Thor [M]

The mighty warrior, Thor, son of Odin is the next heir to the throne of Asgard, but his pride, war lust, and general macho arrogance ends up getting him banished by his father. Stranded on Earth to live amongst humans, Thor falls in love with the scientist, Jane Foster, and whilst living on Earth, he learns valuable lessons that will enable him to fight the dark forces that threaten his loved ones. 

When this came out in cinemas, I had a load of customers coming to me and telling my how absolutely and surprisingly fantastic it was. Since those reviews, I’ve been hankering to see it and my chance finally came today. You ask for my view on Thor? Well, I can see why people liked it. It’s a classic action romp like Fantastic Four or Stardust, but it wasn’t as great as I felt people made it out to be. To quote Sister Act 2: “it was cool for what it was, but it weren’t all that.” 

The mighty warrior, Thor, son of Odin is the next heir to the throne of the realm of Asgard, but his pride, vanity, war lust, and general macho arrogance ends up getting him banished by his father. Stranded on Earth to live amongst humans, Thor falls in love with the scientist, Jane Foster, and whilst living on Earth, he learns valuable lessons that will enable him to fight the dark forces that threaten his loved ones. 

It seems to me that comic books and mythological legends and stories are an obvious market and so a lot of films are being based on stories of old and then slightly tweaked so that a modern audience will go and see the film. And hey, fair play to all the people involved in making these films and keeping us entertained, but there is a point that you reach where you just go “oh no, come on.” 

For me, I liked the general story of Thor. The central conflicts of familial, political, moral, and scientific versus religious ideology were very strong and gave the audience something to think about. 

My only real major beef with the film is that it could have been more. The romance between Thor and Jane could have been stronger and more evident, but in this it just seemed to border on the edge of something more than friendship…until she impulsively kisses him, which you could just pinpoint. 

I have to admit that I did rather like the way that the movie did not rely on physical or misunderstanding comedy to convey the awkwardness that Thor feels when amongst humans. In that way, the movie was rather sincere and down to earth, something that we can all relate to and believe. 

At this point, it needs to be said that the special effects, battle sequences, and general mythological scenery were absolutely spectacular! Everyone who works in special effects and the art department should be getting free drinks. 

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard, and Anthony Hopkins, Thor was a good action romp, but not much more. Filled with romance, amazing mythological scenery, knockout special effects, comedy, romance, and action, it’s a film that I’m glad that I have seen, and that I did enjoy, but I don’t think there’s a place for it in my collection.