Spoliers below, but one thing you must do is hang around for the obligatory extra scene following the credits, because
Spoiler
it features Nick Fury (of course), Stellan Skarsgard's character presumably possessed by Loki (who you always knew was going to be the big bad for The Avengers) and what looked and sounded to me like a Cosmic Cube!!
Anyway, more specific first reactions:
The Asgard scenes had, I think, the right amount of Majesty. Anthony Hopkins is awesome as Odin, Rene Russo gets to kill a Frost Giant as Frigga, the Warriors Three and Sif are as they should be (with just a hint of Sif's pining after Thor) and Heimdall is just awesome. In fact, the heroes could never have triumphed without Heimdall; he was key. I would've liked to see Balder too, but there didn't really seem to be any place for him.
One thing that got me about the Warriors Three and Sif, though, was that while they looked perfectly at home in Asgard and Jotunheim, they looked like the Masters of the Universe on Earth.
Chris Hemsworth made Thor his own. I liked Stellan Skarsgard's character the most out of the humans, apart from Agent Coulson (Son of Coul!), who just has the best job ever, and isn't stupid. Nice cameo by Hawkeye too. If I have one gripe about the acting, it was re Natalie Portman. She just didn't look comfortable in the role, to me. It was a nice twist having Jane Foster as an astrophysicist studying what turned out to be Bifrost (with an ex named Donald Blake), but it felt to me like she just phoned it in. Even the minor female assistant character had more actual 'character'; it was priceless when she tasered the depowered Thor.
Interesting to see that J.M. Straczynski was one of the writers; the writing seemed to mesh well with Kenneth Branagh's direction, which I thought played very well in the neo-Shakespearean semi-tragedy of the Asgard scenes, of which there were plenty. Some of it was pretty unsubtle, like the irony of Loki's actions and lies leading to Thor's gaining humility, but it worked in context.
The back story with Loki was nicely handled in the time available. He was the tragic character, his jealousy and outrage leading to eventual evil, but all understandable. Also, I got the feeling that Loki, wielding what I'm assuming was Gungnir (Odin's spear) was really the only match for Thor with Mjolnir, who really seemed an order of magnitude more powerful than anyone except Odin. He completely mowed down the Frost Giants. Even the Destroyer, who literally incinerated Frost Giants with a glance, literally took everything the Warriors Three and Sif could throw at it, but didn't last long against a fully powered Thor.
Overall, it's not a complex movie, but it is a well-told story. You know the good guys will win, but there are a few nice moments that keep you guessing how it'll happen. The use of Bifrost as an actual weapon was novel.
Finally, I'd love to see what the rest of the weapons (besides the Casket of Ancient Winters) were in Odin's vault.
Anyway, more specific first reactions:
The Asgard scenes had, I think, the right amount of Majesty. Anthony Hopkins is awesome as Odin, Rene Russo gets to kill a Frost Giant as Frigga, the Warriors Three and Sif are as they should be (with just a hint of Sif's pining after Thor) and Heimdall is just awesome. In fact, the heroes could never have triumphed without Heimdall; he was key. I would've liked to see Balder too, but there didn't really seem to be any place for him.
One thing that got me about the Warriors Three and Sif, though, was that while they looked perfectly at home in Asgard and Jotunheim, they looked like the Masters of the Universe on Earth.
Chris Hemsworth made Thor his own. I liked Stellan Skarsgard's character the most out of the humans, apart from Agent Coulson (Son of Coul!), who just has the best job ever, and isn't stupid. Nice cameo by Hawkeye too. If I have one gripe about the acting, it was re Natalie Portman. She just didn't look comfortable in the role, to me. It was a nice twist having Jane Foster as an astrophysicist studying what turned out to be Bifrost (with an ex named Donald Blake), but it felt to me like she just phoned it in. Even the minor female assistant character had more actual 'character'; it was priceless when she tasered the depowered Thor.
Interesting to see that J.M. Straczynski was one of the writers; the writing seemed to mesh well with Kenneth Branagh's direction, which I thought played very well in the neo-Shakespearean semi-tragedy of the Asgard scenes, of which there were plenty. Some of it was pretty unsubtle, like the irony of Loki's actions and lies leading to Thor's gaining humility, but it worked in context.
The back story with Loki was nicely handled in the time available. He was the tragic character, his jealousy and outrage leading to eventual evil, but all understandable. Also, I got the feeling that Loki, wielding what I'm assuming was Gungnir (Odin's spear) was really the only match for Thor with Mjolnir, who really seemed an order of magnitude more powerful than anyone except Odin. He completely mowed down the Frost Giants. Even the Destroyer, who literally incinerated Frost Giants with a glance, literally took everything the Warriors Three and Sif could throw at it, but didn't last long against a fully powered Thor.
Overall, it's not a complex movie, but it is a well-told story. You know the good guys will win, but there are a few nice moments that keep you guessing how it'll happen. The use of Bifrost as an actual weapon was novel.
Finally, I'd love to see what the rest of the weapons (besides the Casket of Ancient Winters) were in Odin's vault.
) and the 'ice sculpture' tree shape formed in the centre of the sphere, I thought it represented Yggdrasil and I expected to hear Thor says something along the lines of "You'll wreck the whole of the Nine Worlds by destroying Jotunheim!" Perhaps they felt that wasn't quite noble enough and they had to have Thor show compassion for his enemies? Loki was certainly surprised at Thor's attitude.
