Marvel Studios has confirmed online that the casting for THOR: RAGNAROK will be a particularly huge one. Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo have all been confirmed to be in the third Thor film, following Thor: The Dark World, and the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Blanchett is set to play a new villain called Hela, who has traditionally been the Asgardian god of death in the comics. Introduced in 1968, the likely source material for the film saw her reawakened in her mortal guise following Ragnarok, due to Loki’s schemes. Goldblum’s role of the Grandmaster suggests that THOR: RAGNAROK will also be setting up much of the Infinity War storyline for the next Avengers film as well. Tessa Thompson will play Valkyrie, an ally and one-time love interest for Thor, while Urban will add his existing comic book cred as Skurge, an Asgardian warrior who has fought on both sides of the hero/villain divide.
“The continuation of the epic Thor franchise will be powerful and unique, and with the additions of Cate, Jeff, Tessa, Karl, and Mark to the cast we have the makings of his most dangerous and heroic adventure yet,” said Producer Kevin Feige.
Returning casting members include, of course, Chris Hemsworth as the titular lightning wielder, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Idris Elba as Heimdall, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin.
THOR: RAGNAROK will be shot in Australia by New Zealand director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople). It will be released in Australia on 26 October 2017, and on 3 November 2017 in the US, by Disney.
Based on Nathan Philbrick’s 2000 novel of the same name, IN THE HEART OF THE SEA is inspired by the true events surrounding the sinking of the whale ship Essex in 1820. One of the sources that Herman Melville drew on in writing the literary classic Moby Dick, director Ron Howard and writer Charle Levitt’s film frames the tale by having his fictional Melville (Ben Whishaw) seek out the last of the Essex survivors in Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson). Haunted by the voyage, he recounts how he (as a young boy played by future Spider-Man Tom Holland) joined the crew as they sought out the precious cargo of whale oil, used at the time to light the lamps of the world. Experienced first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) clashes with greenhorn Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) over the running of the ship, right up until they rammed by a giant sperm whale and the survivors are set adrift for 90 days at sea. An enjoyable, tense and well shot drama, albeit one that seems to over-stay its welcome slightly. It also overplays its hand somewhat by forcing repeated connections with Melville’s story. When it works best is the war of the wills between characters, including the war Gleeson’s aged Nickerson is waging with his own soul. At times, the film goes to some incredibly dark places, and the realities of what it took to survive for three months adrift at sea, which leads to a sense of exhaustion by the end of the two hours. Nevertheless, this is an Old Hollywood epic that might be a little anachronistic, but doesn’t lack in ambition.
2015 | US | Dir: Ron Howard | Writers: Charles Leavitt | Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson | Distributor: Roadshow Films (Australia) | Running time: 122 minutes | Rating:★★★
NOTE: This review originally appeared at our sister site, BEHIND THE PANELS. Please visit there for more comic book content, and our weekly podcast.
The coming together of geek god king Joss Whedon and the world of cinematic comic bookery was enough to make even the most cynical fan reach for his or her swooning couch, and the box office success of that union proved that superhero popularity extended well beyond the chaise longue. In the last three years, the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued to grow in unexpected but equally successful ways, across television and mixed media, so it’s a very different landscape that AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON lands in.
Whedon wastes no time in throwing the audience into the action, perhaps responding to audience reactions of the slower beat of the previous film’s first act. In a refreshingly exposition free set-up, it’s evident some time has passed since the last time we saw any of these characters, as they are now a fully-fledged team on the last of a series of recon missions. Discovering not only Baron Von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) in possession of Loki’s sceptre, but the “enhanced” twins Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), they unwittingly set in motion a bigger plan, and kickstart the artificial intelligence Ultron (James Spader) to life.
It’s difficult to be too critical of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, for in every way it mostly achieves what it sets out to do by being a bigger and rompier version of its predecessor. This doesn’t begin as the origin story of a team, but rather an established group of characters interacting in a way we’ve never seen on screen before. The opening raid sequence is one of the impressive displays of superheroics ever, placing the characters in real peril and surrounding them in a swirling chaos. It’s a pace that the film rarely lets up on, with the already infamous “Hulkbuster” sequence, several Ultron attacks and a literally earth-shattering climax all coming in rapid succession.
Yet the film shows some of the weaknesses that the Avengers themselves face during their latest outing, in that the individual parts are all vying for a bigger piece of the whole. There’s a conscious decision with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), for example, to give him a significant amount of backstory to make up for his perfunctory role in the 2012 film. While it’s a positive step, Renner isn’t the only star in the game, and every single one of the characters is given their own arc. This may sound like a good thing on paper, and works well within the context of a monthly comic, but many of the arcs get buried in the cacophony of concurrent threads. With the multitude of storylines – not to mention the introduction of several new lead characters – it’s occasionally hard to keep track of what’s happening and it really does feel as though bits are missing between scenes. Ultron escalates from newborn to global threat in the space of a scene, barely giving us time to take in the enormity of the issue.
In many ways, Whedon is trying to ape the compressed storytelling movement of the comic book world, lurching from one scene to the next to keep momentum going while tying up as many threads as possible in a short burst. This works brilliantly until you stop and try to piece together some of the disparate scenes, such as why it was necessary to have perfunctory visits to Africa and South Korea. For this reason, the middle act feels a bit messy on occasions. Instead of developing a fuller narrative, we instead get a series of tried-and-true shortcuts: a repeated gag about Rogers swearing, a trip to a farm to recuperate after a loss, and even an evacuation sequence with both a last minute child and a dog making it onto the last ship.
Whedon’s vision is a singular one, and there is little denying that he has still got a finger placed firmly to the pulse when it comes to delivering exactly what the audience wants to see on a grand scale. Yet that also unfortunately means discarding those elements he seems to disagree with from previous films. Tony Stark’s profound decision and resolution at the end of the divisive Iron Man 3 is ignored for favour of cool new toys. Any substance in the Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov relationship in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is dismissed in a one-liner about flirting. Indeed, the closeness of Black Widow to Clint Barton/Hawkeye that Whedon himself set up in The Avengers is cast aside for a new revelation about Barton’s personal life that feels more about plot necessity than character development.
The cinematography of Ben Davis (Guardians of the Galaxy, Kick-Ass), a regular collaborator with Matthew Vaughn, replaces the sometimes cramped photography of Seamus McGarvey. This gives the film the epic look it needs, and it is a revelation to see these characters assemble in a wider scope with darker shades surrounding them. This is necessary for the introduction of the robotic Ultron, captured as one of Whedon’s sarcastic “Big Bads” by James Spader, filling the impossibly large frame with swagger and ponce. Yet it also gives newcomer Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch a realistic stage to play her mind games on the team, and it’s evident by the end that Whedon may have just used this film as an excuse to bring her into the fold.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON nevertheless ends on a massively positive vibe, setting us up for the next phase via a wickedly funny mid-credits stinger, and is bookended by action sequences and liberal doses of humour that the writer/director is known for. If the middle act is a little emotionally uneven, or compressed to the point of brevity, perhaps it is through being overly ambitious. With Avengers: Infinity War planned to be two films, it is evident that the scale of the storytelling in these films is getting larger. Indeed, the first cut of this film was reportedly over 3 hours, and despite the scale, this chapter is actually slightly shorter than the first outing. It’s one of those rare instances where a longer film was justified in giving the film some breathing room, albeit it still remains a worthy romp in the end.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON releases in Australia on 23 April 2015, and on 1 May 2015 in the US, from Disney.
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The latest Marvel film pushes the boundaries of their growing universe, determined to turn mainstream cinema audiences into comic buffs.
[stextbox id=”grey” caption=”Thor: The Dark World (2013)” float=”true” align=”right” width=”200″]
Director: Alan Taylor
Writers: Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Runtime: 112 minutes
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo
NB: This review appeared originally at Behind the Panels. Visit there for full coverage of all things comic books and superhero films.
If Iron Man 3 was about escalating the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond even the dizzying heights of The Avengers, then Thor: The Dark World is about expanding that landscape. The original Thor was perhaps the most difficult sell of the first phase of the Marvel films, introducing us to something bigger than Earth-bound origin stories. In the wake of two of the biggest franchise films in the history of the medium, this sequel is burdened with a similar glorious purpose for the next wave.
Picking up several years after his first encounter with Earth, Asgardian hero Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cleaning up the Nine Realms in the chaos that followed the destruction of the Bifröst. Meanwhile, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) pines for her godly love, and unwittingly stumbles upon an inter-dimensional link in London. As ancient foe Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and his Dark Elves rise to destroy Asgard and beyond, Thor must turn to his nefarious brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to help him defeat the accursed ones.
What is immediately evident in Thor: The Dark World is the sheer scale of the production. Taking the incredible comic book visions of everyone from writer Walt Simonson through to the current cosmic ballet of the Marvel Universe, the film series has finally reached a point where it can confidently mix in the rich and often convoluted details of the source material for a fully prepped and initiated movie audience. Director Alan Taylor uses his experience on television’s Game of Thrones to ground Asgard as a real place, albeit one filled with beings that have been around for several millennia, so that romance and familial bonds are just as integral as the universe shattering events around them.
Even with the seriously good special effects, in a film that bounces us around the majority of the Nine Realms, it’s the same ingredients as the first film that make this sequel a success. Humour is what made Norse gods palatable alongside machine men and gamma-radiated monsters, and if anything, Thor: The Dark World takes it up a notch. Much of this swirls around assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings), but it’s wonderful to see Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) in a pantsless bit of insanity as well. For the non-action crowd, the romance between Thor and Jane is core to this outing, and even Hiddleston gets to be something more than the mischievous villain, auditioning for a potential buddy-cop film alongside Hemsworth. Eccleston is perhaps underused and mostly under make-up, but his understated performance gives us a convincingly villainous target for the heroes.
Given Thor’s penchant for swinging his hammer (“Mew-Mew!”), it’s the action that ties it all together. Even Rene Russo gets to kick some ass before the film is through. From fantasy-inspired battlefields to the streets of London, no stone is left uncrumbled, although some of the supporting warriors (including Jamie Alexander’s Sif and the Warriors Three of Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano and new addition Zachary Levi) are occasionally brushed aside in the melee.
Thor: The Dark World is a perfect example of the progression of a series. As the cinematic universe steers towards Guardians of the Galaxy, this film builds upon familiar elements while taking chances that quite literally shoots the franchise into the stars. As always, you would be very wise to stick around to the very end of the credits to see what’s coming up next. Following the philosophy of “go big or go home”, Marvel Studios have chosen the former and managed to pour the comic book source straight onto the screen.
Thor: The Dark World is released in Australia on 31 October 2013, and in the US on 8 November 2013, from Disney.
Disney has released the official synopsis for Thor: The Dark World, the sequel to 2011’s Thor directed by Alan Taylor. It is due for release in November 2013.
It confirms that former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston will play the character Malekith the Accursed. It also announces the inclusion of LOST actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as part of the cast. Read on for the full press below:
Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne (credit not final) and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (credit not final) and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery” #83 in August, 1962.
“Thor: The Dark World” is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers are Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Craig Kyle and Nigel Gostelow.
Marvel’s Avengers assemble for the first time on the small screen, in a satisfying union that requires some assembly but ultimately achieves its ambitious collision of worlds. However, the Australian ‘Limited Edition’ Blu-ray lives up to its name in every way.
It may have seemed like a crazy idea half a decade ago, when the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk within a few months of each other signalled the start of something entirely unique in the film world. Marvel Studios had begun gathering together its mightiest heroes not simply for a series of adaptations, but to reconstruct its comic book universe for cinema audiences. The so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe gained momentum with the addition of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to the roster, not to mention an Iron Man sequel, and suddenly the impossible seemed possible. While DC Comics struggled through Superman reboots and Green Lanternmisfires, Marvel had a legitimate cinematic institution on their hands.
With The Avengers, the disparate elements from four thematically different worlds come together. When an alien force threatens the Earth, under the charge of Asgardian wild child Loki (Tom Hiddleston), über spy organisation S.H.I.E.L.D is compromised. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) desperately summons together Earth’s mightiest warriors to analyse the threat. Yet Captain America (Chris Evans) is a man out of time, and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) an unstoppable egotist with other pursuits on his mind. Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) is emotionally compromised, uncontrollable demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is conflicted when it comes to his brother Loki and the newly calm Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) keeps the Hulk in check. Will this ragtag team be enough to keep the extraterrestrial hordes at bay?
Given that The Avengers is the culmination of a six film world-building saga, much of the first act of the film is confusingly spent in a dragging set-up not just for this film, but for the chapters that will inevitably follow. Indeed, one would be forgiven for thinking this was the prematurely released Iron Man 3for at least half of the exposition. Yet as director Joss Whedon‘s script rapidly ticks off the whereabouts of all the players, getting us up to speed with their various misadventures in the cracks between films, some of the immediacy of the spectacular opening is lost. Here even master team-builder Whedon, seasoned through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, struggles with the essential problem this film was always going to face: keeping four fan bases happy but simultaneously moving the story forward.
Once all of the pieces are in one place, however, The Avengers becomes the cracking piece of event cinema that it was always destined to be. Here Whedon plays in his element, as humour and character building mark this just as much his film as the work of Marvel Studios’ producer Kevin Feige. Downey Jr naturally gets all the best one-liners, but exchanges between him, Evans, Ruffalo and Hemsworth in particular are evenly paced and frequently side-splitting. Whedon is not afraid to use visual humour either, playing on the Hulk’s size or his ability to fling about mortals like rag dolls. More than anything, he recognises that these are already well-defined characters from previous films and comics, and allows their natural charms to emerge within the story where possible.
Hiddleston builds on his powerfully sympathetic portrayal of the conflicted villain, although the nature of The Avengers beast requires that he be a little more cut and dry in his villainy. On the flip side, Captain America’s transition back into the world after decades on ice is one that requires more exploration, but we will have to wait several years for this to eventuate in its own sequel. The only new cast member is Mark Ruffalo, who replaces Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Effortlessly slipping into the role, he provides genuine warmth and a glimmer of what has transpired to the character off-screen. Although a third standalone Hulk film is not currently on the horizon, Ruffalo is the first actor to take on the role who actually makes us want to see more of his charmingly gentle take.
Yet this is, above all things, an action film and this is where the film ultimately delivers and overwhelms. Once the invasion force descends from the heavens, the Michael Bay gene of the film takes over, favouring spectacle over all else. There is undoubtedly far more intelligence behind this action, from the Hulk’s encounters with individual enemies to Stark’s quips in the heat of battle. It would be a cold-hearted fanboy who didn’t get all aquiver as the team comes together on the battlefield for the first time, and a giant creature snakes its way around an embattled New York. In the climactic moments, some of the cracks admittedly show. The Hulk’s domesticity is a convenient occurrence rather than a naturally occurring one, but does make for some spectacular imagery. After literally using archer Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as a pawn in the opening chapter, Whedon is left with not having an effective place for him (or Johansson for that matter) in the final battle of super-beings.
As a cinematic achievement, The Avengers requires a firm salute of respect for giving the fans exactly what they wanted and pulling together one of the first epics of the year. Yet as fans will know, sticking around until the post-credits sequence is mandatory in a Marvels Studios film, although this time non comics readers will be left scratching their heads. Either way, what The Avengers mostly achieves is an end to one chapter and opening a door to another, filled with sequels, spin-offs and a growing legion of fans who have had their expectations raised by the unnecessarily high quality of this series.
The Disc (★★★):
In a word, disappointing. This 3-Disc (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy) is also spruiked as a limited edition with a slipcover, but in every other way lives up to the term ‘limited’. The audio/visual aspects to this disc are actually outstanding, and if you are region locked, then this is the only way to see The Avengers. The crystal clear video is easily a 5/5 and the bombastic audio is an impressive equaliser, rattling the windows suitably. We’re also pleased to report that it contains both of the end-credits sequences from the US edition of the film.
The bonus features on all Australian editions are another story. In fact, there are just over 30 minutes worth of bonus features on this disc, making this a virtually bare-bones outing. The Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 (12 minutes) is the most substantial single feature, and is an ambitious and mostly satisfying expansion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Deleted and Extended Scenes (15 minutes) are most worthwhile for the alternate opening and closing sequences featuring Cobie Smulders (detailed here), and pieces with Harry Dean Stanton/Mark Ruffalo along with more Captain America. There’s also a pretty standard Gag Reel (4 minutes) of line flubs, dropped hammers and general silliness on set. The Blu-ray also shares a featurette with the single disc DVD (also in this set), A Visual Journey (6 minutes), in which Joss Whedon and his creative team take us through the design of the S.H.I.E.L.D areas of the film.
What’s missing? We hate to say it, but this one is definite an import recommendation. The film alone is the best ‘feature’, but it seems the price to pay for getting this a month early is missing out on an audio commentary from Joss Whedon, the Soundgarden music video, the alleged ‘second screen’, and worst of all, a 90-minute documentary called “Assembling the Ultimate Team”. The UK Blu-ray is out 17 September, while the US Blu-ray is out on 26 September.
Marvel’s Avengers assemble for the first time on the small screen, in a satisfying union that requires some assembly but ultimately achieves its ambitious collision of worlds.
It may have seemed like a crazy idea half a decade ago, when the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk within a few months of each other signalled the start of something entirely unique in the film world. Marvel Studios had begun gathering together its mightiest heroes not simply for a series of adaptations, but to reconstruct its comic book universe for cinema audiences. The so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe gained momentum with the addition of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to the roster, not to mention an Iron Man sequel, and suddenly the impossible seemed possible. While DC Comics struggled through Superman reboots and Green Lanternmisfires, Marvel had a legitimate cinematic institution on their hands.
With The Avengers, the disparate elements from four thematically different worlds come together. When an alien force threatens the Earth, under the charge of Asgardian wild child Loki (Tom Hiddleston), über spy organisation S.H.I.E.L.D is compromised. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) desperately summons together Earth’s mightiest warriors to analyse the threat. Yet Captain America (Chris Evans) is a man out of time, and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) an unstoppable egotist with other pursuits on his mind. Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) is emotionally compromised, uncontrollable demi-god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is conflicted when it comes to his brother Loki and the newly calm Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) keeps the Hulk in check. Will this ragtag team be enough to keep the extraterrestrial hordes at bay?
Given that The Avengers is the culmination of a six film world-building saga, much of the first act of the film is confusingly spent in a dragging set-up not just for this film, but for the chapters that will inevitably follow. Indeed, one would be forgiven for thinking this was the prematurely released Iron Man 3for at least half of the exposition. Yet as director Joss Whedon‘s script rapidly ticks off the whereabouts of all the players, getting us up to speed with their various misadventures in the cracks between films, some of the immediacy of the spectacular opening is lost. Here even master team-builder Whedon, seasoned through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, struggles with the essential problem this film was always going to face: keeping four fan bases happy but simultaneously moving the story forward.
Once all of the pieces are in one place, however, The Avengers becomes the cracking piece of event cinema that it was always destined to be. Here Whedon plays in his element, as humour and character building mark this just as much his film as the work of Marvel Studios’ producer Kevin Feige. Downey Jr naturally gets all the best one-liners, but exchanges between him, Evans, Ruffalo and Hemsworth in particular are evenly paced and frequently side-splitting. Whedon is not afraid to use visual humour either, playing on the Hulk’s size or his ability to fling about mortals like rag dolls. More than anything, he recognises that these are already well-defined characters from previous films and comics, and allows their natural charms to emerge within the story where possible.
Hiddleston builds on his powerfully sympathetic portrayal of the conflicted villain, although the nature of The Avengers beast requires that he be a little more cut and dry in his villainy. On the flip side, Captain America’s transition back into the world after decades on ice is one that requires more exploration, but we will have to wait several years for this to eventuate in its own sequel. The only new cast member is Mark Ruffalo, who replaces Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Effortlessly slipping into the role, he provides genuine warmth and a glimmer of what has transpired to the character off-screen. Although a third standalone Hulk film is not currently on the horizon, Ruffalo is the first actor to take on the role who actually makes us want to see more of his charmingly gentle take.
Yet this is, above all things, an action film and this is where the film ultimately delivers and overwhelms. Once the invasion force descends from the heavens, the Michael Bay gene of the film takes over, favouring spectacle over all else. There is undoubtedly far more intelligence behind this action, from the Hulk’s encounters with individual enemies to Stark’s quips in the heat of battle. It would be a cold-hearted fanboy who didn’t get all aquiver as the team comes together on the battlefield for the first time, and a giant creature snakes its way around an embattled New York. In the climactic moments, some of the cracks admittedly show. The Hulk’s domesticity is a convenient occurrence rather than a naturally occurring one, but does make for some spectacular imagery. After literally using archer Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as a pawn in the opening chapter, Whedon is left with not having an effective place for him (or Johansson for that matter) in the final battle of super-beings.
As a cinematic achievement, The Avengers requires a firm salute of respect for giving the fans exactly what they wanted and pulling together one of the first epics of the year. Yet as fans will know, sticking around until the post-credits sequence is mandatory in a Marvels Studios film, although this time non comics readers will be left scratching their heads. Either way, what The Avengers mostly achieves is an end to one chapter and opening a door to another, filled with sequels, spin-offs and a growing legion of fans who have had their expectations raised by the unnecessarily high quality of this series.
The Disc (★★★):
This Australian single disc edition is Avengers-Lite™, and serious fans will be looking towards the Blu-ray edition or the multi-disc sets. The sound is still pretty amazing on this disc, actively using all of the surround channels and flat-out bursting through the speakers from the opening scenes. The picture quality does look somewhat compressed, but that is only in comparison to the 1080p transfer that our eyes have grown accustomed to. This is still an impressive display. This single-disc edition only comes equipped with a single featurette, A Visual Journey (6 minutes), in which Joss Whedon and his creative team take us through the design of the S.H.I.E.L.D areas of the film. We’re alos pleased to report that it contains both of the end-credits sequences from the US edition of the film. Bottom Line? Get the Blu-ray.
Yahoo! Movies has released the trailer for Red Dawn, veteran stunt coordinator Dan Bradley’s debut feature, and a remake of the 1984 John Mulius cult classic. The original starred Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Harry Dean Stanton, and their 21st century counterparts are Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Adrianne Palicki and Isabel Lucas.
At The Reel Bits, we don’t just post trailers, we review them too. Check out our thoughts after viewing the trailer below.
Trailer Talk:
The heartland of America is under fire, and only one Australian can save it. We do have all that Tomorrow When the War Began experience after all.
It has been several years coming, with principal photography beginning all the way back in September 2009. The controversy since the wrap was around the idea of invading Chinese forces, but now that we are all friends – there’s a Shanghai Disneyland due to open in December 2015, for chrissakes – international sales have demanded that the invaders are North Korean. Of course, they can’t simply be good at war, because Americans have the dominance in that field. Instead, they have a “new class of weapon”. Luckily, the boys have American know-how, and a genuine survivor of The Hunger Games is Josh Hutcherson.
Fans of the original film will immediately notice that the scale of the film has change, with a giant CG battle taking place over the town, destroying an enemy plane and a house in the process. Can we really have a war against the reds without Patrick Swayze? We can also look forward to Josh Peck being booted off a top-rating sitcom in 25 years, coining the phrase “Wolverineblood”.
The bottom line is…Wolverines! It may be a cliche, it may be a remake but this trailer has all the ingredients for a fourth quarter blockbuster.
It’s a Hollywood certainty that serendipity comes in twos, from the great Iron Eagle/Top Gun face-off of ’86 through to the Deep Impact/Armageddon explosiveness of 1998. With the current box office caché in the realms of fantasy and swordplay, it was only a matter of time before fairy tales became all the rage again. Following Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror by only a matter of months, and the Walt Disney animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by a mere 75 years, commercial director Rupert Sanders attempts to take this simple morality tale and spin it into an action epic.
Grimm’s tales were always fairly dark, but Snow White and the Huntsman takes it up a notch, standing in stark contrast to the brightly lit Mirror Mirror. This Snow White (Kristen Stewart) has been imprisoned in a tower since the beautiful and wicked Ravenna (Charlize Theron) murdered her father and took the crown for herself. The land has become impoverished and decayed, but when Snow White escapes from her prison and into the dark woods, the Queen realises that she is the key to her eternal youth and power. She sends the one man who knows his way around the enchanted forests: Eric (Chris Hemsworth), a drunken Huntsman lamenting his dead wife.
The three screenwriters on Snow White and the Huntsman – Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini – have some decent credentials between them, not least of which is Amini’s Drive for Nicolas Winding Refn. Yet even they can’t seem to come to any agreement on a narrative direction. Cherry-picking from The NeverEnding Story, the Chronicles of Narnia and a bit of Tolkien for good measure, Sanders tries to tack on a mighty battle to what should be a fairly straight story. Sanders inexperience with features is evident in the clumsy shooting of almost every action sequence, a series of close-ups that obscures the bigger picture and anything else that might be happening. This disturbing trend in modern action pervades the film, with Sanders aping style without the corresponding knowledge of how to execute it.
Not helping much are the thinly drawn characters, and Stewart’s limited range can only do so much with such meek food to feed it. The attempt to give a modern twist to the ill-fated heroine, but the emo-friendly Stewart doesn’t have the presence to command an army. Hemsworth and Theron are far more compelling, but both are reduced to shouting matches and mugging the camera in place of real emotion. Some strengths lie in the introduction of the seven dwarfs, who include digitally shrunken versions of Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsden, Ray Winstone and Toby Jones in their number. A feature could have been struck around this goldmine of talent, but instead they are relegated to supporting players at best, and comic relief at worst. It also bears asking: on what planet Stewart is considered “fairer” than Theron?
The film is otherwise beautifully dressed, with the lavish costumes by the multiple Oscar-winning Colleen Atwood. The mirror on the wall is also one of the most innovative to date, and the creature effects are impressive. Yet despite this surface sheen, of all the Snow White films this year, Snow White and the Huntsman is not the fairest of them all, lacking the fun and sparkle of its competitor and in dire need of some direction.
Snow White and the Huntsman is released in Australia on 20 June 2012 from Universal.
Universal has announced that stars Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth will attend the Australian premiere of Snow White and the Huntsman on June 19.
Twilight superstar Kristen Stewart and Australian favourite Chris Hemsworth, hot off the phenomenal success of Avengers, join visionary Director Rupert Sanders on a tour to Sydney for the Australian premiere of their epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, taking place in true style at Event cinemas, Westfield Bondi Junction June 19.
Kristen Stewart (the Twilight saga, On the Road) plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil Queen Ravenna (Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron of Prometheus, Hancock) who is out to destroy her. But the wicked ruler never imagined that the young woman who has escaped her clutches and now threatens her reign has been training in the art of war with a Huntsman named Eric (Chris Hemsworth of Thor, The Avengers) who was dispatched to capture her.
The epic action-adventure is brought to the screen by Joe Roth, the billion-dollar blockbuster producer of Alice in Wonderland, and, in his feature-film debut, acclaimed commercial director and state-of-the-art visualist Rupert Sanders.
