MOVIE REVIEW: Thor (2011)

I'm going to be honest, I'm getting tired of comic book/superhero films. While the vast majority that I've seen have been very good, I haven't felt truly riveted by any since Spider-Man or The Dark Knight. The problem is, most of the comic book films of the past decade struck me as too similar to one another. The battle of good-versus-evil has become an exercise in predictability. So why do I keep seeing them? I'd rather wait and see the coveted Avengers film once it actually gets made (and becomes too expensive for any studio to handle!). Nonetheless, I keep seeing them out of pure hedonism, in hopes that the action will draw me in more than the story. Such is the case with Thor.

In a separate dimension called Asgard, Thor is the son of the god, Odin. He banishes Thor from Asgard after what he sees as an act of abuse of power. Thor defends his acts as a reason of protecting Asgard from a race of creatures called the Frost Giants. Nonetheless, the now-mortal Thor finds himself in a small desert town in New Mexico. Discovered by a pretty young astrophysicist named Jane, along with her advisor and assistant, cultures clash as Thor learns about the new world around him. Meanwhile the government begins to get suspicious, when they get wind of Thor's ostentatious arrival. Thor not only has to deal with legions of suits to get back his power, but his turncoat brother, Loki, back in Asgard, as well.

As predictable as the story was for me, Thor nevertheless proceeded to keep me entertained, thanks to the action and stellar cast. I didn't know much about Chris Hemsworth before going into this, but he brings the right amount of physicality with some surprising touches of humor. Natalie Portman, one of my favorite actresses, is great to watch, as usual. The rest of the cast does fine, with enough distinctly written characterizations to justify their roles. Even though the action is your typical CGI-explosions-and-mashups fare, there's a lot of vividness to the choreography. Even the locales where some of it occurs, like Asgard, in spite of the obvious artificiality, are beautiful to look at. These two elements combined together, make for a nice change from the usual city-in-ruins deal that we see in superhero/comic book films. Even if you may be a little sick of the superhero-film glut like I am, Thor may surprise you. What may have been more surprising to me at the end was when I realized it was directed by none other than Mr. Shakespeare himself, Kenneth Branagh!

7/10

Peace,
- Jon