I'll start this Monday Morning with my Roundup,
but my Review of Thor: The Dark World will be after the jump.
Thor:TDW made $86.1 million this past weekend in the States.
Combining that with the film's international gross, it's made over $327 million so far.
For the record, the film's budget was $170 million. So yeah...it made a profit.
Did any other films come out? I don't remember.
Last chance to avoid the spoiler-filled review...
...you've been warned.
Okay, usually I give a spoiler-free Movie First-Impression, but I just couldn't wait.
To date, I've seen the film twice, the second time with Adorkette. Both were in IMAX/3D, and yes, 3D is cool - but not for my living room.
I'll start with the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer...how awesome was that?
* Yes, the extended fight scene in the elevator was cool, but with the 3D thing I was hoping to see more of
the scene where he jumps parachute-free out of the plane.
* It was nice to see Sebastian Stan without the scarf over his face.
* If we're at the point now where every single Marvel Studios film has a trailer for another Marvel Studios film, I'm happy.
Onto the film.
The Good:
LOKI
Hiddleston owned the role and played it to the hilt. Both times I saw it, not one person yelled or gasped when it looked like he bought it. Everybody knew Loki's going to be around for a while. But there were some "oohs" and "ahhs" when he was sitting on the throne at the end. Including me.
THOR
Hemmsworth spent most of this film doing what Thor does - fight, pose and swoon the ladies. There's no question that Loki's the main attraction, but the film did a good job reminding us that this is about Thor and not his brother.
MALEKITH and KURSE
Christopher Eccleston did a great job as the villain. Yeah, my mind went to the Ninth Doctor, but only a little. Kurse is just badass. I hope to see him miraculously brought back to life by THE VILLAIN TO REMAIN UNNAMED in Avengers 3.
ERIK SELVIG
More comedic relief than anything, his scenes were fun.
STAN LEE"S CAMEO
'Nuff Said!
THE OTHER ASGARDIANS
We saw more of Sif, and Heimdall, but...
The Bad:
...there wasn't enough of the others. Yeah, we saw Volstagg, and Fandral for a bit, but it felt like Hogun was written out of the script. I was looking for Enchantress, Valkyrie, Balder, Karnilla, Hela or even Tyr...who's mentioned by name in the cast! Speaking of Asgardians...
FRIGGA"S DEATH
For one thing, we should have seen her fight more first. Let her take out a few Dark Elves. Rene Russo is awesome. It was nice to see where Loki got his illusion making skills, but as well-shot as the funeral scene was, all I kept thinking was f**kin' Lord of the Rings.
THE BATTLE OF ASGARD
Heimdall's destruction of the ship was awesome...but when the other ships started flying...and Asgardian ships started flying...and the cannon towers were firing...all I saw was Star Wars.
Maybe it's just me, but seeing things in a film that remind me of other films takes me out of the moment. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but most understandable not the intent of the filmmakers.
The WTF?: I was a little nervous when it started with a voice over. That's usually a sign that there's a lot of set-up. But the battle scene was beautiful to look at...and a little reminiscent of Lord of the Rings...but it went by pretty quickly.
LOKI'S ILLUSION ABLILTY
It's hinted throughout the film that he gained Frigga's ability to cast illusions. But - Loki isn't her biological son, so I guess that means it isn't an ability so much as a skill?
THE OTHER CAMEO
Seeing Chris Evans playing Hiddleston playing Cap was wonderful. Wouldn't it be great to see a gag reel on this film when it comes to Blu-ray? And wouldn't be greater to see...I dunno...five more clips of that scene...with the other Avengers actors improvising their lines?
ONE DOWN...FIVE TO GO
Okay - having the tesseract be one of the Infinity Gems, called Infinity Stones in the MMU, was ridiculous to me...at first. Then I thought about it. Since the tesseract has nothing to do with the cosmic cube in the books, Marvel Studios could do anything they want with it. So then I scratched my head and said "Well what about the Infinity Gauntlet from Thor?" So I went back and looked. If you look really close...and I mean really close...you'll see that it should be a left-hand glove instead of a right-hand one. But you'll also see that one of the gems/stones is missing! There's a trick of the lights bouncing off the thing that makes you think they're all there, but check it out. After seeing that I thought "Well which one is it?" Then I smacked my head. POWER!...duh?
So at the end of Thor:TDW we see Sif and Volstagg give another of Odin's stones to Collector. It's red, but that doesn't mean anything. BUT - by having Collector in the MMU, does that mean all the Elders of the Universe are there too? Good to know not everything cosmic went to Fox.
(I had a feeling Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet would be the plot for Avengers 3, good to see them moving in that direction.) Hopefully we'll start learning a bit about each of the other Stones and what they can do. My guess is that Guardians of the Galaxy will have this second Stone in the plot, and maybe some insight into a third?
But what I really want to know is: How the heck did the tesseract get to Earth in the first place?
THE OTHER POST-CREDIT SCENE
Either the AoS crossover episode will deal with this ice creature on the loose, or with some nobody who starts using Selvig's spike-things.
CHRIS O'DOWD
Gotta admit, I was hoping there'd be something more to his character. WTF?
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