A Critical Comparisson of the Movie - Thor

A CRITICAL COMPARISSON OF THE MOVIE THOR

Final Draft

Marc Del Signore

English Composition

10/2/11

The movie THOR is a portrayal of a Marvel Comics' character originally created by Stan Lee in the early 1960's. Thor is a fictional character based on the God of the same name from Nordic mythology. The film was directed by Kenneth Brannagh and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It aired on May 6, 2011. Actor Chris Hemsworth brilliantly plays the powerful demi god Thor whose reckless actions reignite an age old war. Because of this, he is cast down to earth and forced to live among humans as a mortal for punishment by his father Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins. He is also stripped of his powers and magic hammer. On earth Thor learns what it means to be a true hero, not just a testosterone, weapon-wielding God, impervious to physical harm. Among the many lessons, he learns self sacrifice and the real valor of the human spirit. There have been many reviews of this movie, some positive and some negative . In her review, Grae Drake had several negative things to say about the film. While I disagreed with the majority of Drake's review, there were two sections with which I strongly disagreed. These were, "what's the deal," and, "Fighting a big tin can is not a good finale (Drake, G., 2011)." It is obvious to me that Grae Drake is not a comic book reader, and because of this her review is influenced by the fact that she may not know the story behind this particular character.

In, "What's the deal," Drake explains that, "the movie is too weighted down by exposition to ever really be interesting, (Drake, G., 2011)." I disagree with her statement. Her use of the word, 'exposition' implies that the film is masked with special effects and cinematography in order to hid e poor plot lines and acting. On the contrary, I think the movie was well scripted, especially as a fan of comics. The guest appearances of other comic book characters were another great feature of the movie. As far as the acting, the cast and lead made Thor come to life on screen for me. In comic books, Thor, is an arrogant, self-righteous, God. Hemsworth really shines as an actor in this role. His witty comments and comedic timing allow him to portray the main character with an impulsive childlike innocence which is seen throughout the film. I felt the script, acting and fight choreography were superb. Hemsworth was a good choice to play a demi-God living out his existence on earth.

The second section I disagreed with was Drake's analysis on the destroyer. She felt the, "Big