Norse Gods – An Approachable Bunch
Scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and mentor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) are confronted with a strange weather phenomenon – an unexpectedly intense storm - and crash their vehicle into a man in its midst. The man turns out to be the god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – banished from Asgard by father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) on account of needlessly waging war upon the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Thor needs to confront his scheming brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), get back to his ailing father and end his banishment, and deal with his growing fondness for Jane. While the movie begins with much promise, it concludes squarely as light entertainment. The casual banter of Thor and the gods with humans, and the easy transformation of Thor from arrogance to an empathetic self, are but a few pointers to the fact that this movie will be one of the really light interpretations of the Norse Gods and totally in line with the Marvel Comics character. Worth noting in passing that even the Gods seem to fall in love with Natalie Portman these days
11.5/20
What makes Valkyrie clearly stand out from the common or garden Third Reich movie is the depiction of the careful build-up and execution of a plot where a majority of the participants are engaged throughout in a zone of ambiguity where while they are fairly sure of what to believe in, they are not clear about what their role in the same should be. Apart from the clear ideology of von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), the indecision of the likes of Olbricht (Bill Nighy) and the ostensible undying allegiance to the Fuehrer from the likes of Fromm (Tom Wilkinson), make for immense viewing pleasure. In the end, this is a movie set in war where there is not a single genuine battle scene, just the air raids in different circumstances – with his troops and with family respectively – that reinforce in von Stauffenberg his belief in the futility of it all. Rather, this movie is all about strong and carefully constructed character portrayals of a set of distinct individuals who chose to differ from the establishment, but in their own separate ways