Obsequiousmelon wants to be worthy of the power of Thor!

Name of the Film: Thor

Starring:  Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman

When he defies his father’s decree and risks war with the frost giants, the powerful but arrogant young warrior, Thor, is cast out from his alien home of Asgard by his father Odin.  Finding himself on Earth, weakened and alone, he sets out to reclaim his hammer and his birthright.

Marvel have taken steady steps in creating their filmic universe.  I think it is important to separate the films made using Marvel’s characters and the films made by Marvel studios.  Spiderman and the X-Men movies were made by Sony and Fox respectively.  Where as Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and now Thor were made by Marvel studios.  Now why is that important I hear you cry, well it is important because there is a continuity running through those films that is solely Marvel’s doing.  Those are the films where you get an end of credits scene linking into the next production.  Those are the films that look (from a production point of view at least) as though they exist in the same world.

Out of the films that Marvel has made so far I personally don’t think they have put a foot wrong (even though I know that there are many gripes about both Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk out there on the internet).  I have found reasons to enjoy all their films so far.  

But I was nervous about Thor.  In fact I think that the two characters they have made films about this year, are their two most difficult hurdles.  Thor had the potential to be very silly in the vein of those campy old super hero films made in the 80’s (which generally I detest).  Captain America, coming in a couple of months, has the potential to be incredibly jingoistic and so a turn off for non-American audiences.  In fact Captain America has never, ever interested me in any way until I saw the trailers for the film.

So Thor was a difficult hurdle to clear but how did they do?

Well once again Marvel have done their characters proud by making the correct decisions in important areas.  Choosing Kenneth Branagh to direct meant that he could bring all of his shakespearean training and experience to what is a potentially epic story of familial infighting.  Chris Hemsworth has the size to be believable as Thor and the acting chops to make us care.  Anthony Hopkins is very good as Odin but for me the real revelation of the film is Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  The way they have written him means that his motives could have been unclear.  He certainly isn’t just out and out bad.  He has his motivations and reasons for doing things which coupled with Hiddleston’s sympathetic portrayal makes him a far more interesting villain than he might have been in other less sensitive hands.

Branagh though clearly realised that he had to walk the line between laughably ridiculous and laughably pompous and he does that wonderfully well never crossing the line either way.  There is a respect for the characters shown here without them becoming weighed down by an overly serious treatment.  Everyone seems to be having a good time and it is difficult not to get drawn into enjoying the ride with them.  

Part of what makes Thor work is it’s pace.  It has a lot to get through and a lot of people to introduce and although the character development of the warriors three and a few other ‘lesser’ characters in the Thor world suffer slightly from underdevelopment the plot crackles along at a solid pace, never moving far away from our main character and a very charismatic performance from Hemsworth.

I left the cinema with a smile on my face.  Thor is the best of the Marvel films to date and with Captain America and The Avengers to come they are gathering strong momentum.  Captain America does present another interesting hurdle to clear but I have growing confidence in everything movie related that Marvel are producing.  

Now if only we could get Spiderman and X-Men’s rights away from Sony and Fox and back into Marvel’s hands...

Did I enjoy the film?  Yes

Would I recommend it to my friends?  Yes 

Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray?  Yes

If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister?  How could she resist the God of Thunder?