TITLE: Thor
STARRING: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
STUDIOS: Marvel, Paramount Pictures
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 114 min
RELEASED: May 6, 2011 (USA)

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part-Time Ninja

I was not that excited to see the Thor movie, but I knew we would have to get it because he is one of the most important characters in the upcoming Avengers movie. The comic book series has never been that interesting to me. Combine that with Kenneth Branagh directing his first superhero movie after directing mostly adaptations of Shakespeare plays, and I was not thrilled at the prospect of seeing this movie…

Well somehow all this has come together to prove me wrong. Thor is not just a great superhero film, but also a great movie to begin the summer movie season.

Based on the Marvel comic book series and Norse mythology, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the god of thunder and the next in line to rule Asgard after his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), dies or goes into a type of hibernation called Odinsleep. The Asgardians’ enemy, the Frost Giants, have broken into Asgard trying to steal their source of the power that Odin took from them in their last war. Thor believes that they should strike back against the Frost Giants and gathers warriors to attack their home, which ends up starting a war. Outraged by his actions, Odin strips Thor of his powers, his mystical hammer, and banishes him to Earth where he meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a physicist who promises to help Thor get his hammer back if he helps him with her research. In Asgard, Thor’s mischievous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), has taken over Asgard and is planning something diabolical to murder Thor.

That description doesn’t make the movie seem incredibly appealing, but Branagh has worked wonders with this film and was able to take big mythological storyline that is hard to get into and turned it into great adventure film that will appeal to everybody. It has enough nods to the comic series to please fans; and speaking as a comic book fan I have to applaud Branagh for taking a storyline I thought was unfilmable and making a great film out of it. The majestic nature of Asgard and the modern day Earth have two different tones to them and they are both handled great. The shift between the adventure in Asgard and the more comedic and tragic elements of Earth give the film a nice mixture that should please the audience and balance out the film. While the comic series the movie is based on can be difficult to get into, Branagh manages to make it accessible to an audience but doesn’t lose any of the myth and wonder that people responded to in the comic.

Hemsworth is the one who has to carry this film and he proves himself worthy of the task. He can shift from an all-powerful action hero role, to a comedic performance, a god who has to deal with being mortal, and he plays each role great while still maintaining the core of the character that is a heroic god. Doing just as well and in some ways better than Hemsworth is Hiddleston as Loki. He is the villain, but has an aspect to his backstory and performance that makes you feel sorry for him and the sense that he truly believes he is doing the right thing. He never feels like a completely evil villain but you see him grow into one over the course of the film. The rest of the cast does an amazing job with their roles and the only criticism I have is that I felt they could have spent some more time developing or focusing on one or two characters, but it doesn’t affect the film overall.

The only major negative thing I can say about this movie is the fact that the 3D is pretty bad in this movie.  The effects and setting would be spectacular in 2D, but the 3D adds nothing to it and sometimes takes away from the movie experience; I walked out of the theater and my eyes hurt for 5 minutes.

This is a great movie, a great way to introduce people to Thor, and a great start to the summer movie season that still has three more high profile comic book adaptations to come. But now that Thor has proven itself as a good movie when I didn’t think it turn out so well, I have to wonder which superhero movie will let me down (I really don’t want it to be Green Lantern).

RATING: 9/10