Movie Talk - Thor in the MCU and Guardians of the Galaxy

Today, I’ll be looking at the Thor movies. Since Thor’s world is also in that cosmic place with this universe, I’m also including Guardians of the Galaxy since I don’t want it to be all by its lonesome. While Thor isn’t one of my favorite heroes, I still wanted to see the movie. I went to see it with a group of friends back in 2011 in Murfreesboro. As for the sequel, I decided to wait for it to come to Blu-Ray since I really wasn’t jazzed about it. I was in the same boat with GOTG. Since I didn’t know much about the characters, I just decided to wait to see it on Blu-Ray as well. Since I hadn’t see Thor since 2011, I was able to re-watch it online.

Thor

Thor was released in 2011. It’s pretty much the origin of how Thor became a true hero. After an incident with some Frost Giants, Odin banishes his arrogant son to Earth to teach him a lesson. On Earth, he runs into a group of scientists who help him acclimate to the world. While Thor’s on Earth, Loki (his adopted brother) finds out about his true heritage and this sets him off. When Odin gets put out of commission, Loki is made temporary king of Asgard and makes a mess of things. With the help of Sif and the Warriors Three, Thor has to help save a small town and stop his brother.

This was a fine movie. I thought this back then and I still do now. It has a lot of good things to it. I liked the story for the most part. We see Thor go from this overbearing, egotistic jackass to a humble hero in the span of two hours. We also see Loki go from a jealous brother to a power-hungry nutball in those hours too. I thought Hemsworth was good as Thor and Hiddleston was pretty good as Loki. I liked a lot of the side characters like Jane Foster, The Warriors Three, Sif, Himedall, and Odin.  I actually thought that Darcy wasn’t as annoying as I thought she was originally. That might change for the next movie though.

I also liked the comedy in it as well. Since Thor’s on Earth learning the ways of man, we ended up getting some really funny moments. The action scenes were okay for the most part. Thor and Loki’s final fight was pretty cool. The fight against the Destroyer on Earth was also pretty nice.  The special effects were really spectacular. Asgard itself looked pretty awesome.

Aw... I guess anyway.

There were some things that irked me about the movie. While I liked the action, I didn’t like the first fight scene with the Frost Giants that much. It was dark and you couldn’t tell much of what was going on at times. I remember this problem when I saw it in theatres and I still see it now. While I liked Loki as the villain, I have to admit his motives were pretty vague. While I got some of his motives, I didn’t understand all of them. Some of the comedy was also a little lackluster. Finally, I’m glad they got a better wig for Thor in the later movies. He just didn’t look right here. Overall, this was a good movie with some shortcomings.

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World was released in 2013 and it takes place after the events in The Avengers. Thor is back on Asgard doing his usual hero thing. He heads back to Earth when his love, Jane Foster, accesses energy called the Aether. This act causes the Dark Elfs to rise. Their leader, Maliketh, tries to access that energy that threatens the Nine Realms. Thor brings Jane to Asgard in order to help and protect her. Only Thor, Jane, and a released Loki can try to keep The Dark Elves from destroying everything.

Epic entrance.

I didn’t get to watch this one recently, so these will only be some quick thoughts. I enjoyed the movie for the most part. I thought that Thor and Loki were the best things in it. Seeing them fight on the same side was cool. I still liked at lot of the side characters from Asgard and the action scenes were better here. I especially liked the final fight scene where Thor and Malieketh were teleporting through the realms. The ending was interesting and definitely setting up the eventual sequel.

Darcy... you're alright, I guess.

Now, I did have some issues with it. The story was okay but not really good. Most of the humor fell flat for me especially the scenes on Earth. I think I’m beginning to remember why I thought Darcy was annoying because she was at times. I especially thought the villains were pretty one-note. Unfortunately, this is the second time Christopher Eccelson, who was a great Doctor, has had to play a pretty forgettable villain. Overall, it was an okay but entertaining outing for the God of Thunder.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014. It’s about Peter Quill and a group of somewhat unsavory folk. He was assigned to steal an artifact that is also being looked for by a Kree extremist named Ronan the Accuser. He ends up getting arrested when he is attacked by folk after him and the artifact. He ends up reluctantly teaming up with them and another prisoner to break out of jail. When it’s revealed that the artifact holds unfathomable power, Quill and the others try to do their best in not letting Ronan get it.

Is it just me or is GOTG a big blockbuster adaptation of Capatin EO?

Now this was a property that was (and is) a blank to me. That being said, I enjoyed this one. It probably won’t be in my top five Marvel movies, but it's pretty enjoyable. I liked the all of the Guardians. I have to admit that I actually liked the non-human ones more than the human ones though. Groot and Rocket Raccoon pretty much made the movie for me. The story was serviceable and the action was pretty stellar. I especially liked that we got to see a lot of cool aliens. Even though Ronan was dull, I did like Nebula, his underling and Gamora’s adopted sister.

I never knew prison could look so yellow... is he holding a fake leg?

I did have some issues with the movie. Gamora was underwhelming all around. In fact, she and Starlord (yes, him too) were a bit lackluster. I didn’t have a big problem with Starlord, but I’ve seen the rogue with a heart of gold many times and he didn’t see that different from others. My main gripe with the movie was the lack of a good villain. Ronan was powerful but he was pretty uninteresting. He was a lot like Maliketh from Thor: The Dark World. He was all-talk and nothing else. Lastly, some of the comedy fell a little flat. Overall, this was a fine movie, but not one of Marvel’s best.

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Overall, the epic, cosmic stories have been fine. They may not be in my top five MCU movies (I think) but they are pretty entertaining. Marvel definitely took a gamble on these movies and they won that gamble. Marvel made these tales work for me and apparently a lot of other folk too. Well, I’m outta here.  Next time, it’ll be the man with the iron suit. Peace, God Bless, and can someone cast Tom Hiddleston as the next Data? Seriously, I definitely see it!