Thor: The Dark World opens in theatres, bringing with it Chris Hemsworth as the sledgehammer wielding superhero with his rippling muscles, crazy mythology and Dark Elves.
The Marvel comic series borrowed the character from Norse mythology, coopting the God Of Thunder’s most famous weapon, the Mjölnir. In myth the name translates to “that which smashes,” and refers to his hammer, a fearsome club capable of leveling mountains, causing lightning flashes and boomeranging back when he throws it.
“The power within Mjölnir,” he says, “doth rage like the winter storms bursting upon the shore in furious assault!”
According to Nordic legend the mallet was forged by dwarven brothers Sindri and Brokkr but Marvel embroidered the lore, adding to the story the fictional Asgardian metal uru as the main component of the basher and an inscription that reads, “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
The image of Thor flying through the air, propelled by Mjölnir, is the iconic picture from the comics and movies, but not from mythology.
According to legend Thor’s preferred mode of transport was a chariot drawn by two 1700-pound warrior goats named Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder. But they didn’t just provide transport, they also frequently provided dinner as well—literally.
After a long day of battle a tired Thor would be too tired to hunt for food, so he’d kill and eat the goats. When he was done, he’d carefully wrap the bones in their pelts, wave Mjölnir over the bloody mess, and before you could say “By the Hammer of Thor!” the goats would come back to life, ready for more adventures.
In the comics Thor has unlimited power when it comes to controlling the mighty hammer, unlike in mythology where he often used a magical belt called a Megingjörð and iron gloves to give him the strength to employ Mjölnir to its full effect.
The hammer has also had an influence outside of the movies, mythology and comics. The sci fi show Stargate SG-1 used the Mjölnir as a plot device, The Thor’s Hammer Organization are the bad guys of the Silent Storm video game series and the dramatic lyrics “And out of the forge of dwarfs, To hold in your hand now, And for evermore, I give you the Hammer of Thor,” came from the Viking folk rock band Týr.
SYNOPSIS: When we first meet Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) they are third stringers, talented Formula 3 drivers desperate for a chance to move up to the big show. Bad blood flows between the two, stemming back to an incident when Hunt edged Lauda off the track the first time they faced off against one another. Cut to the 1976 Formula 1 season. Lauda seems unstoppable, until tragedy strikes and Lauda is badly burned in a fiery crash. During his recuperation Hunt rises in the ranks, leading to a showdown, just 50 days after Lauda’s accident, for the World Championship at the Japan Grand Prix.
STAR RATINGS:
Richard: 4 Stars
Mark: 3 Stars
Richard: Mark, in some ways Rush is a paint-by-numbers story—Formulaic 1, maybe?—of opposites. Lauda and Hunt face off in predictable ways—the kind of thing we’ve seen in other sports films—but the film really takes off in its second half when the characters show some growth and the racing scenes take center stage. Director Ron Howard takes us inside the cars—literally. The races are exciting, visceral and as close as I’ll ever get to rounding a hairpin curve at super sonic speeds. What did you think?
Mark: The races are well done, no doubt. But there has to be more, and often there is. I loved the groovy Euro-Seventies milieu of the movie, the sensuality of the cars themselves, and the behind the scenes politics of the Formula 1 game. But the movie is episodic, and lacks-wait for the pun-narrative drive. Chris Hemsworth is an arrogant rogue in the Lightning McQueen mode, but Daniel Brühl plays a rival racer with the soul of an actuary. Neither of them are exactly nice guys; in fact, they’re a couple of grand prix.
RC: Ha! I liked Brühl. It would have been easy to play Lauda as a one-note egotist, but as his character finds his passion after the horrific accident, Brühl adds complexity, bringing him to life as a fully rounded man. Hemsworth hammers it home, proving there is more to him than playing superhero Thor in The Avengers movies but I really thought Brühl showed the most range.
MB: Burning half your face off will often give you that range. He goes from a man who won’t smile to one who can’t smile. But he’s also an unsympathetic martinet for a lot of the movie, and I kept waiting for Ron Howard to go back to the Hemsworth story, which was more fun. How do you think the movie stacks up against classic racing movies like Le Mans or Winning?
RC: I think it compares well to movies like Winning, Grand Prix and Days of Thunder, but the racing flick it has most in common with has to be Le Mans, just for sheer speed demon spirit. Remember Steve McQueen famous quote about racing? “Anything that happens before or after… is just waiting.”
MB: A good quote indeed. I thought Rush was a bit more realistic than the other movies, less romanticized, and had the balance of storyline and racing just about right.
“Rush,” the new Ron Howard film about the rivalry of real-life Formula One racers, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), provides insight on the “rebels, lunatics and dreamers,” who strap themselves into “a coffin, filled with high octane fuel” and drive 120 miles per hour.
When we first meet Lauda and Hunt they are third stringers, talented Formula 3 drivers desperate for a chance to move up to the big show. Lauda makes a financial deal that lands him on Team Ferrari while Hunt uses tenacity, charm and a touch of desperation to grab a spot with the McLaren team.
Bad blood flows between the two, stemming back to an incident when Hunt edged Lauda off the track the first time they faced off against one another. That rivalry spills over from the track as the two engage in name-calling and spar in the press.
In the 1976 season Lauda seems unstoppable, a sure bet to reclaim his World Champion title. Then tragedy strikes as Lauda is badly burned in a fiery crash. During his recuperation Hunt rises in the ranks, leading to a showdown, just 50 days after Lauda’s accident, for the World Championship at the Japan Grand Prix.
In some ways “Rush” is a paint-by-numbers story—Formulaic 1, maybe?—of opposites.
Lauda is methodical, reserved, clinical, egotistical, a man who races not for passion, but as an exercise in control and discipline. “If I had more talent,” he says, “and could earn more money at something else, I would.”
Hunt, on the other hand, is a wild card driven by passion and aggression; a flamboyant but troubled man who wore racing overalls embroidered with Sex: The Breakfast of Champions.
The pair face off in predictable ways—the kind of thing we’ve seen in other sports films—but the film really takes off in its second half when the characters show some growth and the racing scenes take center stage.
Howard takes us inside the cars—literally. Close-ups of revving engines and point of view shots form the driver’s visors make the race scenes a you-are-there feel, placing the viewer in the cockpit. They are exciting, visceral and as close as I’ll ever get to rounding a hairpin curve at super sonic speeds.
Hemsworth hammers it home, proving there is more to him than playing superhero Thor in “The Avengers” movies but it is Brühl who shows the most range.
It would have been easy to play Lauda as a one-note egotist, but as his character finds his passion after the horrific accident, Brühl adds complexity, bringing him to life as a fully rounded man.
“Rush” is more than “Rocky” on four wheels, it’s an exhilarating, stylish film with pedal-to-the-metal verve.
That quartet of words conjures up images of burning rubber, revving engines and lightening fast pit stops.
This weekend the new Ron Howard movie Rush tries to capture the excitement of Formula 1 racing. Daniel Brühl stars as Niki Lauda, the real life Austrian driver and three-time F1 World Champion who faced off against British legend James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) at the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship at Fuji in Japan.
The story of their rivalry promises not only a great sport story, but also pedal to the metal action and fiery crashes. Like racing kingpin Dale Ernhardt Sr. once said, “You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.”
Just ask the producers of Days of Thunder, who destroyed 35 cars during the shooting of the Tom Cruise racing flick.
Loosely based on the relationship between crew chief Harry Hyde and driver Tim Richmond—played by Robert Duvall and real life racing enthusiast Cruise—and set in the world of Nascar, Days of Thunder is essentially Top Gun on four wheels, but it does feature some thrilling scenes and deafening engine noise.
As for the autos, most were Chevrolets fitted with fake stock cars fiberglass bodies. Not exactly built for the kind of speed required for the film, they regularly broke down and at one point half the fleet was in the shop.
Whatever James Garner’s Grand Prix lacks in story—there basically isn’t one—it makes up for with exhilarating racing footage. To fulfill director John Frankenheimer’s wish for realistic race scenes the cars actually raced at speeds of up to 130 miles per hour. In the past racing sequences had been shot at slower speeds and then sped up in post-production, but Frankenheimer felt that technique would look fake to an audience who was now used to watching racing on television.
Equally exciting for race fans is Le Mans. The advertising tagline for this 1971 film raves, “Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!”
“When you’re racing, it… it’s life,” says Michael Delaney (McQueen). “Anything that happens before or after… is just waiting.”
“Red Dawn,” starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh “The Hunger Games” Hutcherson and Connor Anthony Kidman Cruise (yes, he’s their son!), is contrived, silly and even just this side of racist–just like the original–but is it, like its fore-bearer, also so bad it’s good? Or is it just bad?
The new movie has a new set of bad guys and an updated cast of chisel jawed stars, but boiled down to its basics it’s a faithful remake of the 1984 film. The Russian communist hoards have been replaced by North Korean invaders and Chris “Thor” Hemsworth steps in for Patrick Swayze.
Set in Spokane, Washington the movie sees a ragtag group of rebels fight off the North Korean Army who have somehow managed to launch a surprise attack on the entire United States. “We inherited our freedom,” says Jed (Hemsworth), “now it’s up to us to fight for it.”
Released at the tail end of the Cold War, the first film was a fist-pumping all-American freak out; a violent tour de force guaranteed to make patriotic hearts swell with pride. A Red, White and Blue Dawn.
The new film wants to be the same kind of crowd pleaser, but it’s too talky-talky and not enough boom-boomy.
For a small militia up against a well organized, ruthless army they seem to spend a lot of time reminiscing and bonding. They talk and laugh, I suppose to give the audience a chance to get to know them, trouble is, not one of them is terribly interesting unless they ‘re shooting at or blowing up the enemy. When they’re not getting mushy they state the obvious, like, “We can’t just call 911,” which doesn’t even qualify as unintentionally funny. Worse, to say they are cardboard characters is an insult to the pulp and paper industry.
The fun of these kind of movies lies in the action scenes and the cheese-ball dialogue, and, to its credit the movie gets going in its last forty minutes. New characters are introduced, the North Koreans say things like “The vicious rodents are attacking!” and the relationship nonsense that bogged down the first half is replaced with the stuff you expect from a movie like this–explosions and good triumphing over evil.
By then, however, you almost hope the North Koreans take over, because they might be more interesting than the bland American stars.
Its hammer time at the movies this weekend. Thor, the sledgehammer superhero feels like an amuse-bouche for the big Avengers movie coming up next year, but with its rippling muscles, crazy mythology and giant Frost monsters, it’s still a bit of fun. Not “Iron Man” fun, but more of a good time than you’d imagine a superhero movie directed by Kenneth Branagh might be.
Based on the Marvel comic book, the action in “Thor” really begins with our hero about to be named king by his father (Anthony Hopkins). Seconds before daddy says the words, “You are king,” Frost Giants from an enemy realm interrupt the ceremony. Furious that his big day has been marred Thor (Chris Hemsworth) disobeys his father and skips realms to confront the invaders. The punishment for his reckless, arrogant behavior is banishment to Earth and the arms of meteorologist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), which isn’t so bad, but he misses his home planet.
Branagh brings a Shakespearean feel to the story, blending all the bard’s universal themes—love, deception, death and daddy issues—with the stuff of superhero movies. Classing up the joint a little bit is Anthony Hopkins, although the way he chews the scenery it’s like he hasn’t eaten in a month.
Unlike its star, however, the incredibly buff Chris Hemsworth, the movie is a bit soft in the middle. It starts off well, slows to a crawl midway, but as soon as Thor Gets His Groove back… er… Gets His Hammer Back the movie gets back on track.
The big problem here is the love story. Natalie Portman may be the hottest women in Hollywood right now, but the pirouettes that propelled her to Oscar glory this year are noticeably missing here. I think she’s miscast, a feeling reinforced by the presence of Kat Dennings in a throwaway role that she turns into a charismatic supporting part on the strength of her quirky comic timing. This movie would have more zip in the deadly mid section if she was the lead.
As for Hemsworth, initially I didn’t know if he was going to cut it with his oh-so-serious line delivery, but later, when he’s on earth he seems to be having fun as “the Mighty Thor” slow to realize he’s lost his powers. The dramatic delivery brings a laugh when he goes into a pet store demanding to buy a horse so he can continue his journey. The movie actually is a lot funnier than I thought it would be, which, for a movie featuring costumes that wouldn’t look out of place in a Chippendale’s show is saying something.
“Thor” is a good popcorn movie, but be warned, it’s thunderously loud. Louder than Thor’s snores after a Busgrogg binge. Take earplugs.
The Avengers stars a group of actors who were well known before they donned the capes and mechanical suits of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk.
Of them, Robert Downey Jr. was the best known, while the Chrises, Evans and Hemsworth were talented up-and-comers and Mark Ruffalo was the Oscar-nominated indie king.
With the film breaking box office records in its worldwide release, it’s fair to say each of these actors will now go from superheroes to superstars.
But what about before they could leap tall buildings in a single bound? (I know that was Superman, but you get my point!) Here are some movies that helped shape this quartet of actors into stars.
Robert Downey Jr.
Despite saying, “I know very little about acting. I’m just an incredibly gifted faker,” Downey has developed into what Esquire called “the second best actor in the world.”
Ten years ago, however, Downey was better known for his extracurricular activities than his films. His committed, loopy performances made him a star at a young age and netted him an Oscar nomination for playing Charlie Chaplin, but drugs and alcohol sidelined him until 2001 when, clean and sober, he rebuilt his career.
MUST SEES: Less Than Zero, Natural Born Killers, Chaplin, Good Night & Good Luck, Richard III.
Chris Evans
Evans played a superhero in Fantastic Four and its sequel, but it took Captain America to make him an A-list star.
He’s flip-flopped between mainstream fare like Not Another Teen Movie and edgier films like The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, to “show some layers. I’m not just a superhero-action guy.”
MUST SEES: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Puncture, Fierce People.
Chris Hemsworth
Hemsworth made his American debut as George Kirk, father to the icon character James T. in the reboot of Star Trek.
Already a soap (Home and Away) and reality show (Dancing with the Stars) star in Australia, the muscle bound performer beat out dozens of actors to win the role of Thor, including his own brother Liam Hemsworth.
MUST SEES: Cabin in the Woods, A Perfect Getaway.
Mark Ruffalo
Early comparisons to Marlon Brando earned Ruffalo roles in an interesting array of films. Playing Laura Linney’s slacker brother in You Can Count on Me made him a star and indie film darling.
MUST SEES: My Life Without Me, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shutter Island, The Kids Are All Right.
“The Avengers,” the new all-superhero-all-the-time Marvel movie, was going to go one of two ways. Either it would be a Frankenstein of the movie; a stitched together monstrosity that cannibalized the remains of the successful movies that came before.
Or it could have been a state-of-the-art geek fest that wove together the separate backstories of its lead characters—Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)—into one seamless super-cool spectacle.
Luckily it’s the former. Director and co-writer Joss Whedon was up to the unenviable task of mixing and matching mythologies, combining them into one epic film that sets a new benchmark for superhero movies (at least until “The Dark knight Rises” comes out).
At stake is nothing less than the freedom of every man, woman and child on earth. The trouble starts when Thor’s brother, exiled god Loki (Tom Hiddleston), steps through a portal into the super secret S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Confronted by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) Loki explains his intention steal S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most coveted possession, the Tesseract, a glowing cube that holds the key to unlimited sustainable energy. Of course Loki isn’t interested in creating green energy, he wants to rule the world. Fury knows that he is “hopelessly and hilariously out-gunned,” but if there is a chance to save the planet it lies in the skills of a disparate group of superheroes– Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor–and their helpers–Black Widow and Hawkeye.
“The Avengers” has everything you expect from a superhero—or should that be superheri?—movie and more. All the usual clichés are in place—the earth is in peril, there’s giant action set pieces, a super villain with super powers and special effects galore, including the now-standard-for-every-superhero-movie lightening beam from earth to sky—but the best special effect is Joss Whedon’s expert juggling of the major characters.
Each if the lead heroes are stars in their own right, and each has already had their own movie. Whedon’s job was to bring them together, allow each time to shine, but also work together as an ensemble. He succeeds. As the nominal lead Downey Jr. smarms his way through his now trademarked “Iron Man” one liners, Evans emerges as a thoughtful symbol of patriotism, and Hemsworth flexes his muscles in a most impressive way. This olio of heroism gives us what we want from the characters but also freshens the formula.
It’s Ruffalo, however, who really impresses.
The Hulk has had a tough time on the big screen. Ang Lee’s version flopped. The Ed Norton adaptation didn’t really work, but Ruffalo and Whedon have finally figured out how to balance the Hulk’s humanity with his fury. You’ll like him when he gets angry.
“The Avengers” embraces the high-octane tradition of superhero movie—although this movie is by no means wall-to-wall action—but tempers it with sparkling dialogue, geek wit and the silly pleasure of seeing grown men in costumes spouting one-liners as they try and save the planet.
It’s hammer time at the movies this weekend.
