10. Thor
If I haven’t made it abundantly clear by my previous posts, I have an undying love for the superhero genre. My bookshelf is loaded to bursting with comic books and graphic novels of heroes of all types but within the pantheon of heroes, there have always been several characters whose appeal has always just baffled me. The Norse God of Thunder on Earth is such a character I failed utterly to grasp until I watch what may have been the most unique superhero movie I’ve ever seen, earlier this year.
The adventure of Thor, afformentioned Norse god, to earn back his godly status has unexpectedly worked its way into one of my favorite superhero movies of all time. Kenneth Branagh directs Thor’s fall from and rise to power in what is easily the most nontraditional superhero movie ever made and the shakeup to the genre that I’d been waiting for, at the time of its release, since “The Dark Knight.”
The keyword here is nontraditional. Branagh brings his Shakespearean sensibilities to a superhero that’s significantly different from typical costumed crime fighters. Thor’s tie to otherworldly cosmology is an element that has been brought into the relatively down to Earth setting of the Marvel Cinematic Universe spectacularly well, thanks to the low key setting of a small New Mexico town on the mortal plain of Earth, serving as a perfect contrast to the bombastic and larger than life feel of the realm of the gods, Asgard. The two worlds are brought to screen and blended together seamlessly, yet not distractingly, putting the focus of the film purely on the character drama, which is what makes the film so unique within its genre.
Branagh, known for his direction of numerous Shakespeare adaptations (“Hamlet” and “Henry V” being amongst the best) has essentially led him to create a Shakespearean superhero film. “Thor” really isn’t an action movie. It has incredibly well coordinated action sequences but it’s not about moving the hero from set piece to set piece. The movie studies Thor’s character through his interactions on Earth after being banished for his arrogance and insolence and follows his gradual humiliation and acceptance of what appears to be his new fate as a powerless mortal on Earth amongst the humans that are teaching him this newfound humility, all while showing the effects that his rashness has on everyone around him.
The story is rather simple but is executed with solid writing, excellent visuals, and most importantly, great acting. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor strikes a perfect balance between a loud and charismatic personality and understandable human arrogance, giving a performance feels larger than life without ever becoming hammy, while Tom Hiddleston’s Loki provides the film with a villain that is not a card carrying evil doer but a three dimensional empathetic character. All of the other performances combined with the incredible leads elevate the simple yet solid writing into a production that I won’t forget anytime soon.
And all of this is simply my condensed praise of the film. I could go on for pages about all the little things this movie accomplishes that I’ve been waiting to see for years but I digress. I found the film unexpectedly great and the only thing keeping from rising on the list isn’t so much what it didn’t include but rather what it chose not to. Just as the flaws of the film began to settle in my mind, namely its slightly rushed pace and lack of screen time for side characters, I decided to take a look at my DVD copy’s special features. Of the extras included in the DVD and Blu-ray was almost an hour of deleted footage.
For brevity’s sake, I’ll spare you the details, as most of the scenes can be found on Youtube or an actual copy you can go out to rent but suffice it to say, they were almost more effective than the movie itself, on their own. Had they been properly integrated, maybe “Thor” would have taken my film of the year but as it stands, it lacks the power to climb the list any further but has secrured its number ten slot based on uniqueness and its successful melding of magic, fantasy and cosmology into a setting otherwise defined by scientific means. It may not have set the world on fire but I certainly have no regrets paying to see it in theaters and on DVD.
9. The Devil’s Double
Even as I write this entry on the list, I find I myself in a bind just how to describe it. Based on the book and life story of Latif Yahia, “The Devil’s Double” tells the story of Latif’s life during his tenure as the body double of Uday Hussein, one of the sons of Saddam Hussein. Forced into his job against his will, Latif spends his days hanging out with Uday, pretending to be his friend for the sake of his own survival and gradually begins to realize that Uday isn’t simply corrupted by power, he’s downright psychotic. Latif spends years watching Uday kill, kidnap, and rape all the men, women, and even children, that he desires, and doing so like a gleeful child that just doesn’t seem to grasp how wrong he is, all the while contemplating the perfect time to make an escape and, if need be, kill him.
The dynamic between the characters of Latif and Uday almost plays out like a reverse Training Day. Uday is insane and just about the closest thing a human being can get to actually being evil and there is no redeeming him what so ever. He is without a doubt one of the scariest antagonists that I have seen in years. He would gun you down with a lighthearted smile on his face, not because of anything personal, but simply because it would be a fun way to pass the time. Every second he spends on screen makes you cringe in fear and wonder just how the hell anyone can get out of this scenario alive. It’s well paced and remains amazingly tense from start to finish, almost making you forget that, being based on a true story, Latif clearly found a way out.
What elevates this movie however lies squarely on the shoulders of its two lead characters, who are played by the same actor. Through masterful editing, Dominic Cooper plays both Uday Hussein and Latif Yahia. The two are onscreen together a lot, which means this couldn’t have been an easy feat. Somehow however, Cooper turns in two incredible yet highly distinct performances, and does so with such conviction that within minutes, you forget that the two people who are frequently at each other’s throats are the same person.
“The Devil’s Double” is one of the most intense character dramas that I’ve seen in years and it handles itself extremely elegantly. Being a western film made by a New Zealand filmmaker and distributed by an American company, there seemed to be a somewhat high capacity for it to drag politics into the equation and vilify Iraqi culture. Fortunately, the film takes the high road and avoids the topic of Saddam’s controversial rule as much as it possibly can, focusing on the demented nature of his antagonized son. At the same time, I commend it for not border lining on snuff film territory like a certain film of recent history (*cough*SerbiaFilm*cough*). If you can stomach its intensity, and it can get rather intense, I recommend it whole heartedly.
8. Warrior
I made the claim last year, when placing “The Fighter” at number 5 on my best of 2010 list, that I wasn’t very fond of sports in real life. Unremarkably, in the year between these lists, that fact hasn’t changed. Even the increasingly popular MMA is something that just barely attracts my interest. Therefore, when I place “Warrior” in the number 8 slot, you’ll know that there’s more going on than a man in a tournament in which he must beat the living hell out of his opponents.
Tommy, Brendan, and Paddy Conlon (played by Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte, respectively) are an estranged family that can’t let the past go. Paddy, who has been sober for quite some time tries to in vain to make amends with his sons, meanwhile, Tommy refuses to forgive his brother for staying with their violent alcoholic father when they were children rather than stay with their mother and Brendan is simply caught in the middle of things, still working to set boundaries between his father and his family and work toward earning his brother’s forgiveness.
Bet your wondering where the MMA part comes into play. Tommy and Brendan are former professional fighters that have moved on with their lives but are thrust back into the profession to win a 5 million dollar prize that will help them fulfill their own obligations; giving the widow of one of Tommy’s best friends from the Marines an income to fall back on and allowing Brendan to pay off his defaulting mortgage to keep his family’s home.
The sport in this drama is more of a device than an actual focus. At the time of the tournament’s announcement, Tommy and Brendan are both retired from professional fighting and as such, only return reluctantly for reasons pertaining to their own life drama. Watching the drama unfold between this broken family and watching them slowly drift towards the possibility of reconciliation is more compelling than the actual fights themselves, which are already well coordinated and shot, keeping it from looking too close to something that could be watched on tv.
The drama is sold by the incredible performances turned in by all three leads, with special regards to Nick Nolte, whom I barely recognized at first. By straying just a bit from typical conventions, Warrior manages to set itself apart from most Sports dramas and is well worth a watch
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