Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
This past Friday saw the release of the latest Marvel Studios production, Thor. The god of thunder himself has finally graced the silver screen, and his celluloid adventure is the best Marvel adaptation yet. Seriously.
I should preface the rest of this review by stating that I’ve always been a casual Thor fan. While I consistently read his adventures in Avengers, I had always picked up his solo book every now and again, although his Avengers:Disassembled tie-in and “The Ballad Of Beta Ray Bill” rank as some of my favorite Marvel stories of all time. This being said, I walked into the Regal Cinemas expecting some great action, but was expecting some liberties being taken with the character and his fellow Asgardians. Needless to say I was plenty surprised when I walked out of the theater two hours later, as the film definitely blew my brain to the back of the theater.
The film is the basic origin of Thor, albeit a combination of the original Lee/Kirby story and the “ultimate” version of Thor. Chris Hemsworth owns the screen as Thor, a feat that is really stunning when you consider the fact that his only previous role was as Kirk’s father in the first five minutes of Star Trek. His Thor is not only powerful, but very charming as well, and watching him go from being an arrogant son ready for war to a noble warrior who learns the value of others is extremely fun to watch.
Of course, just as much fun to watch are the action scenes. Director Kennneth Branagh (yes, THAT Kenneth Branagh) proves many doubters that he can ably handle action scenes with Thor, with the battle between the Frost Giants and Thor and the Warriors Three being a major highlight at the beginning of the film, and the battle on the Bifrost Bridge being another. Also, seeing Thor spin his hammer on the big screen, in live-action caused one of the best geekasms ever to come from my nerd heart.
Now I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Tom Hiddleston as Loki, who does a PHENOMENAL job in the role as the villain. For my money, Hiddleston’s Loki is nearly exactly on the money with the character that appears in the books, and I hope the rumors that he will appear in The Avengers will be proven true. Hiddleston is an actor like Hemsworth that came out of nowhere and blew me away in this movie. And yes, Anthony Hopkins is just as awesome as Odin that you would hope he would be.
All in all, Thor is a great start to the summer movie season, and has definitely set the bar pretty high for Green Lantern, X-Men: First Class, and of course, Captain America. However, if any of those movies are eve a fraction as good as this one, then we are in for a treat. Thor is a film that will appeal to both comic fanboys and non-fanboys, and it’s a definite must-see for Thor fans.
Four Mjolnir Throws out of Four
*Sidenote: Yes, you should DEFINITELY stay after the credits.
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