Film/Thor is basically the plot of The Lion King. From the pasty faced physically weak but cunning villain, to the adjusting to the more laid back culture in exile to the eventual fate of the villain. There are scenes which reflect each other perfectly, like the villain and the hero circling each other in front of their mothers telling each other to confess, or when the old friends visit and tell the hero he's needed, but he refuses because of what he thinks he's done.
But the Lion King is a great film and these are strong powerful tropes that resonate through history. (Hamlet deserves a mention) But Thor makes almost of it feel very staid and by the book, all that is except Loki who completely sells his character as both the most interesting person in the film and as a flawed but frightening villain whose actions make sense from a certain point of view. In some ways the film sets up a strong need to see Loki redeemed, he wanted love and respect and allowed those actions to guide his weaker nature, but there is hope that this will be revisited in Thor 2.
So why is the rest so unexceptional? It's hard to tell completely. It's easy to see why the completely superfluous sidekick gang who barely get any lines and achieve nothing except getting quickly beaten up by an underwhelming monster don't make much of an impression. And likewise Odin lacks the gravitas he should have and even his armour looks plasticy. The middle conflict in the film is also equally low-scale and the stakes feel incredibly small.
But as to the rest? It plods along and goes to the places you expect and does the things you would expect it to do there. Perhaps the setting and the visuals give it it's ordinary tone, or the commonness of fish-out-of-water romances. Very little of Thor feels like it's something new or bringing anything to the table except filling time.
It does nothing offensive, Loki is great and it did a good job with Coulson's role in the Marvel universe. This is one of the few films that actually ends up being very important to the set-up of The Avengers (along with the Iron Man films or maybe Captain America) but even in that context Thor never really fills bigger or lively than the small country town most of it takes place in. It's an okay film, but it's no Lion King.
The Lion King but Average-er
Film/Thor is basically the plot of The Lion King. From the pasty faced physically weak but cunning villain, to the adjusting to the more laid back culture in exile to the eventual fate of the villain. There are scenes which reflect each other perfectly, like the villain and the hero circling each other in front of their mothers telling each other to confess, or when the old friends visit and tell the hero he's needed, but he refuses because of what he thinks he's done.
But the Lion King is a great film and these are strong powerful tropes that resonate through history. (Hamlet deserves a mention) But Thor makes almost of it feel very staid and by the book, all that is except Loki who completely sells his character as both the most interesting person in the film and as a flawed but frightening villain whose actions make sense from a certain point of view. In some ways the film sets up a strong need to see Loki redeemed, he wanted love and respect and allowed those actions to guide his weaker nature, but there is hope that this will be revisited in Thor 2.
So why is the rest so unexceptional? It's hard to tell completely. It's easy to see why the completely superfluous sidekick gang who barely get any lines and achieve nothing except getting quickly beaten up by an underwhelming monster don't make much of an impression. And likewise Odin lacks the gravitas he should have and even his armour looks plasticy. The middle conflict in the film is also equally low-scale and the stakes feel incredibly small.
But as to the rest? It plods along and goes to the places you expect and does the things you would expect it to do there. Perhaps the setting and the visuals give it it's ordinary tone, or the commonness of fish-out-of-water romances. Very little of Thor feels like it's something new or bringing anything to the table except filling time.
It does nothing offensive, Loki is great and it did a good job with Coulson's role in the Marvel universe. This is one of the few films that actually ends up being very important to the set-up of The Avengers (along with the Iron Man films or maybe Captain America) but even in that context Thor never really fills bigger or lively than the small country town most of it takes place in. It's an okay film, but it's no Lion King.