There are various things that define Marvel Studios’ first “Thor” film. Kenneth Branagh delivered a semi-Shakespearean space opers that memorably introduced real fantasy elements, and Chris Hemsworth’s torso, to the franchise.
But one thing that’s also a defining element of the film is all the Dutch angle shots – shots where the camera is titled on an angle so the horizon line isn’t horizontal.
Dutch angles are generally used in horror films to cause unease in viewers, enhancing the feeling something isn’t quite right. Thus its use so prevalently in a more straightforward action-fantasy film is somewhat strange.
Haris Zambarloukos served as cinematographer on that film and this year reunites with Branagh for his upcoming third Hercule Poirot movie “A Haunting in Venice”. Speaking with The Direct, Zambarloukos was asked about why the original “Thor” had so many slanted shots:
“It was a hard decision to make. But it seemed to be a very simple way of showing kind of the difference between dissonance and harmony in a character or a landscape, and without much, and it seemed to work in that graphic world that the comic books had come from.
And it also seemed to trace back to the German expressionist idea of delving deep into the soul and into the psyche. And Thor is a kind of mythological, modern-day interpretation of mythology.
…So that play when you use it, and when you don’t, I think, is a very useful and interesting tool. I think… we’ve never used it as much with [Kenneth Branagh] as we had in ‘Thor.’ But it always comes back to us. We always feel like there’s a certain moment in some films that we need to – it has its place.”
He adds that a lot of it came down to the human aspect of the story with “Thor” being one of a “rivalry of brothers, a family tension”.
Branagh’s original “Thor” paved the way for James Gunn’s more flamboyant “Guardians of the Galaxy” but also offered a visual take on the MCU not really since repeated (it was one of the last MCU films actually shot on film).
Alan Taylor’s “Thor: The Dark World” tried to ground Branagh’s space operatics by opting for a more serious fantasy tone. Taika Waititi’s two “Thor” films meanwhile went overboard into “Flash Gordon”-style theatrics.
Branagh’s “A Haunting of Venice” releases in cinemas on September 15th.
