Thor

Marvel Studios, once again, marches on triumphantly, getting closer to the awesomeness that will be The Avengers (coming out in the summer of 2012) as they released Thor last May.
Marvel sure has surpassed DC Comics in the last decade with great comic book adaptations, but it’s this new trek that we take towards the ultimate superhero movie, The Avengers, that is going to take the genre above and beyond anything ever filmed.  Unless the super ensemble totally flops, we’re probably going to see DC Comics follow, with Warner Bros., finally bringing their own counterparts in The Justice League come to life.

But enough about the upcoming and possible films of the future, let’s talk about Thor.

Chris Hemsworth plays the title character, the God of Thunder, Thor, Anthony Hopkins plays his father, Odin, and Tom Hiddleston plays his brother, Loki. After seeing Thor on Earth, as Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) and two other scientists find him during a strange storm episode, the story flashes back to see Thor and Loki as children and how their father, Odin, seemingly favored Thor over Loki. The story goes forward as we see Thor, as an adult, about to be crowned king to take over Asgard from his father, Odin, the current king. Thor appears very arrogant and pompous, almost with a celebrity status as he smiles and winks to the crowd while walking up to accept the crown. Alarms go off and interrupt the ceremony as intruders have broke into the kingdom to try and steal a power relic. It’s found out that the intruders were Frost Giants and Thor becomes furious, wanting to retaliate. Odin, however, forbids Thor’s desired revenge and wants to keep the peace. But the warrior in Thor does not accept that and goes against his father’s ruling as he takes his warrior companions, along with Loki, to the Frost Giants planet to seek out revenge. Odin finds out, intervenes during the battle and brings Thor back to deal out his punishment, which is to be banished to Earth. He takes Thor’s mighty hammer, his Mjollnir, and casts it away through an open portal. Thor is stripped of his armor and is cast away through it as well.

The story picks up back on Earth, as we see what follows when Jane Foster ran into Thor at the beginning of the film.

The story is no great epic, but has an awesome feel to it as we see Thor learn to leave his arrogance behind and stand for something. Because, as Odin speaks before casting out Thor’s Mjollnir, only one who is worthy can wield the mighty weapon. And, as we saw at the end of the credits in Iron Man 2, that weapon landed and was lodged in the middle of the desert, no one being able to lift it from its place in the sand.

In Thor, we start off seeing a self-aware god and see how he becomes a noble hero.

Hemsworth definitely plays the part well, as does Hiddleston playing Loki. But Anthony Hopkins commands the screen with his portrayal of Odin. It takes me back to the rumor a few years back of how he was approached to play Jor-El in Superman Returns.  If he brought out this type of performance as Superman's birth father, it might've saved that film.  And although there was a spark of romance between Hemsworth and Portman, for me the chemistry wasn’t there between them; but they had some good scenes together.  The special effects were awesome and the spectacular landscapes and buildings of Asgard were stunning.

I was never really a fan of the comic book character, so I went in not expecting too much. The correlation to The Avengers kind of boggles me and I’m wondering how they’re going to bring a god into this group of human heroes.  But I guess we’ll have to wait until next summer to see how that goes. I’m really looking forward to see the Hulk on the big screen again and think that Mark Ruffalo will make a great Bruce Banner.  It’s such a shame that other characters can’t be added in to the mix as well, like Spidey or the X-Men, or maybe the Fantastic Four…

Anyway, my final “bit” on Thor is go watch it if it’s still in theaters…otherwise, rent it or buy it when it comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray.