The mighty Thor has stormed the box office.
The new movie from Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios, which drew in $66M last weekend, deserves it. Put simply, it went beyond my expectations. It is far from perfect but is a great origin and introduction to the God of Thunder—and more importantly what is to come in 2012.
The story opens with the All-Father Odin, played wonderfully by Anthony Hopkins, who is in the midst of a long-standing war with the Ice Giants, a massive people who live in the chilly environs of Jotunheim. Think of the battles in Return of the King but instead with Ice Giants and Asgardians. Odin wins the war and takes the power of his foes, creating an uneasy truce and peace thereafter.
Years later, enter brothers Thor and Loki. Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, is preparing to be named official heir of Odin and future king of the realm when Ice Giants break into Asgard and attempt to regain their lost magic. It starts a tumultuous series of events that leads the arrogant Thor to be cast out of Asgard and banished to Earth.
There of course is more afoot than Odin or Thor realize.
Once on Earth, the now mortal Thor must become the Asgardian the All-Father believes he can be. Enter the beautiful Natalie Portman as Jane Foster to help with that transformation and lesson learning.
Kenneth Branagh, the movie’s director, has instilled a Shakespearean aspect that cannot be denied while treating the source material with the utmost respect. It is a great blending. The basis of Shakepeare’s tragedies spring from the most basic human emotions—lust for power, jealousy, madness, etc. The driving forces in Thor are those very things and the dynamics between the principle players are fully realized by Branagh, who directs his first superhero film.
Like any comic book movie though, there are times for action. Thor is full of such moments. Remember the lack of action in Superman Returns? Thor is the exact opposite. Right from the beginning of the movie we see the Asgardians as a battle-hardened people, war in their blood. It spills over onto Earth, where Thor must counter the unseen threat against him to take the throne that is rightfully his.
The CGI is also fantastic. Asgard is a real place in this movie, beautiful and strange. Add onto that the little nods that Branagh gives to other Marvel characters not in the movie also makes it fun, especially when one of the heroes in 2012’s The Avengers film shows up quite unexpectedly!
I do have several problems with the movie. First, it is entirely geared toward the PG-13 crowd. While several of the scenes featuring Thor and Jane Foster are wonderful and would likely bore a 13 year old, the inclusion of several Asgardian friends of Thor hearkened far too much back to the comic books, almost to the point of slapstick humor ala Jar Jar Binks. Second, Thor matures far too quickly, his development from arrogant son of Odin to wise God of Thunder occurring literally over about fifteen minutes.
Still, overall, Thor is a well done movie. Story. Cast. Direction. CGI. Cinematography. Dialog. The movie ranks up near with the first Iron Man, definitely as a surprise and a great way to start off Summer movie-going. And if you go, be sure to stay for after the credits. Per usual, Marvel has added an additional scene you won’t want to miss!
Now if only Marvel Studios can get Captain America right…
Have you seen Thor? What did you think?
Thor: 8/10 stars
The Dark Knight: 9.5 stars
Iron Man: 8.5 stars
Batman Begins: 8.5 stars
Iron Man 2: 8 stars
The Incredible Hulk: 7.5 stars
Superman Returns: 6 stars
i thought it was an awesome movie from start to finish, Kenneth Branagh did awesome job!!1