Ray Stevenson – Tripping Through Gateways

Thor’s post Avengers story stays outside of the world of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man and Captain America. It focuses squarely on Thor, Jane Foster and Asgard.

The story opens with Odin telling the tale of how the universe had once been in darkness, and after a time, the dark elves sought to plunge the universe back into the darkness. They were stopped by Odin’s father who had their weapon (the Aether) hidden deep below the ground of…somewhere. Jane Foster is doing the whole “Chasing Anomalies” thing and stumbles on the Aether which she absorbs. Thor shows up because suddenly the Bifrost Bridge has been restored. He brings her to Asgard, the Dark Elves show up, things go very badly and Thor is forbidden from heading out of Asgard. So Thor frees the imprisoned Loki for help in slipping out “unnoticed”. This is one of the film’s big set pieces. Eventually Thor tries to destroy the Aether and is unsuccessful, and the dark elf Malekith gets hold of it.

There is a battle on earth which nearly succeeds in destroying everything. But Thor saves the day (with help from none of the Avengers) and the universe does not blink out of existence.

Thor: the Dark World is not terrible. It has some real fun moments, mostly provided by Loki. And the action scenes are very well done. Taylor is a pretty accomplished television director, including Game of Thrones. He is able to frame exciting battle sequences. Hemsworth is likeable as Thor, Hiddleston’s Loki is entertaining as usual.

The film attempts to really show Jane Foster is a scientist. There is a cute moment where Jane asks if a magical piece of Asgardian equipment is a quantum field generator. The person working it states it is a “Soul Forge”. Jane asks if the Soul Forge transfers molecular energy from one place to another. The person responds, “yes”…and Jane quietly tells Thor proudly that it is a Quantum Field Generator.

Loki gets most of the best character moments, both in humor and drama. But the story has holes. Why do the Elves want to erase the universe? Why not bring in the Hulk to fight the nearly indestructible Berserkers? If it is not Odin on the Throne towards the end…just where is Odin. It is pretty average, especially in comparison to Captain America: the Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. It also does nothing to advance the characters beyond where they already were. It is primarily to introduce the Aether, which will be part of the third Avengers film.

As Marvel worked their way to the Avengers, they had a bit of an issue. Thor is supposedly a god, as are all his friends and family. How does this fit into the Marvel world? Their resolution was that they are mistaken for gods, but really their magic is just science we do not understand yet.

Thor is introduced as a brash young man, a drunkard who cares more for fun than responsibility. This frustrates his father Odin to no end. On the other hand, his brother Loki is a schemer who wants to rule. All of this leads to Thor being cast from Asgaad and his powerful hammer being taken from him. Thor discovers he cannot wield the hammer until he proves himself worthy. After being found by scientist Jane Foster and her team Darcy and Erik Selvig, they find themselves being watched by S.H.I.E.L.D., specifically, Agent Colson. They have found the hammer, which nobody can move.

The film is a fish out of water story. And Hemsworth, who was not a name brand actor at the time, had a certain charm he brought to the role. Of course, eventually Thor must get his hammer and put an end to Loki’s plan.

The human characters suffer in this film. Clark Gregg knows his role backwards and forwards. And Kat Dennings has a lot of fun as Darcy. Stellan Skarsgård is entertaining as father/scientist figure. kay, it seems like it is mostly Jane Foster. The film tried to set her up as the smart scientist, but she really spends hr time mooning over Thor.

The Asgardians are a fun lot of both character actors and name talent. Anthony Hopkins brings a regal presence to Odin, while Renee Russo brings wisdom and motherly compassion to both her sons. The Warriors Three and Sif are strong warriors, but also know celebration. Tom Hiddleston plays a Loki who is both very likeable and duplicitous.

The film makes some choices that seem rather counter intuitive. Supposedly the destruction of the Bi-Frost severs the connection from Asgard to earth, but that does not last long. Nor is it really ever explained. In addition, a big plot whole is…if Thor has never been to Earth before this…how are there legends of his exploits?? Unlike Captain America: the First Avenger, Thor feels more like it is busy setting things up for the Avengers than being it’s own story. It is an enjoyable film overall, but it feels like it could have been stronger, especially considering the talent at the directorial helm of Kenneth Branagh.

Third times the charm! While I enjoyed the second shot at the Punisher starring Thomas Jane, it appears a lot of people did not agree. The Punisher is one of those tough characters. He is brutally violent and (in large part) that is where his entertainment comes from…how far will he go to take out the underworld? So, for the next attempt at the Punisher, much like the Hulk, they tossed aside the prior film. They dumped Director Jonathan Hensleigh and lead Thomas Jane. They replaced them with Director Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans) and the new Punisher Ray Stevenson (Rome).

Like the Jane version, they draw from a variety of eras of the Punisher. While the plot feels very Garth Ennis, the choice of villain is a character he never used. That being the Len Wein/Ross Andru creation Jigsaw (Dominic West, 300 and the Wire). But they do borrower characters he brought to the series, like the Punisher Task Force-Detective Martin Soap (Dash Mihok, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the Day After Tomorrow) and Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon, Resident Evil & Strikeback).

The film opens with Punisher playing with some adorable kittens…just kidding.

Just kidding..we meet mobster types meeting at a nice looking mansion. Billy (West) steps out of a limo and check himself in the mirror…he is a pretty boy who wants to climb higher in the mob, but he is given no respect by the local “Godfather”. As everyone sits down for dinner, the lights go out. Suddenly a flare is lit and the Punisher runs across the table and chops off the “godfather’s” head. And then the carnage starts… the Punisher takes out the entire house of mobsters, while Detective Soap and his partner are stumbling into the yard…his partner comes across the Punisher…Castle puts his hands over his head and turns around. The officer gives Frank the keys his car.

A chase after Billy results in his apparent death. Martin Soap. Soap is the master of exposition and gets us from Frank’s “origin” to the current scene in about three minutes…giving the viewer everything they need to know.

I won’t lie…this is about as good of a Punisher movie as you will get. It is true to character, completely violent with absurd and over the top villains. Jigsaw gives a huge speech to recruit the gang members in front of screen with a giant American flag projected on it. Hutchison is terrific in the role of Looney Bin Jim…he is uncomfortably menacing…not quite Heath Ledger’s Joker-but still scary all the same. It is a shame Hutchison will be remembered more as the “Old Guy who Married a Teenage Girl”. And you cannot get more over the top in a movie like this than cannibalism. Well, the Punisher does kill 81 people.

Dominic West is no slouch either. He plays Jigsaw and a man gone over the edge, flamboyant in his new-found skin. West brings an appropriate amount of the absurd to the film. Wayne Knight, on the other hand, draws it back. Instead of going for broad humor, he plays Micro as a dedicated soldier trying to provide backup. One of the things that is interesting here is that the filmmakers are clearly using Garth Ennis as a template. Yet Jigsaw is not a villain Ennis ever used.Nor did Micro appear in his work (havibg been dead since the 1990’s. I am always sympathetic to Julie Benz, though her accent seems to slip at times. And hey, what’s not to like about Colin Salmon? Dash Mihok makes a terrific Martin Soap…ineffectual and bumbling, but ultimately in Frank’s corner.

And Stevenson? Wow. He looks like Frank walked out of the comics. He is really imposing, and able to make Frank work in the quieter moments.

The movie works really quite well. Smartly, they put Frank in the role of protecting a family, and it is the interactions with Grace that humanize him. As villains go, they played it smart. In some comics, relate-able villains, or at least villains who see themselves as the heroes are great. But for the Punisher? You need remarkably un-sympathetic villains. At no point can you look at Jigsaw and his men as misunderstood. They are just terrible people and you want Frank to do his job and end them.

There are nice little touches, such as the The Bradstreet Hotel-named for long time Punisher cover artist Tim Bradstreet. The visuals are really nice, with great use of the landscape, and the colors are very vibrant.

The film ends with Frank standing at the top of a set of stairs, behind him a neon cross that says Jesus Saves…the J,E,U & S all flicker out to just leave the word Saves and the screen goes black except for the neon “Saves”. I am not really sure what the director is trying to do with the image. But it looks kind of nifty.

Lexi Alexander did a great job with this interpretation of the character, making a film that effectively captures it’s source material.

Marvel set Punisher aside for film. There was talk a few years back, which I felt seemed like a terrible idea. The only way I saw it working was if you put it on HBO, Starz or Showtime. On the networks there is no way it would be unrecognizable. Of course this was before Netflix and the Daredevil series.

Tag: Ray Stevenson

Elves! But DARK Elves (Thor: The Dark World, 2013)

Hammer Time (Thor, 2011)

Going To War (Punisher: War Zone, 2008)