It seems to have been ages since Ken Branagh was associated with a big Hollywood movie but his childhood enthusiasm for the comic book apparently helped get him the gig on this noisy, expensive action tale. And he does a pretty good job, too – taking it seriously but not pompously, the story runs along, the acting is fine. Only one scene - with Natalie Portman and her gang looking for Thor in the hospital - with the camera swooping around, did things jar.
Chris Hemsworth impresses as Thor - an easy role to mock, but he plays it to the manor born, has obviously spent a lot of time in the gym, and is very believable. Anthony Hopkins could play his part in his sleep, Stellan Skarsgaard and especially Rene Russo are under-used, Portman is pretty is a not much role - but more crucially her romance with Hemsworth is dangerously undercooked. It needed two more scenes, romantic scenes to establish they had a real connection, so the bit at the end had more emotional pull. (Actually come to think of it the roles of his friends are under-used too.)
The effects and design are good, especially the stuff that takes place on Asgard is great. Fish out of water comedy is surprisingly not really dealt with. Kat Dennings impresses as Portman's wise-cracking younger friend, a role normally given to actors less good looking, older and/or black. Idris Elba has great authority as the gatekeeper (good on them for trying to racially mix things up in Asgard). No classic of the genre, but not a disaster and an enjoyable theme park ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment