Thor (2011)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Colme Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comic

Rating: B+

Many years ago a bitter war was fought between the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and the warriors of Asgard, over the future of the nine realms which the Asgardians protect.  Now, in the present, the king of Asgard, Odin (Hopkins), is preparing to adbicate his throne in favour of his son, Thor (Hemsworth).  Before he can do so, however, Frost Giants attack Asgard in order to retrieve the Casket of Ancient Winters, the source of their power, from the Asgardians.  In retaliation, Thor decides to lead an attack on the Frost Giants, accompanied by his brother Loki (Hiddleston), their childhood friend Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three, Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Joshua Dallas), and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano).  The battle destroys the truce between the two races, and Odin must interfere in order to save the Asgardians.  As punishment, he strips Thor of his powers and exiles him to Earth, although he sends Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, as well, so that if and when Thor is worthy he can pick it up.  On Earth, Thor is found by astrophysicist Jane Foster (Portman), her assistant Darcy Lewis (Dennings), and mentor Dr. Erik Selvig (Skarsgård).  His hammer, however, is found by the local populace, and eventually attracts the attention of S.H.E.I.L.D.  Thor must find his hammer and return to Asgard, before the Frost Giants can take over.

This was a fun movie, as all the Marvel Cinemetic Universe films tend to be.  Thor is, in my opinion, absolutely amazing and clearly worthy of a standalone series - which is something that Marvel seems to struggle in distinguishing at times.  A lot of the Avengers are great, and most of them deserve their own opportunity to shine in the sun, but some don't.  Going into this film, I wasn't really sure about whether I thought Thor was one of those shining characters or not and I really questioned just how he fit into the greater scheme of the universe already established by characters like Iron Man and The Hulk.  In the end, however, I think he really fit well and did a great job of adding to the feel of this series.

The other thing that really worked was Loki.  The two most important characters in this film are the brothers (no offense to love interest Natalie Portman), and they really mesh well.  They both go through transitions in this film and I love how you see where they come from and where they end up.  Part of me would have liked a bit more back story to Loki - it feels almost like he starts this film a few steps ahead of the rest of us, and we're all left trying to catch up (although, Thor does take very big steps).  As for the Thor/Jane relationship... I love how it kind of sneaks up on both of them, even if the audience is completely expecting it the entire time.  Thor has to change in order to be the man for Jane, and it is this change that makes him the man that he needs to be in order to be the god that his father wants him to be.  I'm really looking forward to how this relationship continues to develop in later films - I was actually rather disappointed that she didn't make an appearance in The Avengers, but I do see how it could have potentially taken away from that film.  Either way, I really enjoyed this movie.

Brothers (2009)

Stars: Toby Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham
Director: Jim Sheridan
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
Rating: B

Brothers is a 2009 American remake of a 2004 Danish film, thus continuing a well established tradition of Americans taking the movies of other countries and trying to make them flashier.  I haven’t actually seen Brødre, the original film, but I can only assume that it is less flashy, if for no other reason than because it a) doesn’t have the all star cast and b) isn’t an American film.

Sam (Maguire) is an all-American man; with Grace (Portman), his wife, his two daughters, and his honourable career as Marine captain about to embark on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan.  His brother, Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is a complete screw up who just got out of jail for armed robbery.  In Afghanistan Sam’s helicopter goes down and he’s taken hostage by… well, I’m not really sure who exactly took him hostage, beyond them being really angry Afghanis with guns.  Sam must struggle to survive and get home to his family, who in turn have been told that he’s dead.  At home his family must come to terms with his death.  His parents (Shepard and Winningham) have lost their golden boy, his wife her husband, his children their father, and his brother the only family he really had.  With the death, Tommy really begins to turn a new leaf and forces his way back into the lives of his family, initially by enlisting help to redo Grace’s kitchen.  In the end, of course, Sam returns to his home and they all must deal with the consequences, both of the newfound friendship between Tommy and Grace and those of the hardships that Sam has gone through.

The more interesting aspect of this plot is the struggle that Tommy, Grace, and co have in dealing with Sam’s ‘death.’  Sam’s capture by hostile people and subsequent torture is something that I kind of felt has been seen in a lot of movies already and the family reunion looked like a grittier take of Pearl Harbour – copying plot points from a Michael Bay film is never a good thing.  The way that Tommy and Grace dealt with Sam’s death (the brief semi-romantic moment aside) is beautifully done, and I would have really liked it if the film focused more on that than the other elements of the plot.  The one other problem that I had was with the casting.  They were all amazing, and I have to say that I especially loved Bailee Madison and Taylor Greare as Sam and Grace’s children.  You know something has been done right when the child actors stand out.  I did struggle at first with seeing Maguire as a Marine, although in the end he really won me over.  I also struggled with seeing Gyllenhaal as a man who committed armed robbery.  He did a great job of conveying a drug addict, but I kind of felt like they gave him that attribute and an ugly neck tattoo in order to just pass him off as a hardened criminal.  That aspect of his character really wasn’t necessary; they could have easily just had him be an addict fresh out of jail and not added the armed robbery – that or actually developed into that aspect of his character a bit more.