Review of Thor (2011) by Phil H — 18 Nov 2014

So we have the next big Marvel hero adaptation on the long highway to 'The Avengers' with 'Iron Man' so far being a surprise decent film, this time its Thor's turn to roll the dice. Again I am pleasantly surprised at how reasonably competent this film is, I thought this would be a hideous mess but actually its not too bad. I'm not gonna get carried away and say its a brilliant film as it isn't, in my opinion 'Iron Man' is better but this is OK despite the silly material. Branagh has done well in his attempt and done half the work in the casting, all players add good realism and gravitas to the cheesy plot allowing the film to just about get by. Hopkins, Hemsworth and Hiddleston are the best contributors of course and were great choices for the roles, they looked right and didn't come across camp in any way.

The effects are decent and not too obvious, a very colourful and vivid film and some good stand out moments like the Rancor type creature on Jotunheim showcasing decent CGI. The Frost Giants looked reasonable but slightly childish for me whilst the giant metallic Destroyer looked rather B-movie-ish and tacky to be honest, a bit like Gort from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951). Asgard was impressive and colourful looking neat n sharp harking back to cityscape's of the new Star Wars trilogy and just as good.

I'm not up on the whole Thor comicbook plot to be honest but I admit I still found faults with things in the film, obviously Thor and his homeworld are aliens, an alien race (which are exactly the same as humans? hmm) but also somehow manage to have horses ale roast beef pork etc...in their realm too? kinda silly methinks, oh and everyone speaks English it seems.

There is nice humour throughout which is good, Thor getting accustomed to earth has good moments, but The Warriors Three felt way too farcical and lame frankly, they just came across as inept posh talking sidekicks much like C3PO from 'Star Wars', they also looked like characters from a kids cartoon which let down the rest of the quite good costumes.

You never find out about the other realms, there is no real reason for why Odin goes into a coma or sleep and the Frost Giants did seem kinda lame, uninspired and unoriginal (if they were made for the film?) with a silly name. Of course if you know the comicbook all this might be common knowledge but for myself it isn't.

Overall I liked this but lets face it it was pretty hokey really, a modern day Flash Gordon if we're being honest here, it wasn't camp but it was very very gentle and cartoony which I did suspect as Thor is a hard character to put on film I think. Its a valiant attempt but I just think it could of been better or a bit more serious and less like an action figure promotion.