Film Feature: Seven Things We Want From ‘Thor 2’

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Thor
Photo credit: Paramount

4. Keep the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. References to a Minimum

This one is tricky. SPOILER WARNING – “Thor 1” ended with Thor and his Earth-bound girlfriend desperate to reconnect with one another, after Thor loses his ability to travel to Earth, which was a great teaser for another “Thor” movie. However, since Thor will be appearing in “The Avengers”, we’re going to assume that that whole problem will be rendered moot before “Thor 2” ever comes out. So, when “Thor 2” picks up, there will probably have to be some sort of reference to the events of “The Avengers”. And we’re fine with that… in moderation. One of the BIG flaws of “Iron Man 2” was that all of the extra Marvel Studios crossover scenes got to be a little much. There were way, way too many scenes with Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, and S.H.I.E.L.D. that really had next to nothing to do with the central plot of “IM2”. They were filler scenes and they took away from the main storyline. (The worst offender was the Tony Stark scene at the end of Ed Norton’s “Incredible Hulk” – it was a huge mistake to end the movie, not with Bruce Banner, but with a throwaway scene teasing a movie that comes out 4 years later.) Yes, the after credits scenes are fun and small cameos are fine, but we wish Marvel Studios would spent less time highlighting their continuity and more time making solid stand-alone movies. The Marvel references in “Thor 1” weren’t too bad – great Renner cameo, but we’re sick of Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson – but we really hope that, post-“Avengers”, “Thor 2” won’t have to spend so much time winking at the fanboy audience.

Thor
Photo credit: Paramount

5. Keep Up The Romance

It pains us to say this, particularly since we’re such big fans of hammer-swinging and ass-kicking, but the Chris Hemsworth/Natalie Portman romance was one of our favorite aspects of “Thor”. (Just try to take away our man credentials. We will fight you tooth and nail.) We were skeptical about Portman taking the “girl” role in a superhero movie, but her chemistry with Hemsworth was fantastic. Their relationship was dynamic, subtle, cute, and entertaining as hell. It was way more engaging than the “will they/won’t they” Tony Stark/Pepper Potts relationship, if only because it actually seems to be going somewhere. Every truly great superhero movie has some sort of love story at its core. Yes, heroes are interested in truth, justice, blah, blah, blah. As a motivating factor, justice and honor has NOTHING on love. We don’t believe that Thor would cross the cosmos just to save Earth from some bad guys. But we DO believe that he’d tear the cosmos asunder if it was the only way to save the woman he loves. So, let’s balance the gladiator guy-gasms with a good old-fashioned love story.

Thor
Photo credit: Paramount

6. Play up the “God on Earth” Angle

After the events of “Thor” and (we’re guessing) “The Avengers”, we’re going to assume that the general public of the Marvel movie world will eventually become aware of Thor’s presence on Earth, and that has a lot of potential for some very cool storytelling. Because Thor isn’t your normal superhero. He’s not a vigilante or a mutant. He’s a living embodiment of a GOD, a fairly well-known Norse god. The creative team behind “Thor 2” could get a lot of mileage out of humanity’s reaction to a card-carrying god walking on Earth with super-powers and a big honkin’ hammer. Would people accept Thor? Would they think he was a god or just a god-themed superhero? Would people try to worship him? Would there be a Thor cult? Would other religions denounce him? How would the public perceive Jane Foster as the girlfriend of the only god on Earth? There are a lot of fun aspects to the Thor character – his ego, his power, his “fish out of water” qualities – but we really hope that future “Thor” sequels don’t ignore that the guy is a GOD and that makes him one of the most unique superheroes out there.

Thor
Photo credit: Paramount

7. Don’t Let “Thor 2” Become “My Super Ex-Girlfriend 2”

While it’s been confirmed that director Kenneth Branagh isn’t returning for the sequel, it has been confirmed that screenwriter Don Payne – who worked on “Thor” – will be returning for “Thor 2”. While that continuity is semi-reassuring, Payne’s writing resume is all over the place and makes us pretty nervous. Yes, he helped write “Thor”, which we liked, and a bunch of episodes of “The Simpsons” (put those in the pro column too), but he also wrote “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, two of the worst superhero movies of the past decade. We’d feel much, much better if Payne wasn’t working alone – his collaborators on the “Thor” screenplay, Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, also worked on “X-Men: First Class”, which was GREAT. And having a story concept written by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich didn’t hurt either. This may be one of the few times in Hollywood history where we actually WANT more cooks in the kitchen. Fine, let Payne knock out a first draft, but, hopefully, the Marvel Studios team will have a team of expert “Thor” scribes on retainer, just in case Payne doesn’t deliver.

By TOM BURNS
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
[email protected]