Today though a new small feature that will appear over the next 4 months. The summer movie season is always a ton of fun as movie studios release their tent pole flicks trying to drive viewers to the theaters. So instead of writing long form essays on everything- I'll try and give some quick thoughts, leaving the longer reviews to films of days past for the summer. Sound good? Well too bad, it's my blog.
Thor has always been one of the odder characters in the Marvel universe. He's based off legitimate myths that are taught to kids in school and when you start explaining his back story it can get pretty damn convoluted. Here though, they do an excellent job of telling the back story but also telling a story that keeps the plot moving forward and never dulls the viewer. They do this by inserting the viewer directly into the middle of the story and then flashing back to a previous event. So instead of a cold open to the movie, they tease something happening and then show you why that thing happened. It's a different tactic but it's one that works. I found it especially refreshing after watching the first X-Men again last night. That movie is downright dull. That isn't me saying it's a bad film, but it's not really controversial to say that they take a long time to set up the story of the characters. By the time they get it all set up, the movie is close to its end. This helped the second film to be better. It already had the exposition down and it jumped right into the middle of the action. (And it's not really controversial to say that the third one kinda blew hard). But anyway, back to Thor- Chris Hemsworth is really great in this role, and Kenneth Brannagh brings some great flourish to his directing of the film. He is well versed in Shakespearean drama and gives some of the larger scenes that small touch. It really works here. This film is designed more for the masses so it may leave some hardcore comic fans cold, but this is a fun little popcorn flick with some great dramatic touches.
If Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, and Kristen Wiig's goal here was to prove that women can do raunch as well as the men- then I guess mission accomplished. However, that sort of sells the film short even though it was the running dialogue for critics of the film. This is a film that is full of heart and while there is craziness surrounding everything that happens, the very grounded performance by Wiig is what sells this film and makes it a revelation. Wiig plays the lifelong best friend of Maya Rudolph's bride and feels like she is being pushed aside by a new friend, played by Rose Byrne. On top of that, everything in Wiig's life is falling apart and this whole spectacle is making her feel less and less like a whole person and more a jigsaw puzzle of goals and objectives that she has failed to reach so far. There are some legitimate real sad moments here which run in a weird juxtaposition to the comedy, but it's those former scenes that really sell the latter ones. There is a glorious 5 minute scene where Wiig and Byrne deliver competing speeches at the engagement party- with each one trying to one up the other. You feel for Wiig's character as she knows Rudolph better than anyone there but she can't quite eloquently put that into words. Partly because she's not good at this type of thing, but also partly because she is downright jealous of her friend and is wrestling with how that feeling conflicts with happiness for her best friend. On top of that scene is a great scene on an airplane where Wiig does her best Lucille Ball impression and effectively garners laughs out of a situation that is so uncomfortable it makes you squirm just watching it. The big gross out scene is funny enough, but it doesn't feel germane to the rest of the story and is slightly out of place. Also, Melissa McCarthy is a riot as the completely over the top sister in law to be.
I've read and heard the complaints about this film so here is my take on this. Comedy sequels usually fail because they fundamentally change what made the first film so funny. It's why I'm sort of glad that the Anchorman sequel doesn't seem to be taking off. Sequels in general are the director and actors trying to one up everything from the original. Here this film goes the opposite direction. Todd Phillips takes the template from the first one and makes the exact type of film. Cross out Las Vegas, and add in Bangkok. Cross out missing groom, and add missing brother in law. It goes like that throughout the film. That doesn't mean it's a bad film though. In fact, this film has a much darker tone than the first one. It's not so much amping up the chaos, but moving it overseas, to a place that is seedy like Bangkok, takes away much of the sheen of the first one. This city doesn't look glamorous, it doesn't look like a fun time for a sober person- let alone someone who is drugged out of their mind. Zach carries aspects of the film this time around again, but Ed Helms is really the core of this film. We are put in his shoes often and his character is playing on the fears of being a foreigner in a foreign town. Even Bradley Cooper's character loses much of his cool edge here as he is concerned with just getting out of there. I think people went in expecting the first one with its winky tone and style, but got something with a much harsher edge. This is a comedy at its heart but is far more of a black comedy tone than first one which delved into slapsticky content quite often. It doesn't all work, and most of the laughs come from the familiarity of the situations and waiting for what will happen next, but there is enough to like here that makes it worth recommending.
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