Review of Thor (2011) by Brahmabull — 07 May 2011

Maybe not "Iron Man" good, but certainly "Iron Man 2" good. A great rendition of a famous, if not popular, Marvel character. I can't think of a better Thor than Hemsworth (though young Thor maybe could've been played by that "Little Hercules" kid).

I was leery of Portman in a Marvel movie but she did good. In fact, the entire cast was quite well chosen: from Odin to Loki to Frigga. They *are* missing one very beloved Norse god (can you guess which one?) But I figure a third Odinson would mess up the plot (don't laugh, there is enough plot to hold it together).

The critics were kind of right about scenes on Earth being more dynamic than the ones in Asgard, but the continuous switching between the two keeps this balanced. I thought Asgard a little too sterile to be the viking "heaven" (I was hoping for some hot valkyries), but their rendition of Bifrost works great.

The mythology is dealt with exactly as I would have: the Asgardians never refer to themselves as gods. Though the frost giants were a bit puny to be "giants". Marvel continues the trend of strong female characters (Aunt May, Betsy Ross et al) with Jane Foster.

I dig the hilarious female sidekick Darcy (Kat Dennings). And Sif (Jaimie Alexander) is a knockout. The rest of Thor's pals were also faithful to the comic. And so were the helmet designs. I miss some of the classic battle cries (For Odin! For Asgard!) but I suppose those went out along with beardless Thor.

Still, the fanboys should be pleased with references to Donald Blake and the effect of spinning Mjollnir. Thor could've come off very badly, but it actually ends up standing well on its own. I'm sure it'll rake in big at the box office this weekend, but Thor isn't one of the characters that is easy to make sequels for.

This will probably be the one and only. That alone would be a good reason to see it.