“Branagh brings his
background in Shakespeare to bear in Thor, which blends perfectly the high theology
and overwhelming pride of Asgard and the Norse deities with the restrained and
comic scenes on planet Earth.”
Released the same year as Captain America, Thor is
a fantastic example of how effortlessly Marvel can render the incredible,
thanks largely to Kenneth Branagh’s directorial hand, which deftly juggles gods
and mortals in a film that never feels unbalanced. The sweeping Shakespearean quality of Asgard
is so impressively crafted that we could spend a whole movie there, but the
fish-out-of-water plotline which finds Thor exiled to earth is correspondingly
mesmerizing, heavier on the humor but no less aware of the mythic quality of
the narrative. As noted earlier in the
countdown, Tom Hiddleston delivers a star-making performance as the trickster
Loki, but Chris Hemsworth is no slouch as the swaggeringly confident God of
Thunder. It edges out Captain America only ever so slightly,
solely by virtue of remaining self-contained, but the entertainment value
between the two movies is almost indistinguishable; filmgoers will have an
equally fantastic time with either. As we enter the Top Five, not to disparage the preceding five films too much, we’re headed into a higher caliber of film. The earlier five films are fun enough, diverting enough, but the five films to follow are truly remarkable – not just as Marvel films, not even just as superhero films, but as films in their own right. It’s especially true of the #1 choice on this list, but we’ll get there in due time... on with the show!
“It evolves the
character of Tony Stark in a number of intriguing ways, and the promise that
“Tony Stark will return” (shades of James Bond?) was never more fascinating.”
Tony Stark famously remarked in the second film in the
trilogy, “Oh, it’s good to be back!” But
it’s not until the third film that the Iron
Man franchise really lives up to its inaugural installment. RDJ is joined by writer-director Shane Black,
who had collaborated with him on the downright fabulous sleuth/caper flick Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the result is
everything that worked about KKBB
with a heavy dose of everything that works about a Marvel movie. The Christmas setting is inspired, and I
particularly love the way the story takes Tony Stark to rock bottom, builds him
back up, only to reveal that (no spoilers) the only reason he was able to
become Iron Man in the first place was because he has always been Iron Man. If this is RDJ’s final solo outing as Tony
Stark, it’s a fitting farewell, but here’s hoping (Avengers aside) we haven’t seen the last of this iteration of Iron
Man.Come back on Monday, true believers, as the countdown continues into the Final Four!
1 comment:
Iron Man 3 is in the right spot. Thor, on the other hand, belongs at the bottom of the list. For one, it's not even a complete film. Whereas Captain America tied into the Avengers but still offered a complete story, this one is purely a tie-in. Thor's arc doesn't even really get going until the end, and plays out in Avengers. Plus, the dramatic stuff in Asgard was dumb, the parts on Earth were more of a dumb fish-out-of-water comedy than superhero film, there's barely any action, and the costumes and sets look about as real as the plastic toy merchandise made for the film.
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