have to admit that most of what I have read of Thor came from the Ultimate’s version of the Norse God of Thunder. He was never big on my list of characters to clamor over in comics when I was a boy, and he never became my main go-to comic to read as I grew into a man. The news of a Thor movie also did not geek me up like a teenager hearing about the newest Twilight movie nor did my desire to see this movie match that of its predecessors such as Spiderman. But, I did like what I saw in the previews and was entirely impressed as I sat in the theater watching this movie. Let me tell you why…
Most comic book characters lose much of their heart as they make the transition from book to the big screen. Either too much time is spent illuminating the background story of the character and leave too little time to flesh out the real meat of the story presented, or the transition destroys the true essence of the character leaving a “Hollywood” version that the producer(s) believe may be better digested by mass audiences worldwide. Sometimes, directors end up ruining a perfectly good story by inserting too much goofiness into the story, such as Peter Parker’s burst into song and dance in Spiderman 3, or injecting a little too much as with Johnny Storm in both Fantastic Four movies.
On the other hand, Thor throws a metaphorical hammer at the audience, delivering a visually stunning Asgard and developing a magnificent backstory that is just long enough to bring the audience up-to-speed on the character before banishing him to Midgard (Earth). Maybe dropping is an understatement. The God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) literally makes his entrance into Midgard with a thunderous explosion that is only shadowed by his cocky warlord personality, his determination to regain his mighty war-hammer, Mjolnir, and his transformation from the damaged man, stripped of his power by his father (Odin, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins), into a true hero.
The only real tomato I can throw at this move is the pace at which it moved once Thor was banished to Earth. It was a necessary evil that was not will developed, both in the pace itself and the ill framed time-set in which Thor was given to find his humility and once again transform into the Asgardian Thunder God. Otherwise, the direction of the film was great. The performances by Tom Hiddleston, Thor’s half-brother Loki, whose breakdown scene with Anthony Hopkins was another highlight in the movie, managing to pull the audience into the depth of his realization of, well, you’ll have to watch the movie for more on that. Likewise, Natalie Portman’s character falling head over hells with the Norse God of Blonde was totally reasonable; my own finance is searching eBay for a life-size cutout of the man with the hammer, sans shirt, as I write this. And, the inclusion of S.H.I.E.L.D. was better developed than in Iron Man 2, allowing the movie to ground itself while mythical Vikings and a colossal fire breathing metal giant are rained down upon the Earth.
Director Kenneth Branagh proves many other directors wrong in that a comic book movie can be a true comic book experience without watering down the main character or even the true nature of the story. Although he did fail to include the famous winged helmet, expect for a brief glimpse of it in the beginning of the film, Branagh’s vision of Thor does live up to everything I have read of the God of Thunder, and then some.