Film 6: Thor

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Film: Thor

April 2011

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Gregg Clark with Anthony Hopkins and Samuel L. Jackson.

Plot: In 950 AD Odin (Hopkins) and the Asgardinan forces arrive to defend the Earth and defeat the frost giants invaders, starting a great war between the two races that only ends when Odin marches into the giants homeworld of Jotunheim and defeats their king, takes their main weapon the Casket of Ancient Winters and steals their prince whom Odin raises as his own.

Years later Odin holds a ceremony to Honour the bravery of his son Thor (Hemsworth) who he plans on naming the next king of Asgard, the ceremony is interrupted by frost giants who have broken into Odin's weapons vault trying to reclaim the Casket but are stopped by the vaults defender the Destroyer Armour. Thor angry at this offence defies Odin and takes his brother Loki (Hiddleston), the warriors 3 and Lady Sif to Jotenheim and fights a group of frost giant but have to be saved by Odin who angry at Thor Strips him of his power, banishes him to earth and puts a spell on Thor's enchanted hammer Mjolnir so it cant be lifted except by someone who is worthy.

Landing on Earth Thor is knocked down by scientist Jane Foster (Portman) who is conducting research into the ability to travel between the realms. Her work is taken by S.H.I.E.L.D agents lead by Agent Coulson (Clark) Foster thinks the only way to further her research is through Thor, despite the objections of her colleague Dr, Eric Selvig (Skarsgard). Breaking into the SHIELD cordon around Mjolnir Thor fights his way to the hammer but fails to lift it not yet being worthy of wielding it.

Meanwhile Loki discovers the truth of his parentage and confronts Odin as he falls into the Odin sleep from which he might not wake, Loki assumes the throne and after the warriors 3 set off to find Thor sends the Destroyer Armour to kill his Brother.

After being freed from SHIELD Thor reflects on the mortal life he must now live and is willing to accept it before the Warriors 3 arrive to tell him of Loki's deceit and ask for Thor to return to Asgard, Thor explains that he is unable to return but is then confronted by the Armour, Thor is struck down but his sacrifice is enough to make him worthy of wielding his hammer. Beating the armour Thor returns to confront Loki who plans to seal his position as King by destroying the frost giant's home world using the Rainbow bridge the asgardians use to travel the worlds as a weapon. Knocking down Loki Thor realises the only way to stop his plans is to destroy the bridge despite the fact that by doing so he can not return to earth Thor breaks the bridge in an explosion that knocks Loki into an abyss.

Thor reflects on his sacrifice when Odin tells him he is proud of his son.

After credits: Selvig is in a bunker where he meets Nick Fury (Jackson) who shows him the tesserect (Cosmic Cube) this interests Selvig and Loki.

Thoughts going in: I love the Marvel cinematic universe but i did have reservations about this movie, Thor was one of my favourite characters in the comic books but i was worried by the trailer which seemed to give away an awful lot about the film making me wonder whether it was worth seeing. However with Portman and Hopkins attached to the film peaked my interest even though i had no idea about Hemsworth or Hiddleston.

Review: Beautiful visuals, the film wasn't supposed to be about its look but yet it was amazing, the costume design was amazing as well, in a comic book movie often the costumes either don't look right or else are too silly but once again marvel got it right as did Branagh in the films direction mixing good action with great story telling and needed humour. Hopkins delivered as expected but the performance from Hensworth really surprised me and especially Hiddleston who got me invested in the character of Loki who previously hadn't been too interesting. The cameo of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye was a fan boy moment and added to my enjoyment.

Score: A

Says its title: Yes, its title is the main character so it is repeated numerous times.

Worth the DVD?: Yes, as part of a Marvel collection or on its own the film is great and is worth numerous viewings.

Film 5: Fast and the Furious 5

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Film: Fast and the Furious 5 (Fast Five, Fast & Furious 5 Rio Heist)
April 2011

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Plot: While transporting Dom Toretto (Diesel) to prison the convoy is attacked and Toretto is freed by his sister Mia (Brewster) and her boyfriend Brian O'Conner (Walker), after the breakout the 3 head for Rio, (presumable to reassess the situation or something). Teaming up with fellow car thieves to do a big job the team take cars from a train that from the others reaction seem to have more to them than meets the eye (Transformers! not really). Discovering that the on board computer in one of the cars contains a chip to the location of large amounts of cash, the team decide to steal the money so they can start a new life.

After deaths on the Train Government agent Luke Hobbs (Johnsen) and his team are sent in to capture Toretto and his accomplices.

Toretto decides with the scale of this job a team is needed recruiting from his world wide connections he soon has his team and prepares to launch the heist, but is interrupted by Hobbs who captures the group and prepares to have them extradited to the US. While moving Toretto to the airport Hobbs' team is attacked by the drug smugglers who Toretto had planned on stealing the money from, leaving only Toretto's team and Hobbs alive, with the officer wanting revenge for his men. The gang break into the police station, where the money is being held, and drag the safe through the streets of Rio, when it seems hopeless Dom tells O'Conner to run while he takes out the remaining forces chasing them. He takes out the rest of the drug smugglers and police but before driving off is confronted by Hobbs who tells him to leave the safe, Toretto agrees and takes his head start Hobbs has offered him.

Looking in the safe Hobbs finds it empty where it is reviled that it was swapped earlier by the gang. Hobbs laughs while we join Toretto joining up with O'Conner and a pregnant Mia, challenging each other to a race.

Thoughts going in: I had seen Fast and the Furious and only parts of the others so I went in knowing only that it seemed a generic action movie with a lot about cars that I didn't really think I would care about. But the main promotion for the movie had Diesel vs Johnson which was an encounter I had to see.

Review: This was just another F&F film, full of action, unnecessary car races, car thieves inexplicable being well trained in use of guns, computers and any form of vehicle that's not a car. It was fun to watch and a funny moment in the cinema when it did the traditional shot of Rio when it goes passed Christo Redentor and a woman screamed "Oh, it's Rio!" despite the movie having 'Rio Heist' in its title.

Score: C+

Says its title: No, at no point does anyone even say Fast and Furious.

Worth the DVD?: No, unless these are your sort of movies it does not stick out from any of the rest of the series, lets hope Fast 6 is more standout.