The first photo from Thor featured an obscure shot of Chris Hemsworth as the title character. There really wasn’t much to judge. He looks like he has one of those Batman-like suits on, only his cape is red with a massive silver bolt holding it onto his giant wing-like shoulder pads. Sure, it looks like something Lady Gaga would wear while walking her dogs, but whatever. Lady Gaga would probably wear this suit to walk her dogs.
Then came the full on Thor concept art, which obviously looks a lot like the final suit with a CG cape and his hammer of the Gods, looking like he was going to put in a hard day of work on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” or “Holmes on Homes.” Suffice to say, it just looks silly, but…
…it gets even worse. Just what the hell is this? Is this just three guys playing dress up and we’re supposed to take it seriously because Anthony Hopkins is front and center? Sorry, but this looks goofy as hell. Where are they? A marble sewer system? I’m sure someone familiar with the comic book knows exactly what’s going on here, but man-oh-man, if this is the best they can do with the first batch of official photos it isn’t inspiring any kind of confidence. By the way, is that Charlie’s Golden Ticket over Anthony’s eye?
Today the above image debuted on SlashFilm after being scanned out of the “Los Angeles Times” and according to their write-up this is the Hall of Asgard, featuring a kneeling Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Asgardians Fandral the Dashing (Josh Dallas), Hogun the Grim (Tadanobu Asano) and Frigga (Rene Russo); and Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) both sporting ceremonial helmets. Also, I understand the big ol’ birds up there to be Odin’s ravens named Huginn and Muninn, sort of his carrier pigeons of some sort.
While not as bad as the full photo of Hopkins and clan (most likely because it’s a wide shot) this isn’t improving things by any stretch. This film just doesn’t look very good…
Perhaps director Kenneth Branagh was going for the old school look Superman had and is mixing the idea of new-fangled costumes and capes with low rent sets, but I would think cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos would at least make it look good, but based on the fact his most prominent feature to date is Mamma Mia! perhaps that seems like expecting too much.
I just wonder, if Thor is a bust when it hits theaters on May 6, 2011 what does that do for Paramount’s plans for The Avengers (May 4, 2012)? Same for The First Avenger: Captain America (July 22, 2011). They are counting on these movies to be, at the very least, moderate successes. Perhaps not as big as Iron Man, which itself had a second film most fans didn’t shine to as much as the first (personally I liked it a little more), but at least big enough to encourage more films.
Of course, not everything can be said with a picture, but considering these are the first official photos chosen to be shown you would assume they are among the very best to show. Wouldn’t you?
