The Man who is Thursday- communication, creativity and The Mighty Snore.

         
           

                                       Asgard: remarkably dull, considering.

     The late film critic Roger Ebert described 2011's Thor as: "a failure as a movie, but a success as marketing". Indeed, with the talent involved and the basic interest from the fans of the comic it was never going to be a particularly difficult sell. Yet it was rubbish. It lacked almost anything of interest. Dull scene after dull scene ponderously dripped into the expensive production barrel which was then dutifully scraped.
     However, clearly a lot of people enjoyed it and Ebert also pointed out how well the film was doing on Rotten Tomatoes, so why bother to complain? Why not just set fire to the memory of it and let this dead film drift off to Valhalla? Because it could have been a whole lot better. Because Thor might have been mightier. Because with just a little understanding of creativity, we might have some shoots of wonder amongst this technically proficient but sterile tent-pole event. Something better.
       
     As everything basically works as: Information ----------> Idea, if you want to be creative then look for ideas that are interesting.   You're looking for something that the audience won't have thought of but that comes naturally from the basic information you're working with. To put it another way, when I read a story or watch a film I don't want to see something that I could have done.
    To take a simple example; if you are writing a story about Thor coming to Earth then one  connected idea would be that there is a day of the week named after this guy.  Why wouldn't someone mention this? How could a screen-writer not want to put it in to offer something better than the turgid interaction served up throughout ? You could play it straight or for laughs.  Would Thor know he had a day of the week named after him? Would he be pleased or annoyingly smug about it? Or would he have no knowledge of any of this and demand that all days of the week be named after him. Would he start complaining that Jupiter didn't exist? Or rage to discover that his father has the power of yesterday? Couldn't he possibly do something more interesting than get runover  or hit people ?
    Speaking of Odin, why not try and do something interesting with this character who, after all, is the god of magic! Instead of Anthony Hopkins phoning in the role from Port Talbot why not use this great actor to portray a more interesting character?  You might have Odin as a cosmic Keyser Soze who manipulates everybody and everything in order to rid Asgard of the Frost Giant threat. He anticipates what Loki will do, and what Thor will do in reaction to that, and the banishment to Earth is simply a way to train Thor to think outside the god-box; by coping with the ways of men he can use his new skills to out-wit the Frost Giants. Cosmic politics don't allow Odin to take action, so he must set up his pawns without appearing to be anywhere near the board. Any of this is more interesting than the basic "You were naughty Thor, and now you're grounded...on Earth!" we are subjected to. You might even want to suggest that there's a special reason why the seemingly omniscient Nick Fury wears an eye-patch.....
    Asgard itself appears as if designed by Albert Speer and the general Triumph of the Will aesthetic is matched by the specific Defeat of the Will experienced by the viewer. Wouldn't the whole realm, and film, have been  simply improved with a Gilliamesque tone? The Asgardians farting and carousing, attempting to outdo each other in feats of strength, as Odin looks on and mutters: "As above so below." Humans are rubbish because their gods are rubbish. Now there's an interesting idea.
   
   On Earth, the scientists who run into Thor are a pretty rubbish bunch as well. Natalie Portman, whose character seemingly is just a pretty face,  shows no interest whatsoever in the film's only interesting idea: "Where I come from, magic and science are the same thing." Now, if I were sitting listening to Thor say this, I would agree with him because everything is basically communication so therefore magic and science are the same thing. However, Ms Portman doesn't respond to this controversial concept largely because the movie needs to make space for Thor to beat some people up in a way we've seen a thousand times before.
  . As there is the god of thunder in their midst,there is also the missed opportunity for one of these scientists to comment on the fact that how lightning works is still largely a mystery. With that you could have Thor just say, "it works like this..." or alternatively you might have Thor smile and say: "I don't know either !"
    Overall, and as is usual in these kinds of movies, the scientists show surprisingly little interest in the living god now amongst them. It is possible that this scenario is just the result of a society that cares little for asking and checking, that is quite happy that Bela Lugosi is dead, but when the older male scientist  bizarrely disses the great science writer Arthur C. Clarke we can clearly see that the characters stupidity is directly connected to the writers'/producers' ignorance.
     Beyond that,  a great opportunity is blown for this scientist and Thor to have comical scenes in a bar. Are we presented with Thor wrestling with Karaoke? Or even a decent drinking competition? No and no. You put the god of thunder into a bar on Earth and nothing of note happens. You're really not trying very hard are you?
     Of course, the god of thunder's story was really brought to you by the god of money and he doesn't usually allow a good story to get in the way of profit. Naturally, his wrath was appeased by the success of the first movie and now Hollywood has strained itself to produce a new length of product. Thor 2 is on its way. 
    Surely there's a chance here to do something interesting ? With the basic information established that the Norse god Thor is real and on Earth, and has been clearly, to all news media,  helping to save the very world itself as part of the Avengers, what interesting ideas should be naturally following from all this?
   Shouldn't we have some interesting scenes where the Vatican and Pat Robertson and the Saudi government have to come to terms with the fact that god exists, and he's not theirs.  Inevitably, ordinary believers of all religions would start to worship Thor. Wouldn't they? Organised religion would be in a massive crisis. How would they deal with it? Make a deal with the Devil?

   Unfortunately, I think the new movie will have none of this, and more of Thor hitting people. I'd put money on it.