Thor – Film Review

Two worlds. One hero.

Movie Details

Rating: B+

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer: Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne
Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Josh Dallas, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, Adriana Barraza, Maximiliano Hernández, Richard Cetrone, Darren Kendrick, Joshua Cox, Justice Jesse Smith, Joseph Gatt, Luke Massy, Matthew Ducey, Jason Camp, Buddy Sosthand, Blake Silver, Jamie McShane, Dale Godboldo, Patrick O'Brien Demsey, Jim Palmer, Seth Coltan, J. Michael Straczynski, Ryan Schaefer, Matt Battaglia, Stan Lee, Joel McCrary, Isaac Kappy, Juliet Lopez, Rob Mars, Carrie Lazar, Harley Graham, Alexander Wright, Hilary Pingle, Shawn-Caulin Young, Walt Simonson, Kinsey McLean, Kelly Hawthorne, Dakota Goyo, Ted Allpress, Douglas Tait, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Bednar, Michelle Csitos, Stephen Oyoung
Runtime: 1 h 55 min
Release Date: April 21, 2011
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Action
Certification: PG-13

As the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of the Norse gods, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) will soon inherit the throne of Asgard from his aging father. However, on the day that he is to be crowned, Thor reacts with brutality when the gods’ enemies, the Frost Giants, enter the palace in violation of their treaty. As punishment, Odin banishes Thor to Earth. While Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s brother, plots mischief in Asgard, Thor, now stripped of his powers, faces his greatest threat

Preceding the release of Marvel Studios’ Thor, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) had only really focused on superheroes who were fairly easily adaptable and ones that were quite literally grounded on Earth. We got two Iron Man movies previously that detailed the life and challenges that billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark deals with on a day-to-day basis, as well as the origin story of the Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton.

At the time, audiences were more than likely unsure when or if we would ever get films focused on more other-worldly superheroes. Keep in mind, before the MCU was even a thing, we had superhero movies of course, but they were only ever about the most popular characters in the world. Characters that literally everybody has heard of no matter if you’ve picked up a comic book in your life or not. We had the Michael Keaton-lead Batman films in the 80s and 90s as well as the Adam West television series before that.

We also had the Christopher Reeve Superman movies which proved to be quite good (well, at least the first two), but besides that, we didn’t really have a lot of options for superhero cinema. So when Kenneth Branagh released Thor in 2011, it was a surprise for everybody. Thor Odinson is not a superhero that’s grounded on Earth. He is quite literally the God of Thunder and comes from the planetary body of Asgard, full of Kings and Warriors and Frost Giants.

When Thor was released, I was only ten years old, and so I didn’t read up on the news and opinions circulating around the movie when it was in theatres, but I’m sure the film’s announcement, in general, was a monumental surprise to everybody. For as long as audiences could remember, they had only ever seen films about the most popular guys in Marvel Comics, but now, things were different.

So… how was Thor? Well, if you asked ten-year-old me that question back in 2011, I would’ve answered with “It was awesome!”. When I was a kid, every single movie I watched in my local theatre automatically became my new favorite movie of all time. It didn’t matter what the movie was – I just loved everything. It’s safe to say that these days, that’s not the case at all. When you’re a kid, your cinematic tastes are drastically different than they will be when you’re an adult, and that’s to be expected.

Going back as a twenty-one-year-old and seeing how this movie holds up ten years later was an interesting and emotional experience for me. The fact that it’s been ten years since the release of Thor is mind-boggling to me because I genuinely remember going to the theatre to see this on opening day with my mother like it was just a few years ago.

And, gratefully, I found myself enjoying Thor quite a bit all these years later as well. It’s certainly still a case of Marvel trying to find their footing and iron out all the kinks before The Avengers really got the ball rolling, but Thor still manages to be an extremely entertaining blend of action, heart, and humor.

The first two MCU movies weren’t really all that funny, but this is the first time where we can really see that classic Marvel humor start to shine through. Some people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the humor being present in almost every Marvel movie to date, whereas some absolutely love how funny the movies these days are. For me, I certainly enjoy a good laugh or two but I do miss the days when the MCU was genuinely dark. Thor isn’t perfect whatsoever but it did find ways to be both serious and funny when need be.

One of the biggest flaws this movie has is that it’s fairly trope-ridden. Almost the entire movie is a classic fish-out-of-water story and it can be quite easy to tell which directions the story is going to go, but as long as your script is fun and finds entertaining ways to make the tropes feel fun and not annoying, then you should be good to go. Thankfully, Thor manages to find that sense of wonder, thus preventing it from feeling boring.

The story isn’t anything spectacular and it’s all stuff we have seen done in film many times before. Loki serves as a good villain here but the story quite literally has no surprises in store. If you’ve seen a good deal of movies in your life, you’re probably going to guess exactly how this movie ends. But gratefully, the action set pieces, comedy, and sense of childlike wonder keep this movie feeling fresh and exciting.

Chris Hemsworth is without a doubt one of the best superhero casting decisions of all time – easily one of the top five. When it was announced that he would play Thor, some audiences were not too sure how to feel about that, but it’s safe to say that almost everybody loves his portrayal now that we’ve seen him portray the character numerous times.

He feels so vibrant and full of energy in this film and it’s genuinely hard not to smile whenever he is on screen. Whether he is taking down an entire room full of villains with the almighty hammer Mjolnir or going into a pet store asking for a horse, the character of Thor is immensely likable here.

Another actor in the movie that I love who sadly doesn’t get too much praise for her role here is Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Thor’s main love interest. I’ve always felt bad for her because it seems like she takes a lot of flack from the online community about her role as Jane in the MCU, and I have no idea why. She adds to a lot of the movie’s heart and in the role of Jane, she feels charismatic, charming, and funny. Portman has certainly had better, more juicy roles, but this is definitely not a bad role. I’m quite eager to see what she will bring to the table in the forthcoming Thor: Love and Thunder where she is set to portray Mighty Thor.

Thor is definitely not a flawless movie and it’s also not a home-run for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what it did was serve as a solid starting point for Marvel to finally feel more comfortable introducing more tricky-to-adapt characters to their roster.