Thor

Movie Reviews | May 16th, 2011

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Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston
Written By: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
Studio: Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios
Movie Website: http://thor.marvel.com

I usually don’t get around to seeing many movies in theatres anymore. My movie going mostly revolves around how many comic book or sci-fi movies come out in a particular year. Thanks in part to Wesley Snipes and Tobey Maguire, I still get the chance to see big budget, uber-popular movies based on the things that I got made fun of liking while growing up long after their initial “surge” was supposed to fizzle out. “Thor” is one thing that I never thought would happen yet here it is.

Growing up, Thor was always one of my favorite Marvel characters. Most people thought that he was goofy and shallow and a little boooooring, and sometimes they were right, but when you dig a little deeper into his lore you will find an interesting fantasy realm based a little bit on mythology and a little bit on science fiction. I was worried that this would be a difficult mixture to portray to the every day movie going audience
without being corny and laughable. I would like to say that Kenneth Branagh did an excellent job of pulling various aspects from different eras of the Thor comics and getting them to work well as one.

“Thor” starts off with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and company studying an anomaly in New Mexico. While trying to reach the site of what appears to be a freak tornado lightning storm they accidentally run over and knock unconscious the God of Thunder himself. The story then shifts to a narrative that tells a brief history of the Asgardians, a race of godlike beings in the Marvel Universe, and of the events that have transpired
leading up the banishment of Thor to Midgard (Earth) where he is unfortunately run over by Jane Foster. Thor’s quest for redemption begins. From there on in the movie has a very fast pace. At almost two hours long, by the end I wanted more.

Much to my surprise, Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, did a great job in the role. He was funny at times, strong and powerful with a commanding presence at other times and soft-spoken and empathetic when needed. Thor was the multidimensional character that he needed to be and that is not just a credit to Hemsworth and Branagh, but to the many comic book writers that provided the source material. A few of those “Thor” writers such as Stan Lee and Walt Simonson even got cameos in the movie! Overall the casting
for “Thor” was superb. I felt that every character was as they should be and truly felt like the comic come to life. I never thought that Sir Anthony Hopkins would choose to be in a comic book movie but his screen presence as Odin powerful. He was definitely one of the many surprises in the movie. Heimdell was cool as hell and the Warriors Three as well as Lady Sif were portrayed very well.

Ten years ago if someone were to tell me that a Thor movie would be made and that it would be well received and successful, I would have laughed and thought to myself,

that’ll be the day. Thor is nowhere near as popular or accessible as Spider-Man, Captain America or the X-Men, but thanks to all involved everyone will know who Thor is. Marvel continues to impress with the epic saga that they have going on building up to the Avengers movie next year. With just about two months left until the release of “Captain America: The First Avenger”, another personal favorite of mine, and Bryan Singer’s return to the X-Men franchise soon to be released, this could turn out to be one of the greatest summer of movies for myself and comic book fans everywhere…and hopefully your everyday movie goers as well.

Favorite Scenes: The telling of the war between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants, anything with Loki, the Destroyer tearing things up on Earth, Thor giving his all, Hawkeye cameo, the scene after the credits role.
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Overall Rating:

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