the hell would anyone want to be friend's with this jackass? Then again, who wouldn't want to be friend's with the boss' son?
Now there was great addition to this film: Anthony Hopkins as Odin. He may not have had the most screen time considering he was forced into the Odinsleep for a good portion, but his take on "angry dad" was top-shelf.
But it was Tom Hiddleston who stole the show as Loki, even Ted Allpress was pretty cool as Young Loki. His machinations that set-up the film were the cog of the whole thing, and it looks like that will be the case with The Avengers movie as well. He was just so detestable...a natural villain if there ever was one...I'd say someone from the Bond franchise should cast this guy in the future.
Also the movie had a tendency towards boring with a very long gap between action sequences (where there really only 3?), and tendencies towards humorous dialogue during the Earth scenes that seemed very...typical...of any movie made in the last several years (and Brian Michael Bendis comics). Not every person speaks in quips and snarky soundbites. This movie felt more like a set-up for The Avengers than anything else with not much else going on. Loki's involvement in that movie has pretty much been a given as long as The Avengers has been on the table so his fate in Thor is rather unimportant, just leaves the question of how he'll get back, same as Thor, and I found myself just waiting to see Nick Fury and Agent Coulson make their required appearances. Cool to see Hawkeye, but you'd never know it was him if you didn't already know going in.
So would I recommend it? Yeah, Thor isn't bad by any mean...there just nothing about it that made me say to myself "I need to see this again", and my eventual Blu-Ray purchase of this movie will have more to do with my fanboy buying tendencies then my strong desire to see it again. The movie will be available right on my birthday, September 13th.
Next in line, we had "X-Men: First Class", and I will admit right off the bat that this was the movie I was most terrified to actually see when I first watched the trailer. After the abysmal movie that was "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", I basically expected a crap fest out of 1st Class too. The previews leaned towards that given their total disregard for what really happened in comic book world, but I also try not to go into any comic book movie with that in my head. Based on what went down in the three previous X-Men films I knew it was an impossibility for Matthew Vaughn, Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, and the other screenwriters to use the original five as their leads. So off they went with Havok, Mystique, Beast, Darwin, Banshee, and the female Angel as the originals with Erik Lehnsherr & Charles Xavier leading the pack, and the events set in the 1960s.
Immediately I knew it wasn't a possibility for this movie to have any connection to the Bryan Singer/Brett Ratner flicks given not only the time frame but also the characters used. For some reason, this actually gave me more hope for a quality movie, as did the additional trailers that were released. Then, as it turned out, none of my fears had any merit because this movie stands as my favorite of the four!
It suffers from the same problem as the other three comic movies of the summer in that the extended cast is quite interchangable and really have no depth, but the relationship between Xavier & Magneto, the work put into the parts by James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender, the interweaving of reality into fantasy, it all comes together to make the flaws rather...miniscule. The action was exciting, the powers displayed by the various characters were quite a sight to behold, and even the cameo appearance of Wolverine felt like it fit (even if it may not necessarily work in the X-Canon established by Origins). Watching the evolution of Xavier from a rather playboy-esque character into a leader was something to behold, as was the transformation of Erik Lehnsherr into Magneto. Or perhaps it wasn't a transformation, and more likely a snake shedding its skin. Perhaps Magneto is who Erik always was underneath, it just took time for that skin to emerge.
Again, there are issues. Most of the assorted X-Men don't have much in the way of personality and that hurts certain moments of the film, specifically when Darwin dies. Only Beast & Mystique have much in the way of character development outside of Mags & Xavier, but unlike Thor, the strength of the two main characters & the larger story is more than enough to carry the film.
"X-Men First Class " was without a doubt in my mind the best of the Super Hero movies of 2011, and the one I am most looking forward to purchasing on Blu-Ray when it comes out on September 9th. It is the best X-Men since "X2", and maybe the best Marvel comics movie since the first Iron Man. Buy this: X-Men: 1st Class at Amazon.
Well I'm tired so I will have to continue this later in the week with my thoughts on "Green Lantern" and "Captain America: First Avenger". Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment