Category: Personal Favorites

Cast Photos

Character Posters

Thor

I have to say that Thor is probably my favorite MCU character, and I’ll be honest, a lot of that has to do with Chris Hemsworth.  Not only is he incredibly handsome, but he has personality for days.  He is an actor that has proven, time and again that he is not just a pretty face (and body), and that he has the skills of an intense dramatic actor, when the need arises.  He can also do comedy, which is sometimes harder than drama.  Hemsworth has it all. 

But on top of all that, the character of Thor is awesome.  I have always had a love for the mythology of Greek gods and goddesses.  Norse is a little less known to me, but I know a bit, and as far as I can tell, from what I know of Thor from comic books, I think the script captured the God of Thunder perfectly.  So he was acted wonderfully, and written accurately.  What’s not to love.  This being the beginning of the Thor franchise within the MCU, Thor starts out as a vain, brash, hot-headed boy, son of a King, powerfully played by the incomparable Anthony Hopkins, and a powerful warrior. 

But the movie was so much more than just Thor.  We were introduced to another major player in the MCU, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston.  In fact, Loki was so well-played and was such a popular character, that he eventually got his own TV series, which was really good!  And we got a few minor characters.  The Warriors Three, Fandral, Volstaag, and Hogun were there, though I would have liked a little more back story on who they were and why they were there..  True, they were only minor charaqcters in the comic books, but I think a little more could have been done with them.  And there was Lady Sif, a good, strong female hero.

So of all the new cast members, I want to make special mention of Anthony Hopkins’ Odin.  He was incredible, and practically stole every scene he was in.  He played the All-Father, and there wasn’t a hint of weakness in him.  Even when his emotions of love, guilt, and regret at his treatment of Loki caused him to falter and fall into the Odinsleep, there was still a core of strength that was impressive, and that was all Hopkins.  And his improvised growl of fury at Loki while disciplining Thor was both powerful and appropriate.  I mean when your son disobeys you and ignites a war because of his arrogance, I guess rage is the only response that will suffice.  Just one more example of how great an actor Anthony Hopkins is.

So the main thrust of the movie is Thor’s story arc, how he grows from that brash, disobedient boy, into a mighty hero with a sense of responsibility and respect for the world around him.  But to follow that journey, we have to experience that fall from grace, and his redemption, coming in the form of self-sacrifice.  In the end, he is willing to sacrifice himself to save innocent lives, and his girlfriend.  Oh yeah, he meets Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, a beautiful young Earth scientist who turns into an infatuated schoolgirl whenever Thor is around.  Not that I can blame her.  He’s just so incredibly nice to look at.

The visuals and the aesthetics of the movie are beautiful.  The glowing colors, the majesty of Asgard, even the arid beauty of the New Mexico desert, all made for a gorgeous backdrop to the story.  The costumes, the sets, and the digital effects were simply spectacular.  The Rainbow Bridge looked fantastic on the screen, as did the boss fight that allowed Thor to redeem himself and once again become worthy of lifting his hammer.  The whole movie just looked incredible, though I could do without all the tilted angle shots.  The film’s director, Kenneth Branagh, put in around one hundred eighty Dutch angle shots in the film because he said that is the way they appear in the comic books, and it helped to translate the dynamism from the pages to the screen.  But I think it should be used as a purposeful effect, and when used too liberally, the effect is lost.  After a while, it just becomes distracting.  But that is only a minor complaint for a movie that was all part of Feige’s master plan to establish the major characters of the MCU before bringing them all together to create the larger tapestry, which is still being woven today.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Odin’s exposition at the beginning to set up the narrative.
2. Thor’s battle with the Frost Giants
3. Odin punishes Thor and the growl.
4. Loki discovers that he is a Frost Giant
5. “Another!” Thor smashes the mug.
6. Thor attacks the SHIELD facility to get his hammer.
7. Lady Sif stabs the Destroyer
8. Thor’s powers are restored and he kills the Destroyer.
9. Thor’s battle with Loki, and the destruction of the Rainbow Bridge.
10. Odin’s conversation with Thor at the end.  Reconciliation between father and son.

Cast Photos

Iron Man

So this was the movie that really started it all off, and it was awesome.  But that is a lot more significant than you might think.  This was the real beginning of the MCU.  Back then, in 2008, nobody knew, nobody had any clue just how massive and how good the franchise would turn out to be.  I tend to think that if this movie had performed poorly at the box office, I doubt they would have made that many more of them. 

At that time, superhero movies were not that highly regarded, and it’s no wonder why.  There were a few successful examples like the first two Superman films, or the first two Batman movies.  But then both of those properties turned out some real clunkers, and superhero movies became jokes.  Yes, there were a lot of good examples of superhero movies like some successful Spider-man films or the X-men franchise, but even they eventually started to go down the same road.  I mean, just look at the multiple attempts to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen or even The Incredible Hulk.  Put them all together with films like Cat Woman and Green Lantern, and you have a hard nut to crack  But Iron man was a good movie first, and a superhero movie second.  And defying expectations, the movies in the Marvel franchise just kept getting better.  But even after all the MCU installments that have been released up to date, this one is still very re-watchable.  It still holds up.  The story, the acting, the visual effects, the characters, the humor, and the exciting action sequences, all combine to make for a really entertaining movie.

Of course, the casting was spot on.  Can you imagine anyone but Robert Downey Jr. playing the part of Tony Stark?  Of course not.  It is his role, and nobody else’s.  Gwyneth Paltrow, playing the part of his professional assistant, Pepper Potts, was great, as was Jon Favreau, playing his bodyguard and driver, Happy Hogan.  Other notable members of the cast were Terrence Howard as James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, and Shaun Toub as Ho Yensin.  Then there were the bad guys, Jeff Bridges as Obediah Stane, and Faran Tahir as Raza.  Everyone took their jobs seriously and turned in great performances.

And about the story, I have to say that the creators tried to base as much of the fantasy in reality as they could.  They eased audiences into the concept of a guy in a technologically magical suit of armor by starting off rough and clunky, and the letting us see the development and evolution of the super-suit.  The started us off in the real world, and introduced elements that could almost be seen as possible in the world in which we live.  We didn’t have to stretch our imaginations too far to see the progression… with one exception.  During Stark’s escape from the terrorists, he flies out and ends up falling out of the sky to land in the desert.  I’m sorry, but, the fall would have killed him, or at least broken half the bones in his body.  But he just walks it off.

So the villain, wonderfully played by Jeff Bridges, (I don’t think he was ever given an official super-villain name) was good, even though he followed a very common comic book nemesis trope.  He was just a carbon copy of the hero.  So the real conflict was resolved by who knew how to use the technology better.  Who was smarter?  Well, clearly, Stark, who was the real genius from whom Stane stole all the tech needed to make his own power armor.  It made sense that Tony was able to out-smart the bad guy several times and kill him.  Yeah, amazing how easily Stark took to killing, isn’t it?  First the terrorists, then former business partners gone bad.

I also loved Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson.  I liked the character, and I liked the way the actor portrayed him.  And though I liked Terrence Howard, I didn’t mind that they changed the actor to Don Cheadle in subsequent films.  It isn’t that Howard was bad.  It’s just that Cheadle was better.  And just one final thought.  After watching the entire Infinity Saga, then re-watching this movie, it becomes clear that right from the beginning, Kevin Feige had a revolutionary master plan that worked beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.  It was a huge risk that paid off.  Like I said:  good movie first, superhero movie second.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Tony’s conversation with the soldiers in the convoy, perfectly establishing his character right from the beginning.
2. Tony’s Escape from the terrorists.
3. Tony asks Pepper to reach into his chest.
4. Stark builds his new Iron Man armor and tests its flight capabilities.
5. Tony and Pepper almost kiss.
6. Iron Man saves the villagers in Yinsen’s home village.
7. Pepper is almost caught by Stane when she hacks into his computer and learns of his involvement in Stark’s abduction.
8. Iron Man fights Stane and kills him by asking Pepper to overload the big Arc Reactor.
9. “I am Iron Man”
10. The Post Credit scene where Nick Fury makes an appearance.