Thor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Rating: ★★★½

I have to be honest and say that I was not expecting much out of this film, and I was so very wrong. Not only was the film fast, fun and exciting, the visual were amazing and the story was quite strong too.

Set on both the intergalactic world of Asgard and the non magical Earth, the film switches between worlds to tell the story of the powerful but arrogant prince Thor who is desperate to wage war against a race of ice monsters, and in doing so is banished by his father, the King Odin, to Earth to learn some valuable life lessons. The set up is interesting and exciting, as we are introduced to the beautiful world of Asgard, and an array of colourful characters, including Thor (Hemsworth), his brother Loki (Hiddleston) and their friends: a gang of four soldiers. The action sequences that take place in the outer space ice realm are very impressive and elaborate, making the most of the 3D: giving us some spectacular visuals. After this, the action quickly shifts to Earth, where Jane (Portman) and her team of scientists are trying to uncover the truth behind the strange weather occurrences happening in the desert, and how these manage to make Thor miraculously appear from out of nowhere. Of course Jane and Thor begin a romantic relationship, but things quickly turn sour when a giant invading robot attacks Earth, and Thor has to defend his new home, and his old one too. 

The plot may sound silly, but it is fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The cast give strong performances, with a stand out turn from Hiddleston, who plays the jealous brother Loki as a likeable anti-hero who we sympathise with. Branagh proves he can direct a film well, especially the action sequences, which generally seem to be becoming weak in most contemporary action films. There are cameo appearances from other Marvel characters, including a ‘stinger’ after the credits that leads into the next Marvel Studios film, Captain America (although I’m not holding out a lot of hope for it). There are a lot of entertaining action set pieces, including the ice planet, the ending, and the super cool giant robot that blasts streams of fire and can shift his body to escape from peril.

Overall, Thor is a really good film, and even though my expectations were low, I was pleasantly surprised at how it maintained its originality, but also stuck to familiar movie tropes so that it was still a superhero movie, but wasn’t just the same recycled plot that we’ve seen over and over. It was fun, and I enjoyed it.