Thor Review
By: Joshua “I need a horse” Richey
While Thor has been one of Marvel Comic’s most iconic characters since he first appeared in Journey into Mystery back in 1962, the character has never been able to make the leap to live-action film until now. The reasoning for this has been somewhat understandable. Thor isn’t a billionaire that dons robotic armor or a bat suit; he wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider; nor was he hit by gamma rays. Thor obtains his superhero abilities by simply being a God. For some reason that was a bit too far-fetched for most studios to take a gamble on. They’ll take a risk on a superhero team of mutants, they’ll take a chance with a web-slinging high schooler, and they’ll even allow Eric from That 70’s Show to be a monstrous villain…but when it comes to making a film about a hammer wielding Viking God from Asgard…no way, that’s too much.
When Marvel Studios made the commitment a few years ago to bring the superhero all-star team known as the Avengers to the big screen, it meant that it was finally time to introduce the God of Thunder to audiences.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the God of Thunder, son of Odin, the King of Asguard. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has raised his two son’s Thor and Loki to one day take his throne. He instills in them growing up the responsibilities that come with being a king. He instructs them that a good king must not look for war, but to always be prepared for it. Thor, Odin’s oldest son, is chosen as his successor, but he’s still too arrogant and immature to handle such a majestic task. After his actions reignite a war that nearly brought the end to Asgard, Odin strips Thor of his powers and banishes him to Earth, where the only way that he can reclaim what he’s lost is by proving that he’s worthy. What Thor doesn’t realize is that his jealous little brother Loki is behind most of his ill-will, and he’ll go to extreme measures to ensure that Thor stays out of the picture.
One of my favorite things about Thor is that they didn’t shy away from the ridiculousness that we’ve come to expect from the Thor story. Within the first 20 minutes of this film you’re exposed to it all: rainbow bridges, Viking helmets, Frost Giants, Asgard, magical hammers…it’s all there. Not only is it there, it’s incredible. I’ve been a comic book nerd for even longer than I’ve been a movie nerd, and even I never thought that they could make a Thor movie as faithful as the one that Kenneth Branagh has made. I’m still in awe of what he and his crew were able to do. If you were to compare The Avengers to, say, a boy band like ‘N Sync, Iron Man would be the Justin Timberlake, Captain America would have been the JC Chasez, The Hulk would have been the goofy fat one, and Thor would have been Chris Kirkpatrick – you know, the one that nobody likes but they basically just needed him to call themselves a group. What you’re supposed to take away from that horrible analogy is that Thor was the movie that comic book nerds, like myself, were least looking forward to. And while I don’t think that it’s as good as Iron Man was, its far better than I could have expected and should reignite the character of Thor’s popularity.
While I do have a few problems with the movies story —mostly the character of Loki’s “evil master plan” — the movie simply does too many things well to even harp on its blemishes. It’s visually impressive; the acting is as a-list as the cast that star in it; and it manages to take a worn down subgenre and make it feel new and unique.
We give Thor 4 mewmew’s out of 5.
