Make Sure You See the 2D Version of "Thor"

To kick this 3D movie review off, I have to admit that I came into this movie knowing nothing about the Thor character. I recognized him, but most of my comic knowledge consisted of reading Spider-Man comics. Even when Thor showed up in one of Spidey's adventures, I didn’t really understand what his background was all about. Seriously, the thought of someone like Zeus felt out of place to me in a Spider-Man comic. Like a Zeus-Batman team-up or something. When I heard there was going to be a Thor film, I was pretty iffy about the idea, but after seeing the trailers for it I became more and more interested in checking it out. After seeing Thor, I am sold on the character and I am ready to get in line to see it again. But I definitely won’t be checking it out in 3D...the studios got that money the first time.

As a 3D movie experience, I’d have to say that Thor jumped out of the screen with a whimper, and failed to impress me with its flat presentation. Don’t get me wrong, the movie looked epic, and Thor’s Asgard storyline really drew me into that world, but since I’m reviewing 3D movies with the 3D presentation as my main focus, I can’t get too excited about this one. And this stinks, because I REALLY liked this movie. As a 3D experience however, the effects seemed flat and nonexistent in several places, and it became obvious from the opening that this movie was converted to 3D just to charge more money.

The majority of the scenes on Jodutheim (Frost Giant planet) were very dark and hard to see what was going on with my 3D glasses . In fact, I pushed my glasses up every now and then and was able to see a much brighter and colorful film without them. Right off the bat I found myself wishing that I went to see the regular presentation. A friend of mine mentioned that he hates 3D movies because the glasses make the movie darker. I haven’t had that same experience as he has with previous 3d movies, until now. With Thor, I found myself agreeing with him. I'm guessing it has to do with the afterthought planning in the post-conversion 3D process. Once Thor gets to Earth the film gets much brighter, however the 3D effects are hardly noticeable on our planet. When I pushed up my 3D glasses, I saw a crisp 2D movie without any blurry traces of 3D.

I can’t rate the 3D experience of this movie as a complete failure. Most of the Asgard scenes are breathtaking to watch and I became totally immersed in this world with its 3D presentation. Thor’s home world is beautiful and colorful, and thankfully didn’t become washed out with the 3D conversion. This is probably due to the CGI-heavy effects in space. If the next Thor movie takes place entirely on Asgard, then I’m definitely going to be there for the 3D experience. I suppose if I wanted to put a positive spin on things, I could say that the effects on Earth and the Frost Giant planet are supposed to suck so we can sympathize with Thor’s love for his home planet, but that’s really pushing it.

For Thor’s 3D movie review, I’m going to have to give it a “C-“. The movie itself is excellent, the acting, directing, and non-Earth locations are fantastic, but he 3D effects unfortunately sunk this great movie. Thor definitely kicks off the summer movie season, but didn’t live up to my hopes for a great 3D experience. Save yourself a few bucks and go get some Twizzlers.