Thor

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I’m not a movie critic, and don’t have anywhere near the insight or vocabulary that my friends at the A.M.P. Movie Reviews site have, but I love movies.

Always have, always will and I’d like to share my ‘amateur’ thoughts with you on some of the films I see.

Ok, first things first – I’d like to come clean about something.  I’m a geek. I love sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, horror, etc.  However, I’ve never really been into ‘American’ comic books and graphic novels until very recently.

As a boy, I read Commando, Eagle, The Beano, Dandy and Wizzer & Chips on a weekly basis.  But the Marvel and DC estates never appealed to me in their paper form.  Loved the Superman films, Spiderman tv series, but could never get along with the comics.

Hence why I came to this movie cold – I’ve never been interested in Thor as a character.  In fact, there was something about him that I actually disliked.  So I sat down to watch this movie purely as preparation for the Avengers movie next year.

In theory, the film should be brilliant. Kenneth Branagh directing, Anthony Hopkins playing Odin, and a supporting cast of Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Rene Russo and many other great actors – surely a recipe for success?  But then they said that about Hudson Hawk…

This is an ‘origin’ movie, that is it explains who Thor is and how he becomes a superhero on Earth.  A headstrong, arrogant warrior who, cast out of the fantasy world of Asgard by his father, has to live as a human without his considerable powers.  Fish-out-of-water jokes ensue, a little bit of love interest, redemption and a whole load of CGI effects!

And you know what?  I absolutely loved it!  It’s not going to win any Oscars, but it delivered everything that I want in a superhero movie.

Branagh handles this action film with great gusto, with newcomer Chris Hemsworth grabbing hold of the hammer as the hero Thor.  Apparently Hemsworth was in TVs Home and Away and I’d completely forgotten him playing George Kirk in the recent Star Trek reboot, but after this performance I’ll certainly keep an eye out for him.  Playing Thor with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek and campness required for such a fantastical superhero, I actually cared about the character.

Supporting cast did exactly that – support.  None of them showboating which was a refreshing change.  Branagh favourite Patrick Doyle provides the rousing score, which in parts rivals his work on Hamlet (one of my all time favourite scores) and the CGI manages to be over the top, but not eye-jarring.

Is this film perfect?  Far from it.  We’re not talking Shakespeare here people!  The plot is pretty damn thin, and I didn’t quite buy the villain Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, who is returning to the role in the forthcoming Avengers.  Hopefully he’ll be given a bit more to work with to flesh out his character.  I also found the traditional Marvel post credits scene disappointing.

But, and it’s a big but – it ticked all the boxes I was looking for – redemption and victorious return, camp cheesy jokes, characters I actually liked, and a world that I definitely want to see more of! The good news is that not only does Hemsworth return as Thor in the Avengers movie, but Thor 2 has been slated to follow.

In fact, as far as Marvel movies go, I’d probably put it slightly below Iron Man, on a par with Norton’s superb Hulk, and well above the sadly disappointing Iron Man 2 and Bana version of Hulk.  Haven’t seen Captain America yet, so I’ll revisit that at a later date