Fun fact: The term for starting the story in the middle and then rewinding the story to show you how they got to that point is called “in media res” which means “in the midst of things”, but it was actually originally called Blue Harvest
I for one think Hawkeye’s appearance in this movie is the BEST CAMEO in the MCU because it’s the first instance of, like, RANDOM occurrences of “Hey all these blokes muck about in the same universe”. I think they’ve gotta do it more
I agree, I wish we got more appearances of small time characters just as one off things just to say, hey these guys exist and this is a world with other things going on and heroes we don't always see.
I agree nowadays they dont do it anymore because everyone gets their own solo movie or series, but its cool knowing hes gonna be in the next movie, hes already cast and already active in the universe
I always interpreted the closing seconds of the Thor: First Thor as Jane somehow finding a way to reach Asgard from Earth using technology. Cause it ends with Heimdall saying she's looking for Thor and goes into this flowing shot that starts with her in her lab and transitions into this credit sequence flying through space that ends at Asgard. I assumed next time we saw Thor he'd be transporting himself using a gadget Jane developed. But then in Avengers they handwave the rainbow bridge being destroyed away by going "Oden used dark magic or whatever...".
I do love Thor 1. I think it captured the character and his origins near perfectly and I'm always so disappointed when I see people regularly compare it to the stodgy, boring mess that was The Dark World and when people lump it with the latter in favour of Ragnarok being the complete 'reinvention' of the character that 'saved him'. Where Thor was dull, lifeless, near humourless and weak in The Dark World, he was confident, charming, endearing and fun in the first movie and it's odd people act like that began with Ragnarok.
I really love Ragnarok- basically because it reminds me of the fun of 1980's Flash Gordon- but after rewatching all of them, it amazes me how much people miss that Ragnarok builds off of & references both previous Thor movies! I am lowering my expectations for the new one though; I loved the first trailer but later trailers & clips + some reactions make me cautious.
I don’t see how anybody can compare Thor 1 and 2. Thor 2 is definitely not good, but Thor 1 is perfectly good! It’s nit Thor 3, but then again neither is nearly any other Marvel movie.
It’s probably cause his characterization started to shift to that more boring presentation during Avengers, which more people are probably familiar with than Thor 1
I've always loved the first Thor film; it's the perfect mix of cosmic and down-to-earth for an origin movie. Plus, the casting is 100% on point. That said, the blond eyebrows are terrible.
No, they're not. The actor should look like the character as close as possible, even if makeup work is required. That's called acting, idiot. Also, he should've shaved his beard, to look exactly like Thor of the comics.
This movie holds up better than people remember - and it's also very accessible to an older audience if you're trying to get your parents into Marvel movies (just show them Captain America 1 first and then when it comes time for this one, mention how Anthony Hopkins is in it).
On rewatch, this one doesn't hold up compared to anything in phase one or two, it's so boring. There is so little tension or stakes and the characters motivations are all over the place. Poorly directed in my opinion, the guy had no idea what he was doing with the characters, story and most of all, the camera.
YES!!! This is still one of my favorite soundtracks. I trained and ran my 2nd full marathon with the "Thor Kills the Destroyer" track stuck in my head more or less on an infinite loop.
1:26 funnily enough, this is exactly how I've been taking in my weekly planet content lately. I spend hours at work alone, waxing floors or scrubbing school desks and these guys keep me company with their random movie and TV show talk. I love it.
After all these years I am still waiting for Thor to gloat that he has a weekday named after him. Cannot believe nobody has written that into one of these movies.
Even though it had it's issues, Thor, the first Thor, did the impossible. It made me give a damn about Thor when the comics never grabbed my attention.
I feel the MCU did that for pretty much all the Marvel characters for me outside of the X-Men, Hulk, and Spiderman. But especially for Thor and Captain America. At the time I couldn't imagine them making Thor or Cap look good in Live Action.
Exactly. You realize that Thor's 77-80 run was BI-MONTHLY. So was Capt America and so was Iron Man. The Invaders which was a repurposed series with Sub-Mariner, Toro, and Cap occurred during WW2 and it was monthly and Capt America series had to ADD the Falcon to even be relevant during that stage.
Comics Thor was always this weirdly self-important ass, which I thought the films captured really well but then actually turned into an endearing trait and character growth.
I remember walking out of the theater at the end and thinking "wow they figured out how to build this universe, they're actually going to build it!" and I was extremely excited. It was visceral.
This movie doesn't get enough credit when you consider how easily it could have been the worst movie ever made. Same with Captain America really, These movies could have easily been laughable and ridiculous. And if they didn't work -- there'd have been no foundation to build the MCU upon.
Overall, the people who hate on Marvel movies because they’re “roller coaster movies” don’t give these movies their due credit. The MCU was able to successfully transition the whacky/weird source material onto the big screen as something that genuinely works “in real life”. Sure it’s goofy stuff compared to other “real life” but they were able to nail some things that you could say “I could see this happening in real life” all while keeping true to the source material and making it seem somewhat grounded. Let’s not forget the great job they did with character development. Thor has grown over the years, and Thanos was such an imposing and impactful character despite being entirely CG.
@@dmolmalowski on your first viewing or your third? First time I saw I enjoyed it as well. But on a rewatch there is so little substance, what do you find so engaging about it?
One of Marvel's most underrated films. I thought this move was brilliant. For what it was at the time with the characters that are involved this was incredible. That scene where Loki confronts Odin regarding his true origins is just chef's kiss.
Yeah, that was great and I love how it was treated seriously which is my issue with the Taika Thor films. Thier so steeped in absurd humor, they can't do drama. The destruction of Asgard should've been handled seriously.
@@Wolfman7870 I understand with the Waititi films. Look this is a silly world. We can't really go dramatic with this. I mean we can but in the context of the MCU that's not what you wanna do. What Waititi did is embrace the absurdity of this premise where taking it seriously before with the dark world failed.
Loki confronting Odin is still one of my favorite scenes in the entire MCU. Hiddleston is just stellar. I wish the Thor movies kept that level of emotional weight. Now Thor, himself, just seems to always regress in maturity regardless of what struggles he overcomes. People don't even register that he's lost so much because he's become so jokey.
@@jessecortez9449 It's because the Thor movies were considered probably the weakest of the main avengers. 1 is good but the 2nd one is the most generic MCU movie there is. I like that they took a different approach and embraced the wackiness with Taika Watiti.
The character dynamics were pretty captivating, but the lore wasn’t super clear and didn’t get interesting until like the C plot of Ragnarok; the Guillermo del Toro iterations sounds interesting
@@hellfish2309 the lore wasn't super clear? The movie's opening alone does better job at explaining the history of Asgard and its enemies than Ragnajoke did in its entire 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not only that, Ragnajoke only has boring exposition with no visuals, and plus it contradicts everything this movie set up. A complete joke of a movie.
Fun fact: At the time, Kevin Fiege said that the casting for Thor and Loki were the two most important casting choices they would have to make thus far. The code name for the casting process was called Blue Harvest.
We're almost 30 films into the MCU and I think more and more people are starting to appreciate this one more because it's the only MCU, or really the only Marvel film in general, that tries to be like Shakespeare and it really stands out from the others because of it.
Personally, I really like how Kenneth committed to the shakespearean tone. Regardless, we can all agree Sarah Haley Finn knocked it out of the park once again finding a literal soap actor who from Oz out of nowhere
Casting Tom Hiddleston as Loki was one of the best decisions they've ever made. Also, I too enjoyed the first one very much, Thor, Loki, Odin and Frigga were on point
The town in Norway that is in the beginning of this movie and Captain America, is also the same town that becomes New Asgard in Endgame and Love and Thunder. So it’s cool to see them keeping that as a thru-line
I think a lot of people miss the fact that Loki's plot was genuinely that he was pulling a simple prank that just escalated to the point where he gets Thor banished and he's just making it up as he goes along from there. Because I always see a bunch of arguments that like compare this to all the other convoluted schemes in superhero movies or talk about how his motivations seem to be all over the place and you can't tell when and where he's being genuine. But like I _really_ like that Loki's whole deal in this franchise is that he just fucked up really badly one day and he's just been doubling down on being the villain ever since. Overall, I like this movie. From an aesthetic standpoint, I think where they eventually take the look of Thor and the Asgardians look way better than it does here, but clearly they're just experimenting at this point. I like that the plot's pretty simple and self contained and you get the clear gist of what Thor from the comics is about. I think if I were to change one thing I would have it implied that Thor had been banished for a number of years prior to the events of this movie just to ease the transition of his redemption a bit better. Because we're already starting the movie in media res then jumping immediately into a flashback so you might as well fit in a substantial amount of time in between.
As a lifelong Thor comics fan, I was so happy that classic Thor translated to the big screen for a few movies. I also have a hard time seeing why that movie was 150million. There aren't that many set pieces lol
Thor and Spider-man have always been my two favorites. When we moved into the house I grew up in (around 1997) I found this single omnibus on the fireplace that had a bunch of different comics in it. It was called something like Marvel’s Famous Battles (It was white, with green text, and had wolverine fighting Sabertooth on the front). My favorite was Thor versus Hulk. It’s from Thor’s perspective as he tells a crowd about their battle (a crowd who is arguing over who would win) I knew nothing about him, but I would go into my dad’s shed and grab his sledge hammer and run around the yard. I loved how some ancient looking warrior could go toe to toe with this giant monster. And my dad, who was an archeologist, always told me stories about different mythologies. Everything from Greek to Jewish/Christian, and Egyptian as well. But Norse was new to me. Anyway, this movie came out some 20 years later and I loved it dearly. Thanks for the review and humor! I think this movie is under rated.
Glad to hear this movie get some props from you guys. This has always been one of my faves of the MCU canon. I love Lauren and the slow eerie way he speaks with long pauses between sentences.
In Norse mythology, Odin often disguised himself as a regular guy and walked around the realms. Stan Lee as Odin would’ve been a really neat way to tie all his cameos into MCU canon. Why is there a Stan Lee in every movie? Well he just kinda wandered into the plot while in disguise. Plus, it makes sense that the writer for so many of these characters took on the role of “The Allfather”
I still remember seeing this in the theater and it made me a Thor fan. I really like Thor 1 and 2 for the Shakespearean drama and fantasy look of each. As much as the scifi Kirby aesthetic and comedy works, I really miss the pervious style.
@@heelmoxley365 yeah 100%. Disney is a multi billion dollar company I don’t understand why they can’t afford people with the same passion like they did in the first couple phases.
@@heelmoxley365 it’s because they’re shows mate. The shows aren’t terribly bad, and they do have their problems, but they’re alright and they do their job. I wouldn’t compare them to the movies.
Fun fact: the bar fight scene with Selvig was filmed, but we've never seen it. These two guys start making fun of Thor's hair after they chug the boilermakers and Selvig hits one with a punch and headbutts the other, smashing his own beer stein and yelling, "another!" which makes Thor smile. Then it was supposed to cut to the later-deleted scene of them singing in the street. I wish Kenneth Branaugh/Marvel/Feige would put this scene out already. It's still in the shooting script, too... 🍺 🍻 🍺
The scene where Tom Hiddleston's Loki confronted Odin was, IMHO, the best scene in any Marvel film. The only one that comes close is when Steve Rogers picks up Thor's hammer in "Endgame".
Thor 1 did it’s job to introduce the character. It def wasn’t a 10/10 film and it was honestly just alright. It has some great things but doesn’t have too many bad things, however it was an overall passable movie that was competent and served it’s purpose to bring the character into the mix while maintaining that same energy/vibe from the rest of the films.
The first time I watched Thor I didn’t realise I’d downloaded some extended version with unfinished or entirely not present CGI. Real confusion when a scene with Loki ends as he dramatically looks over Asgard but instead he’s just in the balcony of an LA house and there are regular Earth things everywhere.
This was nearly my favourite Marvel movie when it came out and is still in my top 10. The only thing I found held it back was the dynamic between Jane and Thor. Changing her from a nurse to a scientist really kneecapped her character and their relationship for me. If she's supposed to facilitate the development of the warrior prince with more arrogance than empathy a nurse who has to deal with difficult people and emotionally intensroommate
Gross. She's better as an astrophysicist. Otherwise she would have zero reason to interact with someone that transported in from space. The career change was essential. You do realize that scientists have to deal with everyday people and problems, too, right? We are normal effing people. Bye.
Loki being controlled by the mind stone was originally only based on a fan theory. Loki was acting in his own. His character development requires this. Otherwise he's been a nothing character wasted away because the growth we see from him needs to be his own. If it's just due to a macguffin, Loki's character isn't as compelling. It would absolutely make him a simpler character, which might appeal to simple fans. But it's a BS theory/retcon. It keeps things simple, which is important when you're making things more complicated in the future, but originally it was not meant as this. This was a retcon based on fan reaction, and it was a bad one. Loki is a weaker character because of this
The mind stone doesn't control Loki, Marvel only confirmed that it fuelled and amplified his anger which is something the mind stone was shown to do when it caused the argument between the Avengers.
The idea that the mind stone has a negative influence on those near it comes directly from within the first Avengers film and was mentioned by people involved with the film at the time of its release. Now, that's different than Loki being "controlled", so I would agree that characterization isn't right. But as an amplifier of Loki's Avengers1 nasty, yes, I think that makes perfect sense and fits with things said at the time of the film.
My biggest takeaway from Thor, at the time of it's release, was I always thought the character was boring in the comics and I left the movie being genuinely pleased.
If you think a Norse God who speaks like a gentle medival poet, but then fights giants accross all sorts of fantasy settings with a fury of thousand thunderstorms is boring, I think the problem is that you aren't into fantasy and mythology, pal. It's like if you were a Nicki Minaj fan calling death metal bad because it sounds like noise to you. The problem is YOU, not the thing you're criticizing.
@@antona.1327 I actually really like mythology. While I will agree that Thor, the character is a rich and interesting character, I thought the 60s/70s Marvel storytelling of the character was just not as inspired as their other characters. I was an oldies fan so I really only read the classic lines. I would not be surprised if the storylines got better.
I completely forgot this was on the way. It's a happy surprise for me as I fail to fall asleep and it's now 4am and I desperately needed something funny to distract from the existential dread I was experiencing as I stared out the window into the black void of a dark night...brilliant stuff as always, boys. Don't know what I'd do without you.
Here’s some Green Trivia: Thor was going to wear the helmet throughout the movie, but it kept falling off Hemsworth’s head, so they only used it for the one scene.
I know The Dark World has its flaws, but the scene where Thor attempts to avenge (ha) his mother by hurling Mjolnir twice at Malekith always looked so cool to me. We rarely get to see him as outraged as he was there.
You are completely right. I've been wondering for a while now why Chris Hemsworth looks so strange in the first film compared to his other appearances and I couldn't put my finger on it. It's the eyebrows! Once you see it, you can't unsee it. Why on Earth would they take the time to dye his eyebrows for a whole film? And you're right about his beard too. Dye Beard. All this coupled with his shorter hair makes him look very strange compared to what we're now used to.
I enjoyed Thor 2 in part because it showed the RAF, which was a nice change from F22 Raptors all over the place, and Christopher Ecclestone was great to see. The special effects were good too, looking forward to seeing you look through that one
Not sure if you guys have ever gone over this but I’m sure the people would all appreciate it. It’s been on my mind for years and I’m just shocked no one has ever really talked about it but Return of the Jedi was originally called blue harvest.
Thor 2011 is actually one of the BEST films in the MCU. It is so well done that Thor Ragnarok actually uses it as a blueprint all the way through. All of the story beats, major events and the heavy in both movies connect and mirror each other. I'm certain Kenneth Branagh watched Ragnarok and took it as an homage.
I love how the Lore of Caravan of Garbage keeps expanding. Green Trivia, one of my favorite segments, Blue Harvest facts gotta love it! Grab that gem y'all
@@mrsundaymovies They did the three claws thing with X-Men 3, and Logan was the end of a second trilogy with Wolverine as the main character. They should have worked the six claws joke into Logan.
The reason Hawkeye's presence in this movie feels vestigial is because they wanted to shoehorn him into the MCU and establish him before The Avengers. So they added him to this and cut the movie around it to make it look like he was in it but not change the story at all.
I've always thought Thor was underrated. If this movie doesn't work and audiences didn't embrace these characters and world the MCU as we know it wouldn't exist. This was the litmus test to see how far (wild) the MCU could go.
Stop Gaslighting your audience!! Blue Harvest was the original working title of The Empire Strikes Back. There wouldn't have been the hype around the making of the original Star Wars: because people were sick of Star Wars after the first 3 movies.
I’m pretty cynical about RUclips “review” channels, I usually cringe or get angry at like 99% of the content out there… but you guys never fail to make me laugh and always have super insightful commentary. I honestly would not change a single thing about what you guys do.
Maso! Jameso! Love you guys, keep up the good work! Fyi, i would love to hear your thoughts on the Chris Evans movie Push. I feel like i've never heard anyone talk about it and personally i think it's pretty solid being a semi-independant superhero movie
i saw thor 1 and it was an okay movie considering that it was just an introduction to thor but there are a lot of parts of it i didn't care for. i only remember the camera being super tilty and his fight with the destroyer.
I like how "tripled the budget and made a literal half-billion dollars" counts as "not a huge box-office success" when compared with the rest of the Marvel movies before Endgame
The first Thor is kind of annoying because as the boys point out there are a good deal of positives in it, and yet I get almost physically sick at how arbitrarily 60% of the movie is dutch angles, they're so randomly placed and I feel my head is constantly shifting to correct it.
Third Thor is by far the best and 2 is no where near as bad as ppl say... Side Bar - IDK how anyone could dislike Age of Ultron... Everytime I rewatch it I love it more. I can see Captain Marvel and Ant Man 2 at the bottom.
@13:23 is what I have always found the worst practical effect in the MCU - as an animator, bad wire work or anything where things don't move correctly really grinds my gears.
Another great thing to come out of this one was the promo burger that Hungry Jack’s brought out called the ‘Whopper of the Gods’. It was basically an ultimate double Whopper with bbq sauce, but holy cow was it good.
In my opinion, Patrick Doyle's soundtrack for this first Thor film has never been bettered in Marvel movies. I don't understand why they never got Doyle back.
I was actually too young to have watched these early phase 1 movies so I never did but I will say these Thor movies look a bit like lost opportunity. So glad for the over the top fantasy/sci films we’re getting now for the character.
Honestly this is still my favorite thor movie, ragnarok caught me so off guard with the nonsense that it felt like a parody movie about a thor movie we never got! The comedy was off the charts.
My mom, sister, and I did a riff watch of this film because we think it's kinda meh but really entertaining. We watched the Odin screaming scene twice. Because we all agree that Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins are peak in this film. Also, I had no idea the Donald Blake thing had ANY background to it so thanks for that!
Fun fact: The term for starting the story in the middle and then rewinding the story to show you how they got to that point is called “in media res” which means “in the midst of things”, but it was actually originally called Blue Harvest
I’m not trying to be pedantic, but isn’t it “in medias res?”
Medias, not media?
So THATS why the family guy Star Wars episode 4 is called Blue Harvest.
"Blue Harvest" is what I call my annual smurf culling.
Actually, it started out as "WestWorld"
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Man what a four minute journey to finally get the full context behind that Hobbit meal bit. The anticipation really makes you appreciate it.
the editing was genius
I want to see the actual commercial
Good call. That’s funny af
I for one think Hawkeye’s appearance in this movie is the BEST CAMEO in the MCU because it’s the first instance of, like, RANDOM occurrences of “Hey all these blokes muck about in the same universe”. I think they’ve gotta do it more
Wouldn't it have been cool if Hawkeye actually did something in this film?
Maybe was an actual character, pushed the story forward in some way?
Basically every mcu cameo meant nothing back then till they did something with it. Now every reference is a pre planned movie set up unfortunately
I agree, I wish we got more appearances of small time characters just as one off things just to say, hey these guys exist and this is a world with other things going on and heroes we don't always see.
I agree nowadays they dont do it anymore because everyone gets their own solo movie or series, but its cool knowing hes gonna be in the next movie, hes already cast and already active in the universe
@@ericwalsh2954 I refuse to believe they put Hawkeye in this without knowing he'd be back for the Avengers.
I always interpreted the closing seconds of the Thor: First Thor as Jane somehow finding a way to reach Asgard from Earth using technology. Cause it ends with Heimdall saying she's looking for Thor and goes into this flowing shot that starts with her in her lab and transitions into this credit sequence flying through space that ends at Asgard. I assumed next time we saw Thor he'd be transporting himself using a gadget Jane developed. But then in Avengers they handwave the rainbow bridge being destroyed away by going "Oden used dark magic or whatever...".
Oden is the worst
I do love Thor 1. I think it captured the character and his origins near perfectly and I'm always so disappointed when I see people regularly compare it to the stodgy, boring mess that was The Dark World and when people lump it with the latter in favour of Ragnarok being the complete 'reinvention' of the character that 'saved him'. Where Thor was dull, lifeless, near humourless and weak in The Dark World, he was confident, charming, endearing and fun in the first movie and it's odd people act like that began with Ragnarok.
I really love Ragnarok- basically because it reminds me of the fun of 1980's Flash Gordon- but after rewatching all of them, it amazes me how much people miss that Ragnarok builds off of & references both previous Thor movies! I am lowering my expectations for the new one though; I loved the first trailer but later trailers & clips + some reactions make me cautious.
I don’t see how anybody can compare Thor 1 and 2. Thor 2 is definitely not good, but Thor 1 is perfectly good! It’s nit Thor 3, but then again neither is nearly any other Marvel movie.
I see this a lot as well
Hard agree, i just though Ragnorak was a return to form for the character
It’s probably cause his characterization started to shift to that more boring presentation during Avengers, which more people are probably familiar with than Thor 1
I've always loved the first Thor film; it's the perfect mix of cosmic and down-to-earth for an origin movie. Plus, the casting is 100% on point.
That said, the blond eyebrows are terrible.
No, they're not. The actor should look like the character as close as possible, even if makeup work is required. That's called acting, idiot. Also, he should've shaved his beard, to look exactly like Thor of the comics.
This movie holds up better than people remember - and it's also very accessible to an older audience if you're trying to get your parents into Marvel movies (just show them Captain America 1 first and then when it comes time for this one, mention how Anthony Hopkins is in it).
Most of Phase 1 holds up really well despite the tiny stakes and scale that comes later
On rewatch, this one doesn't hold up compared to anything in phase one or two, it's so boring.
There is so little tension or stakes and the characters motivations are all over the place.
Poorly directed in my opinion, the guy had no idea what he was doing with the characters, story and most of all, the camera.
Old people have better movies to watch than marvel movies, honestly we all do lol
@@Blingdung Truth 💯
@@Blingdung yeah A24 makes pretty good movies. Lots of depth and cinematography.
The end scene of Thor talking with Heimdall and the end credits have one of the best scores in the MCU
Yes
YES!!! This is still one of my favorite soundtracks.
I trained and ran my 2nd full marathon with the "Thor Kills the Destroyer" track stuck in my head more or less on an infinite loop.
YES!! 100%
1:26 funnily enough, this is exactly how I've been taking in my weekly planet content lately. I spend hours at work alone, waxing floors or scrubbing school desks and these guys keep me company with their random movie and TV show talk. I love it.
A good podcast makes menial tasks pass so much more painlessly.
After all these years I am still waiting for Thor to gloat that he has a weekday named after him.
Cannot believe nobody has written that into one of these movies.
Thur, the God of tunder.
@@abelq8008 ROFL🤣🤣🤣
@@abelq8008 Actually named after Thunor.
Thorsday. Just like Frigga got Friday. Nice
And Oden's day became Wednesday... I guess in Asgaard it's not much of a flex!
Even though it had it's issues, Thor, the first Thor, did the impossible. It made me give a damn about Thor when the comics never grabbed my attention.
I feel the MCU did that for pretty much all the Marvel characters for me outside of the X-Men, Hulk, and Spiderman. But especially for Thor and Captain America. At the time I couldn't imagine them making Thor or Cap look good in Live Action.
Exactly. You realize that Thor's 77-80 run was BI-MONTHLY. So was Capt America and so was Iron Man. The Invaders which was a repurposed series with Sub-Mariner, Toro, and Cap occurred during WW2 and it was monthly and Capt America series had to ADD the Falcon to even be relevant during that stage.
Of course, a year later, Jason Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder (2012-2014) happened and was one of the best Marvel comics ever written
Walter Simonson's run was my 1st series of comics I properly collected and got me hooked.
Jason Aaron had a solid run too. But Walt's was perfect.
Comics Thor was always this weirdly self-important ass, which I thought the films captured really well but then actually turned into an endearing trait and character growth.
I remember walking out of the theater at the end and thinking "wow they figured out how to build this universe, they're actually going to build it!" and I was extremely excited. It was visceral.
This movie doesn't get enough credit when you consider how easily it could have been the worst movie ever made. Same with Captain America really, These movies could have easily been laughable and ridiculous. And if they didn't work -- there'd have been no foundation to build the MCU upon.
@@gridlo it isn't laughable but it's very boring.
Overall, the people who hate on Marvel movies because they’re “roller coaster movies” don’t give these movies their due credit.
The MCU was able to successfully transition the whacky/weird source material onto the big screen as something that genuinely works “in real life”.
Sure it’s goofy stuff compared to other “real life” but they were able to nail some things that you could say “I could see this happening in real life” all while keeping true to the source material and making it seem somewhat grounded.
Let’s not forget the great job they did with character development. Thor has grown over the years, and Thanos was such an imposing and impactful character despite being entirely CG.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 Thought it was very engaging
@@dmolmalowski on your first viewing or your third?
First time I saw I enjoyed it as well.
But on a rewatch there is so little substance, what do you find so engaging about it?
One of Marvel's most underrated films. I thought this move was brilliant. For what it was at the time with the characters that are involved this was incredible. That scene where Loki confronts Odin regarding his true origins is just chef's kiss.
Yeah, that was great and I love how it was treated seriously which is my issue with the Taika Thor films. Thier so steeped in absurd humor, they can't do drama. The destruction of Asgard should've been handled seriously.
@@Wolfman7870 I understand with the Waititi films. Look this is a silly world. We can't really go dramatic with this. I mean we can but in the context of the MCU that's not what you wanna do. What Waititi did is embrace the absurdity of this premise where taking it seriously before with the dark world failed.
Loki confronting Odin is still one of my favorite scenes in the entire MCU. Hiddleston is just stellar. I wish the Thor movies kept that level of emotional weight. Now Thor, himself, just seems to always regress in maturity regardless of what struggles he overcomes. People don't even register that he's lost so much because he's become so jokey.
That scene was when it clicked and I was like “Yea, he’s Loki”
@@jessecortez9449 It's because the Thor movies were considered probably the weakest of the main avengers. 1 is good but the 2nd one is the most generic MCU movie there is. I like that they took a different approach and embraced the wackiness with Taika Watiti.
I like the first THOR. Giving him a Shakespeare style works well for the character.
The character dynamics were pretty captivating, but the lore wasn’t super clear and didn’t get interesting until like the C plot of Ragnarok; the Guillermo del Toro iterations sounds interesting
@@hellfish2309 the lore wasn't super clear? The movie's opening alone does better job at explaining the history of Asgard and its enemies than Ragnajoke did in its entire 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not only that, Ragnajoke only has boring exposition with no visuals, and plus it contradicts everything this movie set up. A complete joke of a movie.
Fun fact: At the time, Kevin Fiege said that the casting for Thor and Loki were the two most important casting choices they would have to make thus far. The code name for the casting process was called Blue Harvest.
We're almost 30 films into the MCU and I think more and more people are starting to appreciate this one more because it's the only MCU, or really the only Marvel film in general, that tries to be like Shakespeare and it really stands out from the others because of it.
I just dislike the Color Grading and the overuse of Dutch camera angles it’s soo boring
Yeah I loved that bit in Othello where Iago sends a giant killer robot after Othello and Desdemona has to do a flippy jump onto its back…
Yeah this shit is super duper Shakespeare
"Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"
Except it doesn't actually commit to that idea, and it wasn't particularly good regardless.
Personally, I really like how Kenneth committed to the shakespearean tone. Regardless, we can all agree Sarah Haley Finn knocked it out of the park once again finding a literal soap actor who from Oz out of nowhere
He was in Star Wars 2 years prior as Kirk's father at the beginning of the film.
@@eboooo Star Wars and Captain Kirk, multiverse of madness indeed
I'm still mad they didn't call the new movie THOR 4: Thor Some More
Casting Tom Hiddleston as Loki was one of the best decisions they've ever made. Also, I too enjoyed the first one very much, Thor, Loki, Odin and Frigga were on point
That opening is the chaos I love.
The town in Norway that is in the beginning of this movie and Captain America, is also the same town that becomes New Asgard in Endgame and Love and Thunder. So it’s cool to see them keeping that as a thru-line
I think a lot of people miss the fact that Loki's plot was genuinely that he was pulling a simple prank that just escalated to the point where he gets Thor banished and he's just making it up as he goes along from there.
Because I always see a bunch of arguments that like compare this to all the other convoluted schemes in superhero movies or talk about how his motivations seem to be all over the place and you can't tell when and where he's being genuine.
But like I _really_ like that Loki's whole deal in this franchise is that he just fucked up really badly one day and he's just been doubling down on being the villain ever since.
Overall, I like this movie. From an aesthetic standpoint, I think where they eventually take the look of Thor and the Asgardians look way better than it does here, but clearly they're just experimenting at this point. I like that the plot's pretty simple and self contained and you get the clear gist of what Thor from the comics is about. I think if I were to change one thing I would have it implied that Thor had been banished for a number of years prior to the events of this movie just to ease the transition of his redemption a bit better. Because we're already starting the movie in media res then jumping immediately into a flashback so you might as well fit in a substantial amount of time in between.
Honestly, after all the hijinks with The Batman, I was entirely ready for this to be a look at some Home and Away episodes or something.
As a lifelong Thor comics fan, I was so happy that classic Thor translated to the big screen for a few movies. I also have a hard time seeing why that movie was 150million. There aren't that many set pieces lol
I can't wait to hear James call the second movie "Thor: The Dark Thor" again.
Thor and Spider-man have always been my two favorites. When we moved into the house I grew up in (around 1997) I found this single omnibus on the fireplace that had a bunch of different comics in it. It was called something like Marvel’s Famous Battles (It was white, with green text, and had wolverine fighting Sabertooth on the front). My favorite was Thor versus Hulk. It’s from Thor’s perspective as he tells a crowd about their battle (a crowd who is arguing over who would win) I knew nothing about him, but I would go into my dad’s shed and grab his sledge hammer and run around the yard.
I loved how some ancient looking warrior could go toe to toe with this giant monster. And my dad, who was an archeologist, always told me stories about different mythologies. Everything from Greek to Jewish/Christian, and Egyptian as well. But Norse was new to me.
Anyway, this movie came out some 20 years later and I loved it dearly. Thanks for the review and humor! I think this movie is under rated.
Fun fact: Thor from these movies is actually based off of a comic book character who is actually based off of an ancient Norse myth.
Thor: release date 2011
My god I feel old now, despite not being that old lmao
Glad to hear this movie get some props from you guys. This has always been one of my faves of the MCU canon. I love Lauren and the slow eerie way he speaks with long pauses between sentences.
Stan Lee as Odin sounds so interesting. I wish we could've gotten to see that, even as just a variant version of Odin.
I think it would have been funny to have Stan be Heimdall, that way he’s always watching lol
In Norse mythology, Odin often disguised himself as a regular guy and walked around the realms.
Stan Lee as Odin would’ve been a really neat way to tie all his cameos into MCU canon. Why is there a Stan Lee in every movie? Well he just kinda wandered into the plot while in disguise. Plus, it makes sense that the writer for so many of these characters took on the role of “The Allfather”
I still remember seeing this in the theater and it made me a Thor fan. I really like Thor 1 and 2 for the Shakespearean drama and fantasy look of each. As much as the scifi Kirby aesthetic and comedy works, I really miss the pervious style.
I look forward to these every week.
This series is so legendary.
I miss the old MCU and the passion they used to put into their projects.
Some of the shows on Disney + feel half assed.
Wanda Vision and Loki being exceptions I think.
@@heelmoxley365 yeah 100%. Disney is a multi billion dollar company I don’t understand why they can’t afford people with the same passion like they did in the first couple phases.
@@heelmoxley365 it’s because they’re shows mate.
The shows aren’t terribly bad, and they do have their problems, but they’re alright and they do their job. I
wouldn’t compare them to the movies.
Fun fact: the bar fight scene with Selvig was filmed, but we've never seen it. These two guys start making fun of Thor's hair after they chug the boilermakers and Selvig hits one with a punch and headbutts the other, smashing his own beer stein and yelling, "another!" which makes Thor smile. Then it was supposed to cut to the later-deleted scene of them singing in the street. I wish Kenneth Branaugh/Marvel/Feige would put this scene out already. It's still in the shooting script, too... 🍺 🍻 🍺
Fun fact: The original working title for Thor was Thor: Blue Harvest.
The scene where Tom Hiddleston's Loki confronted Odin was, IMHO, the best scene in any Marvel film. The only one that comes close is when Steve Rogers picks up Thor's hammer in "Endgame".
Anyone else keep coming back to this video just to start it up and loop "What about SECOND Big Mac Meal?!?" like five times?
Thor 1 isn’t my favorite, but I feel it was a necessary movie to help expand the universe outside of the relatively grounded films that came before.
Thor 1 did it’s job to introduce the character.
It def wasn’t a 10/10 film and it was honestly just alright.
It has some great things but doesn’t have too many bad things, however it was an overall passable movie that was competent and served it’s purpose to bring the character into the mix while maintaining that same energy/vibe from the rest of the films.
Thor is honestly my favorite movie from phase 1. I'm pretty sad that you didn't mention the score. I absolutely love that score as well.
The first time I watched Thor I didn’t realise I’d downloaded some extended version with unfinished or entirely not present CGI.
Real confusion when a scene with Loki ends as he dramatically looks over Asgard but instead he’s just in the balcony of an LA house and there are regular Earth things everywhere.
This was nearly my favourite Marvel movie when it came out and is still in my top 10. The only thing I found held it back was the dynamic between Jane and Thor. Changing her from a nurse to a scientist really kneecapped her character and their relationship for me. If she's supposed to facilitate the development of the warrior prince with more arrogance than empathy a nurse who has to deal with difficult people and emotionally intensroommate
Gross. She's better as an astrophysicist. Otherwise she would have zero reason to interact with someone that transported in from space. The career change was essential. You do realize that scientists have to deal with everyday people and problems, too, right? We are normal effing people. Bye.
Loki being controlled by the mind stone was originally only based on a fan theory. Loki was acting in his own. His character development requires this. Otherwise he's been a nothing character wasted away because the growth we see from him needs to be his own. If it's just due to a macguffin, Loki's character isn't as compelling. It would absolutely make him a simpler character, which might appeal to simple fans. But it's a BS theory/retcon. It keeps things simple, which is important when you're making things more complicated in the future, but originally it was not meant as this. This was a retcon based on fan reaction, and it was a bad one. Loki is a weaker character because of this
“Simple fans.” Dude, this is Marvel. It’s 90% simple fans with mushy brains.
I hate it too. It's useless.
The mind stone doesn't control Loki, Marvel only confirmed that it fuelled and amplified his anger which is something the mind stone was shown to do when it caused the argument between the Avengers.
The idea that the mind stone has a negative influence on those near it comes directly from within the first Avengers film and was mentioned by people involved with the film at the time of its release. Now, that's different than Loki being "controlled", so I would agree that characterization isn't right. But as an amplifier of Loki's Avengers1 nasty, yes, I think that makes perfect sense and fits with things said at the time of the film.
I've got some green trivia for you right here:
Green is actually grün in German.
It's verde in Spanish.
And in Icelandic? It's pôp-tårt.
My biggest takeaway from Thor, at the time of it's release, was I always thought the character was boring in the comics and I left the movie being genuinely pleased.
If you think a Norse God who speaks like a gentle medival poet, but then fights giants accross all sorts of fantasy settings with a fury of thousand thunderstorms is boring, I think the problem is that you aren't into fantasy and mythology, pal. It's like if you were a Nicki Minaj fan calling death metal bad because it sounds like noise to you. The problem is YOU, not the thing you're criticizing.
@@antona.1327 I actually really like mythology. While I will agree that Thor, the character is a rich and interesting character, I thought the 60s/70s Marvel storytelling of the character was just not as inspired as their other characters. I was an oldies fan so I really only read the classic lines. I would not be surprised if the storylines got better.
I completely forgot this was on the way. It's a happy surprise for me as I fail to fall asleep and it's now 4am and I desperately needed something funny to distract from the existential dread I was experiencing as I stared out the window into the black void of a dark night...brilliant stuff as always, boys. Don't know what I'd do without you.
Hey! Existential dread buddies! 😅
You good, friend?
Here’s some Green Trivia: Thor was going to wear the helmet throughout the movie, but it kept falling off Hemsworth’s head, so they only used it for the one scene.
Love how accurate you guys are on how ppl view your videos while doing something else 😂
Patrick Doyle's score for this movie continues to be absolutely fantastic.
It's still amazing how he's the one to get 4 movies
One might say... Thor movies
I mean Ragnarok is to thank for that.
They completely revamped his character.
I know The Dark World has its flaws, but the scene where Thor attempts to avenge (ha) his mother by hurling Mjolnir twice at Malekith always looked so cool to me. We rarely get to see him as outraged as he was there.
That pet store gag never fails with me; it’s my favorite joke in the whole MCU. I too would love a kitty cat big enough to ride.
The "Just for Gods" hair-coloring joke was subtle, but solid.
The movie that got me into the MCU as a kid. Remember really loving the costumes
You are completely right. I've been wondering for a while now why Chris Hemsworth looks so strange in the first film compared to his other appearances and I couldn't put my finger on it. It's the eyebrows! Once you see it, you can't unsee it. Why on Earth would they take the time to dye his eyebrows for a whole film? And you're right about his beard too. Dye Beard. All this coupled with his shorter hair makes him look very strange compared to what we're now used to.
I enjoyed Thor 2 in part because it showed the RAF, which was a nice change from F22 Raptors all over the place, and Christopher Ecclestone was great to see. The special effects were good too, looking forward to seeing you look through that one
What
@@marcusgabrielson9616 most Marvel films are adverts for the American military so it makes sense that in the UK they would have RAF Typhoons instead
@@DorifutoRabbit oh. Didn’t know that
@@marcusgabrielson9616 no worries, I could have explained it better in my first comment honestly
Typhoons are cool but it really should have been called the Typhoon II.....
Sleipnir is the name of Odin's horse. Yes it also has eight legs in mythology. I really think that was a nice touch.
Never cared about Thor. Walked out after _Thor_ like *"RAHHH THORRRR."* Years later I still think they nailed it. This movie doesn't get enough love.
Not sure if you guys have ever gone over this but I’m sure the people would all appreciate it. It’s been on my mind for years and I’m just shocked no one has ever really talked about it but Return of the Jedi was originally called blue harvest.
Thor 2011 is actually one of the BEST films in the MCU. It is so well done that Thor Ragnarok actually uses it as a blueprint all the way through.
All of the story beats, major events and the heavy in both movies connect and mirror each other. I'm certain Kenneth Branagh watched Ragnarok and took it as an homage.
I love how the Lore of Caravan of Garbage keeps expanding. Green Trivia, one of my favorite segments, Blue Harvest facts gotta love it! Grab that gem y'all
It's OK James you can just say first class is the best Xmen, let's be real here
Thinking about Logan gave me pause. Or more likely, CLAWS (wolverine has claws that's the joke I was doing)
@@mrsundaymovies They did the three claws thing with X-Men 3, and Logan was the end of a second trilogy with Wolverine as the main character. They should have worked the six claws joke into Logan.
I mean... Deadpool 2 is best X-Men movie (sadly).
Thor’s cape adapting those little side archs is a fantastic little achievement
I was hoping it would be comeback of the legendary “hawktalk”.
I love that green trivia remains and feel for the new viewers who will forever wonder why
This was actually the first MCU movie I ever saw, and I remember fucking loving it as a kid. Still follow the MCU as a huge fan
1:25 I've been viewing these just the way you describe. I feel like Paul Atreides putting on the stillsuit correctly for the first time.
*I don't care what anyone says, I LOVE the first two Thor movies. Ragnarok is awesome, but I prefer the more regal take of 1 and 2.*
this movie is my favorite MCU movie period. i wish we would have kept the Shakespearean elements, they've turned Thor into another Star-Lord
Hot take:
Ragnorok is the best Thor movie, but the original Shakesprean Thor is a better Thor as a character
Agreed
The reason Hawkeye's presence in this movie feels vestigial is because they wanted to shoehorn him into the MCU and establish him before The Avengers. So they added him to this and cut the movie around it to make it look like he was in it but not change the story at all.
I've always thought Thor was underrated. If this movie doesn't work and audiences didn't embrace these characters and world the MCU as we know it wouldn't exist.
This was the litmus test to see how far (wild) the MCU could go.
Thor: The First Thor did what most MCU movies don't anymore. It expanded on the world while also telling a separate story.
Stop Gaslighting your audience!!
Blue Harvest was the original working title of The Empire Strikes Back.
There wouldn't have been the hype around the making of the original Star Wars:
because people were sick of Star Wars after the first 3 movies.
Learning how we got to “second Big Mac meal” was such an epic journey.
I like this series… ANOTHER!
I’m pretty cynical about RUclips “review” channels, I usually cringe or get angry at like 99% of the content out there… but you guys never fail to make me laugh and always have super insightful commentary. I honestly would not change a single thing about what you guys do.
Maso! Jameso! Love you guys, keep up the good work! Fyi, i would love to hear your thoughts on the Chris Evans movie Push. I feel like i've never heard anyone talk about it and personally i think it's pretty solid being a semi-independant superhero movie
It took them over six minutes to get to the eyebrows. Tremendous restraint.
I bought tickets to see Thor in 3D only to be directed to a theater showing the movie in 2D and it was also 45 minutes into it
That's rough buddy
I love how the movie basically consists of Loki playing 4D chess across multiple realms
If they ever do a man thing movie they should get Guillermo Del Toro to direct it
4:40 it’s Sarah Halley Finn. What’s you expect?
i saw thor 1 and it was an okay movie considering that it was just an introduction to thor but there are a lot of parts of it i didn't care for. i only remember the camera being super tilty and his fight with the destroyer.
I like how "tripled the budget and made a literal half-billion dollars" counts as "not a huge box-office success" when compared with the rest of the Marvel movies before Endgame
The first Thor is kind of annoying because as the boys point out there are a good deal of positives in it, and yet I get almost physically sick at how arbitrarily 60% of the movie is dutch angles, they're so randomly placed and I feel my head is constantly shifting to correct it.
Odin's armor costume is one of my favorites in the MCU
Third Thor is by far the best and 2 is no where near as bad as ppl say... Side Bar - IDK how anyone could dislike Age of Ultron... Everytime I rewatch it I love it more. I can see Captain Marvel and Ant Man 2 at the bottom.
Completely agree with most of that. Personally I'd put Eternals at the bottom.
Loki stole the show. I miss Loki in the MCU man. I hope to see him in the post credit scene for Thor: Love And Thunder.
@13:23 is what I have always found the worst practical effect in the MCU - as an animator, bad wire work or anything where things don't move correctly really grinds my gears.
Are you guys going to start doing
The flashback in Thor 2 about the Asguard and Dark Elf war is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I watch that movie just for that flashback lol
Another great thing to come out of this one was the promo burger that Hungry Jack’s brought out called the ‘Whopper of the Gods’. It was basically an ultimate double Whopper with bbq sauce, but holy cow was it good.
In my opinion, Patrick Doyle's soundtrack for this first Thor film has never been bettered in Marvel movies. I don't understand why they never got Doyle back.
I was actually too young to have watched these early phase 1 movies so I never did but I will say these Thor movies look a bit like lost opportunity. So glad for the over the top fantasy/sci films we’re getting now for the character.
I fully respect they’ve stuck to calling it green trivia that is hilarious.
15:06 the money I would give to make Gladiator Thor his default costume....
I've always loved the dutch angles in this movie tbh. It works for me.
Honestly this is still my favorite thor movie, ragnarok caught me so off guard with the nonsense that it felt like a parody movie about a thor movie we never got! The comedy was off the charts.
My mom, sister, and I did a riff watch of this film because we think it's kinda meh but really entertaining. We watched the Odin screaming scene twice. Because we all agree that Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins are peak in this film.
Also, I had no idea the Donald Blake thing had ANY background to it so thanks for that!
The first thor movie was made when marvel wanted they're movies to work like they're comics, different genres and fans in one universe