Thor | Review
The major advantage other superhero films have that ‘Thor’ lacks is they’re more believable and not as far-fetched. The successful ones, such as ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Dark Knight‘, feature regular people with better-than-average talents. However, with ‘Thor’, the filmmakers have the difficult task of making the titular character believable and convincing, considering he’s a god with supernatural abilities and a magical hammer. Director Kenneth Branagh overcame that very problem, making ‘Thor’ a successful addition to the superhero genre.
‘Thor’ begins with an extremely-lengthy, but entertaining, flashback. This flashback is a fairly important one, and it successfully showcases the amazing world of Asgard where Thor and many other mythical characters reside. Though Asgard is obviously computer generated, it’s still beautiful and the special effects surrounding it are well done. The beginning flashback foretells of the ongoing conflicts between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants from Jotunheim. It also explains Thor’s rise to the thrown, and his ultimate banishment from Asgard to New Mexico.
The human-world portions of ‘Thor’ are not as appealing nor as entertaining as the scenes featuring Asgard, but they progress the plot of the film nonetheless. In his banishment, Thor runs into three humans, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). The three slowly teach Thor the ways of “regular people,” and he builds a relationship with them, particularly Jane. Thankfully, the film doesn’t focus too much on the romantic relationship between Thor and Jane, and instead the parts of the film in the human world are focused on retrieving Thor’s magical hammer , Mjolnir.
Another thing the human-world elements of the film does successfully is add humor to the film. The trailers for ‘Thor’ made the film appear very campy and cheesy, but gladly the humor steers away from campiness and instead feels just right; many of the humorous parts are actually humorous! Thor’s search for his magical hammer on Earth leads him to run-ins with S.H.I.E.L.D., the government organization that’s been heavily featured in ‘Iron Man 2‘. The parts featuring S.H.I.E.L.D. help progress the film towards the upcoming ensemble superhero film, ‘The Avengers’. Unlike Iron Man 2, the parts of ‘Thor’ featuring S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t slow or wear down its plot, and it suits well with the plot of the film. It also helps introduce a new Avengers superhero very nicely and subtly.
‘Thor’ features a fairly impressive antagonist as well. This could be a spoiler for some, though it isn’t really considering the trailers and commercials already ruined it, but Thor’s very own brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) ends up as the antagonist. The key word here is “antagonist,” because he’s not truly “evil” nor is he truly a “villain.” The impressive part about how Loki is worked in as the antagonist in the film is how cliched it isn’t; Loki isn’t just “bad” from the beginning. Over the course of the film, discoveries are made and secrets are revealed, leading Loki to do what he does. Loki’s state of mind and reasons for doing what he does is, to an extent, understandable; his turn on Asgard isn’t exactly black and white.
The film is a strong superhero film that’s overcome many obstacles and skeptics. ‘Thor’ features a convincing mythological world, and the “Shakespearean” aspects of Asgard are believable, most probably due to the director’s past film adaptations of Shakespearean work. Chris Hemsworth does a great job at portraying the titular character, and his acting is convincing. Natalie Portman (‘Black Swan‘), as great of an actress as she is, doesn’t really have much to do in the film, and nor does the lovable Kat Dennings (‘Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist’). But at least neither of the two brought the film down with terrible acting, they only helped the film stay strong.
Three out of four Kents.
Extra Notes:
The other supporting characters in the film are interesting, mostly Thor’s group of friends. The diversity among the group is fun to see.
The Destroyer is stupid-looking. I thought so when I first saw it in the trailers, and I kept the same opinion when I saw it in the film. There’s nothing cool about it whatsoever.
Though the film is consistently well-paced, the thought that Thor’s banishment on Earth lasted literally a weekend doesn’t feel right. For him to learn the ways of a normal person, learn his lessons, and build a relationship with Jane, one weekend’s stay on Earth just doesn’t feel long enough for all of that to happen. But hey, that doesn’t take away from the film much.
‘Thor’ features a lot of action, and, for the most part, the special effects are great. Oddly enough, this superhero film doesn’t feature a grand-scale epic battle at the end like most do. But that fact isn’t really bothersome, and I hadn’t even realized until just now.
