Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston
Currently In Theaters
I guess Thor was a worthy film to officially open the 2011 blockbuster season with. The stereotypical blockbuster has a reputation of being lacking in the story department in favor of steroidal action sequences (and actors). While Thor is definitely smarter, better, and more entertaining than most blockbusters, it falls back on many of those cliches.
Thor's first 30 minutes or so are easily the best chunk of the movie. The film opens in Asgard, Thor's home world, as Thor (Hemsworth), his brother Loki (Hiddleston), and a group of friends decide to retaliate against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim (an icy world) for attacking Asgard. What follows is a fantastic (and fantastical) battle sequence where Thor and friends obliterate dozens of Frost Giants. This was the most exciting part of the entire film to me. The battle had a mythic quality about it that made perfect sense given the mythical qualities of Thor that the comics build off of, and I wish there were more sequences like this in the film.
After the battle, Thor is punished by his father, Odin (Hopkins), for disobeying his command (he told them not to fight the Frost Giants). His punishment is that he lose all of his superhuman powers and be banished to Earth. This is probably the biggest flaw of the film for me. I understand that the film has to take place on Earth for it to actually matter to moviegoers, and that by stripping Thor of his power, he becomes essentially human, but he's supposed to be Thor, not just some guy walking around. It was probably made worse by following so closely behind that awesome large-scale battle; pretty much anything would seem boring in comparison. Also, most of the human characters are unimportant and extremely flat. The government agency characters play literally no role other than "guys Thor can beat up", and even important characters, like Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), a scientist who helps Thor elude the government and get back his hammer, sometimes don't have much development other than what is needed to help out Thor.
This is not to say that the entire Earth section of Thor is bad. On the contrary, much of this part of the film was fun. Kat Dennings's character, Darcy Lewis, provides a lot of comic relief. She kept me laughing with nearly all of her dialogue. There is also an awesome scene with The Destroyer, this all metal, human-shaped being that becomes controlled by Loki and sent to Earth to kill Thor. The scene was very exciting, though extremely loud (every time The Destroyer used one of its powers, I thought my ear was going to start bleeding). Jane Foster's (Portman) role in the film was also, for the most part, a good thing, although her love interest with Thor at the end felt extremely cheap and tacked on. Thor is a being that can basically live forever, and in the span of a couple days he falls completely in love with this woman? Come on.
Thor is a decent movie and a good blockbuster. It doesn't break any new ground, but it at least makes a good attempt to elevate itself above an average film. It definitely succeeds in the extraterrestrial section of the film, though the Earth scenes could have definitely been better. I'd say that Thor is definitely worth checking out as long as you keep your expectations in check. Oh, and if you see it in theaters, please don't pay extra for 3D. That was probably the biggest waste of 5 dollars I've paid this year.
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