Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rex Bachmann 
Chuck Anstey wrote (post #190):
Well, he's not a true Asgardian, either, as, at the end of the world (Ragnarok, the so-called "twilight of the gods (reginn)"), he leads the giants (including his own offspring, the gigantic Fenriswolf and the Midgardormr ("Earth-dragon"), and the demons (like Surtr and Muspell) in battle to the death against the gods.
In any event, the whole Asgard-thing in this film seems to be a bad imitation of Greco-Roman imperial models of mythological kingship. Maybe that's true to the comics---I haven't read them since the mid-70's---but it's wholly unoriginal and really disappointing. Viking gods should be wearing animal skins and be seated on wooden furniture, not that gilded crap that's portrayed here. And Asgard is the home of the gods, and not million-man armies, as presented here. What a missed opportunity to portray something different, instead of the same old same-old (SoSo)! (And, by the way, all gods have some kind of "magical power". By definition, that's what makes them "gods".)
Also, superheroes without weaknesses are pretty uninteresting, in my book. No, 98-pound weakling alter ego Don Blake (to whose form the "mighty Thor" would always revert (in the early days of the comic), if separated from Mjollnir for more than a minute or two while on Earth)? (What next? Will Green Lantern have control over things that are yellow?) Sacrilege!
Well, I wanted to see this film, but they quickly snatched away the 2-D version. No three-D for me. I'll have to wait.
Well, just a few things:
(1) They weren't at any point on wooden furniture; I watched this again and I never saw this happen; there were plenty of stone looking furnishings and big halls, but as far as technologically advanced, they definitely seemed to be way out there; forming instant portals to other worlds, devices to cloak themselves, etc. Talk of vast ships, etc.
(2) Having seen it twice, any inferrance they are wearing animal skins is kind of.. well, it's in the mind of the audience member, because it is never said as such in the movie, and the outfits they wear, while probably some leather looked far more fashioned after a set style rather then some guys in huts.
(3) I think playing with ancient tropes and mythos happens everywhere. Are the asgardians in this say,Grey aliens ala StarGate? Are they fire breathing monsters from the center of earth ala Gathuan? Who knows. Everyone can play with a mythos however they want. It's kind of a bit like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or whatever.. I don't get all strung out about how someone appropriates fictional deities.
(4) Why would it ever be "ancient Nordic" ? Even if the mythos originated there, the Asgardians in the film clearly did not. It would be a bit like me saying "I can't believe they gave these gods a vast city structure where roads are somehow built on fiberoptic light rail technology! The ancient Norse didn't have that!
I get that you don't like the film (though you haven't seen it). I also find that even if they had done it EXACTLY as 1000 films did before (which they didn't, but let's say) but they did it well, then it was worth the effort
