Thor

Thor is another film from the good people at Marvel and was released in preparation for The Avengers. Unsurprisingly, given that it is the first film in the Thor franchise, it introduces the character of Thor and gives us an idea of his purpose in the franchise, as well as giving us a bit of a teaser for The Avengers after the credits.

Thor is part of the Asgard people, an incredibly powerful race who are demi-Gods. His father is king and he is next in line for the throne. However, after an ill-advised trip to the home of the enemy, the Frost Giants, he risks bringing war to his people after many years of peace. He is subsequently banished to Earth where he tries to return in order to help defeat his brother who has plotted with the Frost Giants to kill the King.

Chris Hemsworth takes the hammer in hand in this film. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, or don’t get the reference, this means that he plays Thor. He does very well vocally, adopting a ‘Lord of the Rings-esque’ voice for his character that creates a sense of great power around him. Additionally he is very enjoyable to watch when Thor first arrives on Earth. These scenes are very well written and it is quite something that the writers haven’t made them too corny. The middle section of the film contains much of the humour that is characteristic of the Avengers’ prequels. Chris Hemsworth is very enjoyable to watch on screen and brings the character of Thor to life perfectly. He is very well cast in the role and I look forward to seeing more of him in the sequel to be released next year I think.

Natalie Portman also stars as the human lead, Jane Foster, who is investigating atmospheric disturbances and inadvertently comes across Thor. After hitting him with her van a couple of times she begins to help him and naturally falls in love with him. Natalie Portman doesn’t excel in this film, but she isn’t terrible. It’s an average performance in all honesty. Average doesn’t mean bad though, and I quite liked watching the relationship between Jane and Thor emerge. Although as ever, it was quite predictable, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the end of the film left the two apart from each other. Instead of a triumphant return scene at the end, when Thor is left cut off from Earth, it stays that way.

As with every Marvel film of late, the supporting cast is equally entertaining as the leading cast. Tom Hiddleston does very well as Loki, Thor’s brother who emerges as the chief villain of this film. He has quite a good look for a villain and is the character who evolves the most throughout the film. He starts off on an even keel to Thor and then through a series of events he becomes twisted and conspires with the Frost Giants. Kat Dennings is quite enjoyable to watch too. Obviously building on her experience of comedy work she plays quite a dry humourous character, not dissimilar to her role in 2 Broke Girls. I think she has a lot of potential and found her to be very amusing in Thor. Finally, Anthony Hopkins. It gets to a stage in an actor’s career where they have proved themselves as an incredible actor and start to be offered roles of ‘great king’ and stuff. Thor is a great example of this for Anthony Hopkins. He carries off the role of Odin very well, and seems to have an air of ‘Great King’ about him. It’s definitely not one of the best roles but he is quite good to watch nonetheless.

Finally I want to talk about the visual effects. All of the Marvel films of late can be characterised by amazing visual effects and Thor is no different. Most notable is the creation of Asgarth which is absolutely marvellous. Equally, the effects for the battle scenes are brilliant and really add to the impact of the film. Marvel studios can pride itself on the scale of the visual effects within their films and the Marvel franchise is resultantly, and deservedly one of the highest grossing franchises ever.

Overall, if you enjoy the other Marvel films such as Iron Man, The Avengers, Hulk and Captain America then you should love Thor too. It is very entertaining and engaging, and provides a bit more excitement and background to The Avengers. However, if you are not a fan of the comic book hero then it is probably one to avoid. I think you might quite like this film if you are interested in Norse mythology though because of the portrayal of several Norse Gods. A very good film all in all.

Heat

‘Heat’ is one of those films that promises so much. With Al Pacino and Robert de Niro in leading roles, the standard of acting was always going to be ridiculously high. The film focuses around a policeman and a group of criminals, and sees Robert de Niro as the ‘bad guy’ planning a bank job with a group of friends. There are (as I remember) two scenes where de Niro and Pacino actually talk, but they are the best scenes of the film for me.

As far as the plot goes, it’s not a great film. In my opinion, the storyline is distinctly average, and it is the two leading actors who complete the film. However, I do like that Heat is not just about the crime, as the two leading characters both have a family life of sorts. For Pacino this revolves around his wife and her daughter (a young Natalie Portman no less), and for de Niro, there is a young woman who he feels strongly about. While the criminal activities of the group bring an element of enjoyment to the film, and both the opening crime and the bank heist are fantastic, I got the feeling that the whole film was geared towards the final scene where Pacino and de Niro face off.

However, nothing can take away from the performances of either actor in this film. Pacino once again displays the tendency that he has to be ever so slightly psychotic in the role that he plays. His policeman character is seen to be ‘close to the line’ on more than one occasion. The scene where he walks in on his wife alone with another man just displays this perfectly. He is fine with the cheating, but takes issue with the man using his television. Nevertheless he also has the tender side that often comes across in his films. His care for Natalie Portman’s character is exceptional, and the emotion he displays when he finds her in his bathtub is magnificent. He is portrayed as the antithesis of de Niro’s character, and is the policeman who is leading the investigation into their criminal activities.

While Pacino is a joy to watch, he is in my opinion, over-shadowed in this film by de Niro. Regular readers will know that I love Robert de Niro. For new readers, I consider him to be the greatest actor I have ever seen. Heat is by no means his best performance, but he is electrifying, once again embodying every aspect of his character. His attention to detail is perfect and the subtleties of his character are beautifully exposed. The line that stands out from Heat is “Don’t get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”. This quote has grave consequences for de Niro’s character at the end of the film, and this was my favourite aspect of his character. Despite all of his criminal activities he still cares for this woman, and leaving her is obviously a big struggle.

Having just talked about Pacino and de Niro I’m probably going to be quite unfair on Val Kilmer. He is very enjoyable in this film, but he is massively overshadowed by the other two. He is an instrumental part of the crime gang, and is almost as enjoyable as de Niro when it comes to watching him rob the bank and hold up the armoured truck. He too suffers from the quote above, and the scene where his girlfriend betrays him to the police has emotion which Kilmer does immensely well to pull off. It’s quite difficult to talk about a supporting character in a film with leading actors such as those in, but Kilmer is an integral part of the film. Alongside de Niro and Pacino he is the only other character whose name I can remember, and whose face I can picture. Although that probably has more to do with his hairdo than anything else, he is no doubt one of the positive things about this film.

It does seem to me, that Heat isn't a great film with two great actors. For me it comes across more as a good film in which two great actors star. The two characters are definitely the stars of whichever scene they are in, but this could have more to do with the actors playing them than their importance in the film. I feel that if you removed de Niro and Pacino then Heat would be distinctly average, with very little going for it. If you like Pacino, de Niro or general gangster films then you should give it a watch, but if not then I should probably avoid it.