This is the third Thor superhero movie featuring beefcake actor Chris Hemsworth as the title character. It has been better received than its predecessors, which also came from Disney's Marvel Studios.
In this outing, Thor has been away from his homeland, Asgard -- a long story -- and returns to find that his sister, Hela, the Goddess of Death, is wreaking havoc on the peace-loving human population. (Hela is played by Cate Blanchett in goth eye makeup and with a 12-point rack of black horns.)
Before he can deal with the home-front problem, Thor is kidnapped, taken to another planet and sold to its Grand Master (Jeff Goldblum with a blue stripe on his chin and black liner under his eyes.) The GM puts Thor to work as a gladiator in public entertainments where, with his magic hammer destroyed, Thor finds his powers limited.
After a lot of fighting (during which I nodded off for a bit) Thor plans an escape with the aid of a hard-drinking Valkyrie played by Tessa Thompson, fellow gladiator Hulk/Bruce Banner played by Mark Ruffalo, and Thor's brother/frenemy Loki played by Tom Hiddleston. The team returns to Asgard for the battle to prevent Ragnarok, the prophesied destruction of its people.
One unusual aspect of this movie is that it includes light touches. Thor, the God of Thunder, gets tetchy when he is referred to as merely the Lord of Thunder. "GOD of thunder!" he yells back.
There's much more of the same, which could be taken one of two ways. Either it ratifies the effectiveness of last year's "Deadpool," which was funny (and raunchy) and very popular, or reacts to very serious good-bad stories like the one in 2016's "Batman vs. Superman," which was not as popular as had been hoped.
This was my first Thor movie, and perhaps for that reason some of the references to its backstory missed me. Still, the general themes are clear enough, as are the usual plot holes.
Notes
Other supporting actors in Thor 3 are Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba. The movie's U.S. gross was more than $120 million in its opening weekend.
Meanwhile "Suburbicon," which stars Matt Damon and Julianne Moore and was directed by George Clooney from a script by Joel and Ethan Coen, has made $5 million in two weeks.
It's tempting to conclude that movie stars don't drive movie attendance as they used to do and that serious actors will take superhero roles for the money if not the dramatic challenge.
-----
Yes, the music in the preview above and during the movie's biggest battle scene is Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," which just happens to be about ancient Norse raids on what are now the British Isles. The lyrics:
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green,
Can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing.
No comments:
Post a Comment