On Bewilderment

There is something odd about the news that Kenneth Branagh (iD&Di: .32) may be directing Thor. Before we continue, we want to state for the record that in no way are we disappointed or upset: we in The Middle Room have nothing but respect for Kenneth Branagh, and we eagerly await this movie's release.

Our confusion may simply be tied to Branagh's associations with Shakespeare. And, at least in our humble opinion, there is very little Shakespearean about The Mighty Thor.

Thor is a fusion, equal parts action hero, super hero, epic hero, and god. Now, as faithful readers of this blog are well aware, there is room for deep philosophy in such films.

But certainly there are Marvel characters far more Shakespearean in nature. There is an element of the immortal bard in the X-Men, for instance, particularly in The Dark Phoenix Saga.

Likewise, characters such as Spiderman, Ant-Man, and certainly Iron Man all have stories driven by human weakness and frailty: are these not the cornerstones of drama? Yet Thor is a god: we hardly see the parallels.

Of course, there are a great deal of comics we've yet to read: in truth, we've barely touched the vast libraries of comics featuring the wielder of Mjolnir. There may indeed be stories greatly reminiscent of Shakespeare for all we know.

And then, it may be that Branagh is tired of iambic pentameter and seeks a project that deviates from his norm.

Whatever the reason, we have little doubt that Thor will be an excellent film. While we may be somewhat perplexed by Branagh's involvement, we are not disappointed. We're curious to see where he takes the property, and we've every intention of catching the movie on its opening day.