Minute Five: From Frost Giants to Frozen
The Casket of Ancient Winters! In the fifth minute of Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film Thor...
- The frost giants land in Norway. They’re on the wrong side of the fjord, but that doesn’t stop Laufey from releasing the power of the casket of ancient winters to not only freeze the water but also everything in its path, including our viking mother and child, who we had only just gotten to know.
- Oh – and it’s not the tesseract. It’s the casket of ancient winters. It’s easy to make that mistake as they’re both blue glowing cubes. Okay, so this one has handles, but still...
- Speaking of the casket of ancient winters, we talk about a great Walt Simonson run called The Surtur Saga that weirdly connects all three Thor films as it brings in Surtur and Malekith.
- Marvel surprises us by killing a kid in the film. Okay, so it’s one we hardly knew, but still...
- There’s also some talk about Norse mythology about giants, parentage, and more.
- The frost giants looked very different when they first appeared in the comics. They’ve evolved over time to land on what they look like here, but we talk about how they’ve changed.
- We also chat about their weapons, how they form ice on their bodies to use in the battle, their armor, and their tattoos.
- But what do the frost giants actually want? And how do they travel through the bifrost?
- Even if the frost giants are just twirling their mustaches, we still enjoy them.
Kenneth Branagh is clearly having fun here with the Casket, the frost giants, and the Asgardians.
- Branagh really wanted to keep the camera in close to understand the chaos of battle. It works. But it is hard to see, particularly as it’s night too.
- There’s also a lot of handheld camera which adds to the chaos.
- It’s kinda hard to tell the frost giants are actually taller than everyone else but you can tell when you pause.
- It’s cool to see the frost giants’ skill of growing ice on their bodies to use as weapons. Again... hard to tell in the dark.
- Odin uses his uru spear Gungnir to stab and flip a frost giant over him. It’s pretty cool.
- Oh – and Odin’s younger. We mostly like the look but it does make us wonder... how do gods grow old?
- And are they immortal? Odin brings up this fact so we’re that much more confused.
- It’s interesting how myths are created and we have some fun speculating here.
- Paul Nicklin and Norbert Rosing are two amazing National Geographic photographers whose work was used as inspiration for the frost giants, Jotunheim, and everything icy.
- Damn, Laufey’s red eyes are so cool. (As cool as the casket though?)
- And we play the IMDb game with Colm Feore.
The epic battle with the Casket of Ancient Winters is just getting started in this minute. Join in!
Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on TruStory FM’s Discord channel!
Film Sundries
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.
