Marval Movie

The superhero movies are a chance for people that are not fans or simply haven't had a chance to get invested in those characters to become fans. Or it could prove that all their time avoiding them was well earned because that character is not for them. Thor is based on the same god from Norse mythology so he comes with worlds of possibilities, but potential is nothing without the execution.

Director Kenneth Branagh, known for his adaptations of Shakespeare material does channel that energy here. Thor is the most Shakespeare in comics with huge themes blown up to a cosmic scale. His movies are always visually impressive even if sometimes the material/scripts are lackluster.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the pride of Asgard, a handsome prince that is a great warrior with his long blonde hair and his both huge and rather small hammer Mjolnir. He means well but is spoiled which leads him to making rash decisions, one of those decisions is starting a war with a race known as Frost-giants. And thus for his actions he is banished to Earth, with all his powers stripped away.

The great Anthony Hopkins plays the all-father Odin. Excellent casting, this character is the big theater character of the movie and Hopkins is able to project all the novelistic obrolan with one-hundred percent conviction. Its a fun performance from a screen legend.

The movies golden goose and true star is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. The source of a billion memes, fan art and fan-girls daydreams. Its hard to say what exactly he is doing that is so great, he is clearly having fun in the role and he looks like his comic counterpart, but there is still more. Perhaps he just managed to hit on the magic ingredient in his performance. Whatever it is he is so much fun to watch as the silver tongued, trickster.  

One of my, as-well as many other people's problems with the movie lies in its casting of a certain actor to a certain role. Idris Elba plays Heimdall, the gatekeeper between the realms of Asgard and the others, he also seems to be able to see throughout the entirety of the realms. Yes that is a cool character but this is not a character that is worthy of Idris Elba, one of out most charismatic, engaging actors today. To quote Spill.com "He's Asgard's doorman."

I really admire the visuals of the movie. The art department deserve praise for a successful adaptation of Jack Kirby's crazy comic art and translating it to film and it not looking ridiculous. A rainbow bridge is something you can barely say without it being silly let alone visualize, and yet they came up with the idea of crystallized light. Its really effective. Also a winged helmet is something I thought they wouldn't be able to pull off and yet they did, but they don't seem to think so because we see Thor in it once and never again.

The movie suffers from a common persoalan of the long lasting superhero character and that is all the lore and continuity that comes with them. There are many elements to the Thor mythos and they have to be both explained and pulled off enjoyably for both people who are new to it and the long term fans. There are things like the "Odin sleep" that are briskly brushed over, with no explanation. This is bad, the movie has just isolated off a huge chunk of the people coming into the movie for the first time.

Thor finds himself on Earth and then the movie turns from Superhero-Fantasy to a sort of wacky fish-out-of-water story. He encounters a scientist named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) that ow so conveniently is studying the type of science that can help Thor. Woop-di-do.

The persoalan with the movie is that while we are one Asgard there is a sense of fun and a dynamic between the characters, but then we have to go to Earth where the movie falls into cliche and stereotype. If they would've had the entire movie on Asgard and a few visits to the other realms would be more than OK with me, but bantalan Thor must join the Avengers so he must go to Earth so he will have a reason to be there when Avengers starts.

At the start of the movie Thor is in one place and by the end he is in another, this is called a character arc and I'd like to see it in more movies. It is an essential piece to writing that most people have forgot about. But the trouble here is that I don't believe in Thor's change, he says "Ive changed" during the climax of the movie. Who changes over the course of a weekend?

There are good things about the movie and there are weaker elements. I have never been a Thor fan and I cant say that this converted me. But if you want to say that you watched the Avengers and took every step on the way there then this movie is a worth a view. Cheer when Thor hits things and enjoy your snack with the other moments.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars out of 4