Yesterday Marvel Comics and movie director Kenneth Branagh released a promotional picture for the upcoming comic book adaptation Thor. I'm a little nervous about this film.
I have loved comic books for a long time and I think this movie should have been made long ago. I always thought Marvel comics had a great story line between Thor and his epic family. There has always been a sense in the Thor series that the title character was, indeed, an ancient Hoss.
Let's take a look at some of the cast for 2011's Thor.
Chris Hemsworth is going to be our title character. Let's see... handsome dude but not so frilly that men will be put off; experience in sci-fi and fantasy (he was George Kirk in the Star Trek film) and not so famous that he'll overshadow the film (much like Brad Pitt did in Troy.) Not an offensive choice.
So who's playing the God of thunder's dad? None other than our requisite go-to for credibility guy, Anthony Hopkins. I think Hopkins is a wonderful actor. I was nervous about this choice at first because I wondered if Hopkins could play such an afflicted character (Odin dies multiple times in the series.) I also wondered about Hopkins stature since I've always that of him as a wee man in height. Then I remembered his performance in Legends of The Fall and realized Hollywood successfully makes a shorter man like Tom Cruise look like a total bad ass, so the cast choice grew on me.
Here's an interesting choice for Loki, the kinda-not really half-brother of Thor. He is English actor Tom Hiddleston. Asides from the small body he looks like he could play Marvel's supervillain.
I felt pretty good about Thor's casting...that is until I saw the first promotional picture from the film.
WTF? Why in the Hell does this picture remind more of Xanadu then a film based on a hybrid of mythologies from the great Stan Lee? If Anthony Hopkins comes out of a cave roller-skating to K.C. and The Sunshine Band I'm gonna be pissed. I hate to be harsh but if you're going to make a film accessible to the masses (cos' let's face it, they're aren't a lot of die-hard comic book fans like you and me anymore) why in the Hell would you release a picture that looks like a negative for a bad Battlestar Gallactica spinoff?
I'm gonna be patient and wait for the movie trailor in hopes that it won't let me down, too. What do you think of the casting choices? Based on the picture above would you see the film?
