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In a universe far, far away but not a long time ago, there is a planet
called Asgard. Ruled with an iron fist by Odin (Anthony Hopkins), this world
resembles a large, sprawling empire of towering castles. With a look and
structure all of its own, this alien world is still more connected to the rest of
the galaxy than one might think. Odin, the man in charge, has two sons; Loki
and Thor. Loki is a well-to-do son who doesn’t draw too much attention to
himself, and for good reason... he secretly waits in the wings for his true
self to step up. Then there’s Thor; young, passionate, brave and hot-headed. He
struts about bursting at the seams with confidence, knowing he will one day
inherit the throne from his father and rule the world. But all it will take for
Thor to stuff this up is for him to lose his temper, which he does quite
easily. The extent to which he unleashes his fury is with his close companion
Mjolnir; an over-sized hammer.
Not too far from Asgard is a world called Jotunheim;
a cold, desolate planet ruled by the Frost Giants. Years ago, their race and
the good people of Asgard (under the leadership of Odin) fought a war for
control of the Casket of Ancient Winters. Asgard was triumphant and a fragile
truce was formed. In present day Asgard however, the Frost Giants want the
Casket back and a few of them sneak in through the back door of Asgard to
snatch it. Thor is onto this right away, and along with his brother Loki and a
few pals, they fly through space, naturally, and arrive on Jotunheim to claim
back their prize. Wielding big tools and flexing even bigger muscles, these
galactic warriors pick a fight with the Frost Giants and retrieve their
Chalice. However, as Thor has broken the truce his father had worked so hard to
maintain, Odin disowns Thor in the worst way imaginable – he sends him to Earth!
Thor is whipped through space without having his say and literally crash lands
in the New Mexico desert. He has no power and has lost his hammer. Now an alien
in a strange place, Thor stumbles his way through the desert until a team of scientists
come across the man and take him in.
As the scientists try to understand this
guy and where he came from, S.H.I.E.L.D have discovered the location of Thor’s
hammer. They set up base and wait for the owner to retrieve it. Eventually,
Thor finds his hammer and tries to claim it, but can’t seem to pull it out of
the ground. He realises that when his father banished him, he denied him of his
ability to wield the powerful weapon. At this base we meet a character whose weapon
of choice is a bow and arrow (this character is actually Hawkeye, who will be
seen in The Avengers).
Back on Asgard, Loki makes his move. With his
father on his death bed, Loki heads down to earth to finish off his brother and
claim the throne. Thor won’t allow this to happen, and the two brothers face
off in the desert for a major “Clash of the Tools”.
Thor, for those not up-do-date with their
Norse mythology, was the God of Thunder. Debuting as a comic book character in
1962, Thor was a creation of Stan Lee; the father of Marvel comics and the
visionary behind dozens if not hundreds of other characters. This film adaptation
had been floating around Hollywood since 2001, when Spiderman director Sam
Raimi was looking to shoot it. He got swept up in the Spiderman tidal wave of
course, and the film moved around a few studios until it was picked up again
shortly after Iron Man was a hit at the box office. As the first two Iron Man
films and second Hulk instalment were a success and The Avengers movie looked
more like a reality, Thor was given his own film to establish himself as a hero
to keep an eye on, and also because he was an important member of the superhero
team.
I was very surprised by how good Thor was. It would have
been a hard sell originally, making a movie about a superhero from outer space
at a time when the cinemas were flooded with superhero characters who were
earth-bound humans. Thor came from another world and galaxy all together, so
finding the human side to him would have been challenging. But this film adaptation
pulled it off, with creativity and style. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, more
known for helming Shakespearian films, and starring Australian Chris Hemsworth,
Thor presented itself as a sophisticated, intelligent and ‘operatic’ superhero
film.
* TIE
IN TO THE AVENGERS - in a dark basement corridor, Nick Fury
walks out of the shadows and approaches a scientist. They discuss a
new source of power that has been discovered. This unknown source may
connect
earth to other dimensions and contain power of unparalleled levels.
The scientist
is astounded by this cube of power, and looks down upon it while
behind him
Loki appears and whispers the words “Well I guess that’s worth a
look
then”. The scientist repeats the exact same words, as if Loki is
controlling
his mind.
END OF SCENE *
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