Chris Hemsworth

Thor: Ragnarok

I don’t profess to be a comic book purist or Marvel aficionado, instead I take each movie at face value. I compare within the genre, and examine each film within the context of superhero film history. I’m not familiar enough with the source material to assess authenticity from that perspective; I’ll leave that critique to others. However, as we march toward Marvel’s epic culmination Infinity War, I thought it was the perfect time to round out the Marvel family. Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment in the series, was a fun ride, and significantly better than its predecessor.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Ghostbusters) has been a rather likeable hero, but besides being obvious eye candy, he is also a rather formidable opponent for most foes. When we find him in Thor: Ragnarok, his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins, Transformers: The Last Knight) has been exiled by Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Kong: Skull Island). The destruction of his home planet Asgard is imminent, as Ragnarok looms. Ragnarok is a kooky word describing the destruction of the 9 realms, including Asgard. Enter Hela (Cate Blanchett, Carol), Odin’s first born and elder sister to Thor and Loki. Blanchett smolders as the deliciously evil Goddess of Death, a nemesis the likes of which Thor hasn’t seen. In a stunning display of power, she crumbles Thor’s mighty hammer, gleefully letting it sift through her fingers like sand.

Loki and Thor don’t have much of a fraternal bond, with Thor justifiably wary of his sibling, given Loki’s history of betrayal. As they devise a plan to thwart Hela and save their home planet, they face assorted obstacles along the way, including a stay at the circus-like home of the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum, Independence Day: Resurgence), where he bumps into an old friend. Thor also finds an unlikely ally in Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, Creed), so nicknamed in honor of the Asgardian defenders from whom she descends. With the help of new friends such as Valkyrie and old ones like Heimdall (Idris Elba, The Mountain Between Us), Thor treks back to Asgard to face Hela in a showdown to save his home planet.

The word “Ragnarok” sounds silly to me, and the previous Thor movie left much to be desired. As a result, I wasn’t particularly enthused about this latest installment – but I stand corrected. Writer/director Taika Waititi infused the movie with the perfect blend of action and humor. I hate corny, forced laughs and I’ve found it to be a common cinematic trick, in what I suspect is an attempt to appeal to kids. Ragnarok refrained from that, relying instead on Hemsworth’s natural charm and comedic timing. Thor is like the hot, cool guy who is surprisingly down to earth and doesn’t take himself too seriously. In other words, he’s perfect. Hemsworth displayed good chemistry with Tessa Thompson, and the actress was an effective foil and compliment to his character. Anthony Hopkins elevates anything he’s in (even if you think it’s beneath the Oscar winner), and Cate Blanchett is incomparable. She is becoming one of my favorite actresses, and her work here evinces an adaptable versatility. This was just a fun, well-executed movie.

Grade: A

 

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

This is my favorite time for movies, even more so than the so-called Oscar season. Summer blockbusters might not be the most critically acclaimed movies, but they sure are entertaining, and with me that counts for a lot.

Marvel has proven successful in bringing the iconic heroes of comic book lore to the big screen. The Avengers franchise combines some of the most individually popular characters for one collective ensemble of awesome star power. 2012’s The Avengers was wildly successful, leaving little doubt that a sequel would be forthcoming. Last weekend I got to check out the highly anticipated sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the first blockbuster of the season.

The sequel finds our heroes more comfortable with each other, as their shared chemistry reveals an amiable familiarity and easy rapport. Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) complement each other perfectly, and the opening scene highlights their collective strength. The movie begins with the Avengers attempting to infiltrate a base controlled by Hyrdra, the rogue sub-agency within SHIELD. Despite the aforementioned chemistry, the Avengers face a new challenge as they encounter two uniquely worthy foes. Hydra has trained a pair of orphaned twins to counter the Avengers. They are gifted with super speed and telepathy, respectively – and their initial salvo against the Avengers deals the crew a crippling early blow.

The opening scene was successful, because it was action-packed and wasted no time giving us what we wanted. However, the convoluted plot is introduced in the first fifteen minutes, and I found myself struggling to piece it all together. I’ll try to recount it for you, giving only the most pertinent details. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had been working on new technology in the form of Ultron, an elite global peacekeeper with enhanced capabilities on par with the Avengers. When combined with an element from Thor’s home planet, Ultron comes to life ahead of schedule, but he has been corrupted with evil. He is not a peacekeeper, rather he seeks to destroy the planet – and the Avengers are no match for him. Ultron disables Tony’s trusted cyber soldier Jarvis, and he is hell-bent on going from a computer program to a physical being. The bulk of the movie follows the Avengers as they try to thwart his efforts and save the world.

Age of Ultron strives to give us a deeper insight into the insecurities and personal lives of the Avengers. Natasha has a thing for the good Dr. Banner. Hawkeye actually has a family, and perhaps Tony is the most layered of all. He feels guilty about having created Ultron, but his ego won’t allow him to completely abandon the technology or the ambition that allowed him to create it. The team becomes fractured, as vulnerabilities are revealed. For example, it’s not often that Captain America and Thor get their asses kicked, but the twins and Ultron prove too difficult for them, and even the Hulk. If they want to defeat their enemies, they will have to work together and trust each other.

The film’s first act simply captivated me with the action-packed fight sequences, but the plot details quickly became muddled. Admittedly, plot is secondary in movies like this – but it was confounding nevertheless. At first I thought it was dope, but by the time the credits rolled I thought the movie was just pretty good. The storyline was deficient, but the action and chemistry amongst the cast mostly made up for it. Of the recent Marvel entrants, I thought Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 were among the worst. Avengers: Age of Ultron is definitely better than those, and I put it on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s worth checking out. Grade: B+

 

Snow White & The Huntsman

You have probably noticed as I have, that occasionally Hollywood releases the same types of movies at the same time.  For example, in 2010 there was Knight & Day and Killers, two very similar movies released within a month of each other.   There are other examples, but the most recent would be earlier this season when both Disney’s Mirror Mirror (starring Julia Roberts) and Universal’s Snow White & The Huntsman were released.  The former looked like children’s fare, while the latter appeared to put a different, darker twist on the classic fairy tale.  I was also drawn in by the cast, which included blonde beauties Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) and Charlize Theron (Hancock).

Theron stars as Ravenna, the evil queen that we’re all familiar with.  In the movie she is both beautiful and cunning, a narcissist who will stop at nothing to maintain her beauty.  Kristen Stewart (Twilight) is Snow White, princess of a thriving kingdom.  When she is just a young girl her mother dies, leaving Snow White and her father behind.  Distraught and vulnerable after his immense loss, the King falls prey to the to the beauty of a prisoner his men encounter on a sojourn in the woods.  He marries the beguiling dame, thus making her queen of his kingdom.  The honeymoon is over almost instantly, and the new queen reveals her true motives.  She murders the king, drawing youth and beauty from the taking of another life.  She banishes Snow White, imprisoning her within the castle walls.  Everyone thinks she is dead, and years go by.  The once thriving kingdom has grown black and joyless.  Every day the Queen asks her “mirror” who is the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.  One day it tells her that another has emerged who is more beautiful.  It is Snow White, and her life is in danger.  She has supplanted her nemesis, a woman who views beauty as power and will stop at nothing to keep it.  Each life taken by the Queen restores and freshens her beauty and youth, ensuring that she is the fairest in the land.  Her mother instilled in her at a young age the importance of her beauty, and now there is a sort of supernatural force enabling her.  Snow White gets wind of the Queen’s plans for her and escapes into the Enchanted Forest.  Unable to retrieve her, the Queen enlists the help of the Huntsman, played by Chris Hemsworth.  This guy might end up being typecast as the big brawny hero in all of his movies, because other than Thor I don’t know what else he can do.  Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with using your physical attributes in character portrayals. If he’s capable of greater thespian feats, I’m sure we’ll see it eventually.  Dispatched by the Queen to capture Snow White, The Huntsman intends to follow her orders but changes his mind when he meets Snow White and has cause to question the Queen’s motives.  He ends up protecting her, and they navigate the Enchanted Forest together, along with the dwarves they have befriended.  The longer Snow White lives, the weaker the Queen becomes – because Snow White threatens her beauty and thereby her vitality.  The Queen’s true age is beginning to show and she will stop at nothing to remain eternally beautiful.

That’s the basic plot of the movie, which for the most part was very good.  I’ll admit that my eyelids got heavy at one point, but I attribute that to the warm weather and a momentary lull in the action.  Snow White and The Huntsman spent a lot of inconsequential time in the woods, and it was at that point that I nodded off briefly.  I enjoyed the movie, because I appreciated the more independent, warrior-like dimension they added to the classic character.  Snow White was not a helpless damsel in distress; she was a princess who fought for her kingdom fearlessly.  The Queen was a more complex villain, and Charlize Theron is so beautiful that her natural attributes lent themselves perfectly to the storyline.   Was it the best movie of the season?  Of course not, but Snow White & The Huntsman made for an enjoyable day at the movies. Grade: B+