Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011)

The cinematography is great and helps the story in so many ways. I loved it.

So far I've been less than impressed with these Marvel One-Shots. I get the concept behind them, I think it's quite neat and they make a great DVD extra but they just haven't been all that good.A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer has changed that. In this tiny little short we see our very own Agent Coulson foil a robbery at the petrol station he has stopped at.The humour is there, Gregg is fantastic as usual and they make the best of the minimal time available.Speaking of time, this has a feature time of just four minutes however literally half of that is the credits so truth be told this is a 2 minute Marvel outing.The most frustrating thing is that this cost half a million dollars to make. That's right 500,000 for 2 minutes of entertainment!? How do these people justify their salaries, it's sickening. I'm a movie obsessive as anyone who knows me (Or has been on my profile knows) but the amount these people make for playing dress up is offensive. How have we gotten to the stage in the world where the highest paying jobs are acting, singing and playing games? It's an embarassment.Anyway this is a fun little short.The Good:Very well madeClark GreggThe Bad:Feels like a card advertNot exactly a story presentStupidly expensive for what it isThings I Learnt From This Short:Shield agents make such low salaries they have to choose between donutsJust shooting bad guys is so passeI really need to get into Tae Bo

OK, Coulson is a bada**. Let's just get this out there. The story might have been something as boring as a gas station robbery but Clark Gregg puts in so much charisma that it is worth the watch. Gregg's Coulson is completely witty in this short as he kind of messes with the robbers until he very easily takes them down. It is very unexpected from someone who we have only seen on the sidelines but it is very welcome. This doesn't add much to the plot of either Iron Man 2 or Thor, it's just good plain fun and something for Clark Gregg to showcase himself with.+ Clark Gregg + Humor + Quick, effective action - Adds nothing to overall story, still fun thoughFinal Score: 8.8/10

I have to say I am a bit surprised that this 3-minute short film is classified as three genres, but comedy is not one of them, because really the only reason this is worth watching is the comedy. Or I should probably say one quote only, namely when he tells the criminals about the gun he has with him. That was pretty hilarious. Their faces right afterward. Other than that, it's fairly forgettable. His jump, i.e. the action sequence, is solid, but nothing memorable. Same goes for the flour package he threw at one of the guys. His response to the clerk's question what to tell to the cops is pretty generic too. For a running time of 2.5 minutes, it's worth a watch, but that's it. Also not too great that the closing credits went longer than half of the action before them. The writer and director worked on other One Shot movies too, while Clark Gregg has appeared in several of the recent Marvel superhero blockbuster films, the other three actors rather unknown. Lets see if one of them gets an acting career where we will look at him in this short film here and say: "Oh look, that is..."