I've seen a half dozen movies between this one and the previous one, but I'm observing how the bad movies just blur together in a horrific paste of blandness. It's like taking a big gooey bite of cold oatmeal and sprinting to the kitchen soap just to save what taste-buds you might have had.
Thor is nothing special. It isn't the kitchen soap I'm looking for, but it did have one redeeming feature: the villain.
Loki is Thor's brother and, whereas Thor is basically destined (you can tell by his Aryan appearance) to become King, it's Loki's job to find a place for himself. But Thor and Loki aren't brothers: Loki was born from the Frost Giants, the movie's default bad guys. Odin, Thor's father, changed Loki's appearance to that of human, and raised him as a son.
Why would Odin kidnap an infant and raise it as his own? At the time, Odin explained that Loki was an innocent caught in a war. And later, maybe, Loki could be given back to the Frost Giants as a demonstration of Odin's mercy, Look at how I loved a Frost Giant as my own son; surely this proves how little hate exists in my heart.
It's a convoluted and complex backstory. It's the sort of revelation that can shock a character and an audience. And Loki learns about it in the worst way: on his own.
Loki is angry and rages at Odin over the deception, and Odin steps in it again by saying that he was never going to reveal the truth to Loki, ever. The plan, to use Loki as evidence to his own merciful streak, fell apart when it became clear that the Frost Giants were irredeemably evil and couldn't be negotiated with. In the meantime, Odin loved Loki as a son and couldn't bear to hurt him with the truth.
It's a story with the twists and turns befitting the fickle emotions of the heart. This truth was a Damocles sword over Odin's head, and when Loki accused him over never intending anyone other than Thor, the favored son, to ascend the throne, it hurt Odin because it was the truth. Loki totally called it right.
A theme of the film is that everything happens for a reason. And a savvy audience will see that in the end, Loki was adopted, raised, and trained in magic, all so that the truth of his life could mold him into a villain for Thor to defeat. This just enhances the tragedy of the character, that even as he struggles to find meaning in his own life, he is destined to fail and he lives only to have his brother climb over his corpse to the throne.
Loki began telling key lies to put Thor out of the picture (don't come back, father is dead), frame the Frost King for the murder of Odin, and then killing the Frost King to appear as the hero. Loki would not be denied his adopted birthright because of the life he was removed from.
So Loki would become the hero that Thor tried to be, and he more or less succeeded. It was Thor's untimely return that spoiled these plans. And after a pointless CGI fight, Thor stops Loki's plan to destroy the realm of the Frost Giants - why would he do this? Because the Frost Giants are a reminder of his own internal weakness, his genetic corruption. The Frost Giants are monsters, freaks, and despicable criminals; their existence would be a painful and embarrassing reminder to Loki to the truth of his own existence.
By destroying them he believes he'd be conquering his own internal demons. That by killing the beast without, he'd be taming the beast within. It's genocide, which Thor calls him out on, but Loki reminds Thor that genocide was what he was proposing a week prior. Thor-from-a-week-ago would have done this same exact thing, and Thor is too stupid to come up with a suitable reply.
Loki is just such a more complex, well-written character that by comparison, I'm more sympathetic to him than to Thor. Thor is the High School Jock born with a silver spoon, and when it becomes apparent he's a rotten human being, Odin takes away the keys to the family Ferrari and Thor becomes depressed.
Thor's lowest moment is when the Ferrari won't start. And then he redeems himself and regains his confidence by sacrificing his life to, possibly, save civilians. I'm just saying, the film didn't show how Thor knew the Destroyer was after him - it could have been after the Party of Four who broke the King's commandment for no one to use the Bi-Frost.
Thor's arc is so simplistic and shallow compared to Loki's, that I'm firmly convinced that there's a movement among writers to create spectacular villains in protest to how lame the heroes are.
Thor is nothing special. It isn't the kitchen soap I'm looking for, but it did have one redeeming feature: the villain.
Loki is Thor's brother and, whereas Thor is basically destined (you can tell by his Aryan appearance) to become King, it's Loki's job to find a place for himself. But Thor and Loki aren't brothers: Loki was born from the Frost Giants, the movie's default bad guys. Odin, Thor's father, changed Loki's appearance to that of human, and raised him as a son.
Why would Odin kidnap an infant and raise it as his own? At the time, Odin explained that Loki was an innocent caught in a war. And later, maybe, Loki could be given back to the Frost Giants as a demonstration of Odin's mercy, Look at how I loved a Frost Giant as my own son; surely this proves how little hate exists in my heart.
It's a convoluted and complex backstory. It's the sort of revelation that can shock a character and an audience. And Loki learns about it in the worst way: on his own.
Loki is angry and rages at Odin over the deception, and Odin steps in it again by saying that he was never going to reveal the truth to Loki, ever. The plan, to use Loki as evidence to his own merciful streak, fell apart when it became clear that the Frost Giants were irredeemably evil and couldn't be negotiated with. In the meantime, Odin loved Loki as a son and couldn't bear to hurt him with the truth.
It's a story with the twists and turns befitting the fickle emotions of the heart. This truth was a Damocles sword over Odin's head, and when Loki accused him over never intending anyone other than Thor, the favored son, to ascend the throne, it hurt Odin because it was the truth. Loki totally called it right.
A theme of the film is that everything happens for a reason. And a savvy audience will see that in the end, Loki was adopted, raised, and trained in magic, all so that the truth of his life could mold him into a villain for Thor to defeat. This just enhances the tragedy of the character, that even as he struggles to find meaning in his own life, he is destined to fail and he lives only to have his brother climb over his corpse to the throne.
Loki began telling key lies to put Thor out of the picture (don't come back, father is dead), frame the Frost King for the murder of Odin, and then killing the Frost King to appear as the hero. Loki would not be denied his adopted birthright because of the life he was removed from.
So Loki would become the hero that Thor tried to be, and he more or less succeeded. It was Thor's untimely return that spoiled these plans. And after a pointless CGI fight, Thor stops Loki's plan to destroy the realm of the Frost Giants - why would he do this? Because the Frost Giants are a reminder of his own internal weakness, his genetic corruption. The Frost Giants are monsters, freaks, and despicable criminals; their existence would be a painful and embarrassing reminder to Loki to the truth of his own existence.
By destroying them he believes he'd be conquering his own internal demons. That by killing the beast without, he'd be taming the beast within. It's genocide, which Thor calls him out on, but Loki reminds Thor that genocide was what he was proposing a week prior. Thor-from-a-week-ago would have done this same exact thing, and Thor is too stupid to come up with a suitable reply.
Loki is just such a more complex, well-written character that by comparison, I'm more sympathetic to him than to Thor. Thor is the High School Jock born with a silver spoon, and when it becomes apparent he's a rotten human being, Odin takes away the keys to the family Ferrari and Thor becomes depressed.
Thor's lowest moment is when the Ferrari won't start. And then he redeems himself and regains his confidence by sacrificing his life to, possibly, save civilians. I'm just saying, the film didn't show how Thor knew the Destroyer was after him - it could have been after the Party of Four who broke the King's commandment for no one to use the Bi-Frost.
Thor's arc is so simplistic and shallow compared to Loki's, that I'm firmly convinced that there's a movement among writers to create spectacular villains in protest to how lame the heroes are.
