World Enough and Time

Title: Enchantment
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Thor (Movieverse/Comicverse)
Characters: Loki/Enchantress; Thor
Rating: PG
Words: 1280
Genre: Slash and het
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of Marvel.
Notes: Cross-posted to my Dreamwidth account, my Livejournal account, and my fanfic journal.

( Enchantment )

With "Thor", for example, director Kenneth Branagh and co-star Anthony Hopkins would speak in a Shakespearean shorthand about how we wanted the characters to relate, or what exactly the scene was going to be like. Branagh would say something like, "You remember Act 3, Scene 2 Hamlet - ghost, wine, mum poisoned - done". And suddenly you know exactly what's required. It gave us an enormously sound reference library with which to communicate."

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

When I was a kid, for a long time, Journey into Mystery starring Thor was my favourite comic. It was as passionate a fandom as any I have had since, though I didn't know anyone else who loved Thor comics - heck, I didn't even know anyone else who read comics. So I fantasized about lame doctors who can command the lightning, and the mighty hammer Mjolnir, and did a school project on Norse gods.



So I approached the movie with some trepidation. I cared too much. Most comics book movies aren't nearly as good as the comics they're based on. How could anyone get Thor right? Branagh is the director; well, if anyone should get it right, he should. But I hardly dared hope.

If I'd known J. Michel Straczynski was one of the writers, I might have had more confidence.

So: the verdict? I loved it. I loved it for its flaws as much as for its strengths. I hadn't been impressed with Chris Hemsworth when I'd seen photos. Yes, he looked like Thor, big and blond, but that isn't my favourite type of guy, and I think I suspected (out of sheer prejudice) that a man so blantantly hunky couldn't act. Well, I was wrong. Hemsworth can act, but more importantly, he has a lovely smile and a charm that won me over. I believed in his joie de vivre. I believed in his jubilant bellicosity, and his later remorse. I bought his role, hook, line, and sinker.

He wasn't the best thing though, or my favourite character. The best thing was the way in which they recaptured the grandeur and the glory of the Jack Kirby visuals: magnificent starscapes, nebulas, the glittering futuristic towers of Asgard, the costumes that made me think 'what if Wagner's Ring Cycle went to Vulcan?'

I loved the Frost Giants. And Loki. And S.H.I.E.L.E. And the Easter Egg. And the spriti of it all.

Oh yes, the ten year old within me was absolutely thrilled by this movie. And the grownup liked it too.

( A few specific points... )