Thor Movie Review: Vermithrax Pejorative’s Version


Thor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Anthony Hopkins
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Written by: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, and Don Payne. From a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich.
Based on the comic book Thor created by: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

Of all the comics that Marvel has brought to the screen over the last few years there is perhaps none that represented as bold a risk as that of Thor. It’s one thing to sell the public on a character with strong name recognition or that has a well known actor cast in the lead. Thor however was a different sort of gamble entirely. If people have heard of Thor at all it is more than likely to be in the context of Norse mythology. That he also has a long history as a character in the Marvel universe is something I feel most people are unfamiliar with.

So how do you go about selling people on it? You have the lead played by an Australian actor who is virtually unknown in the U.S. The film is directed by a man whose directing history is most closely affiliated with bringing Shakespearean plays to the big screen. And lastly you have a story that takes place only in part on earth at all, the other part taking place in the mystical realm of the Norse gods, Asgard. I’ll tell you how you sell it; by knocking it out of the park.

When Thor (Hemsworth) through his arrogance and selfishness breaks an ancient peace, his father Odin (Hopkins) exiles him to Earth in an attempt to teach him humility and patience. There he meets a beautiful scientist named Jane (Portman) who helps him to overcome his aside. Meanwhile Thors devious brother Loki (Hiddleston) uses Thor’s absence to advance an agenda of his own.

Thor is unlike anything that Marvel has done before. The story feels deeper than that of the majority of its predecessors. The characters are somehow oddly more relate able than others we have met in spite of their other worldliness. Not enough credit can be given to the writers of this film. Thor is engaging, at times tense, heartfelt, funny, approachable and most of all well balanced.

The number one most important thing is having Thor be believable. Luckily for us, Hemsworth owns that role. When you see how he plays Thor you realize that no one else could have done it quite so well as he did. Whether it’s as a heroic warrior in Asgard or coming to grips in his fish out of water setting on Earth Hemsworth’s Thor makes us want to believe. And that is a rare quality.

Tom Hiddleston is equally impressive as Loki. It’s hard to tell just what makes him so great in the role without ruining the story with spoilers. Suffice it to say that he is a perfect foil to Thor and played the part more than well.

Natalie Portman serves a very specific role in the film. I don’t think it ruins anything not already obvious that she becomes Thor’s love interest. But her character is no swooning damsel. She plays a brilliant if somewhat flustered astrophysicist whose research leads her to be there when Thor arrives on Earth. Hemsworth and Portman had great chemistry together on screen which was not only essential but made the scenes between them all the more believable.

And finally Anthony Hopkins himself. I’ve been fairly disappointed in Sir Anthony of late. To be perfectly honest it feels like more often than not these days he just sort of phones it in or sleep walks through his roles. However he attacked the role of Odin with relish. And the fact that he did shines through clearly in the film. Honestly his performance could have gone a long way to make or break this film. I am very pleased to say it was the former.

Also the main supporting cast of Earth denizens Erik (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy (Kat Dennings); as well as Asgard citizens Heimdall (Idris Elba), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Fandrol (Josh Dallas) & Sif (Jaimie Alexander) were all excellent. Films like this rely quite heavily on a solid supporting cast and this one was very much up to the task.

Though even with a well written script and actors that delivered, a film of this magnitude needs the sturdiest of hands guiding it. Kenneth Branagh provided that. There is no doubt in my mind that the actors were so great in large part thanks to Branagh’s disciplined directing. I my mind he deserves an enormous amount of respect for this accomplishment. It can not have been easy to take this material and turn it into something that was not only coherent but superbly well done.

One thing that probably helped Branagh though were the stylistic choices. How Asgard looked in the film was very important. If you make it look anything short of spectacular  it simply will not work. To their credit the cgi used to create Asgard was  gorgeous and as such it looked stunning as one would hope. In addition the costumes for the citizens of Asgard could easily have looked silly, however they were done in such a fashion that instead they just seemed right.

Thor is an excellent lead up to the forthcoming Avengers film and more than worthy of its place in Marvel’s film canon. I only hope that X Men: First Class and Captain America can live up to it as the bar has been set very high indeed. This is one of the first films in a long while that I already want to see again. Approach the film with an open mind and it will not disappoint.

I give it 5 and a half beers out of six.

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