Thor

THOR
PARAMOUNT
RELEASED 27 April 2011

Born centuries ago of Norse mythology, ‘The Mighty Thor’ became a Marvel superhero in 1962, courtesy of Stan ‘the Man’ Lee and the artistry of ‘Jack ‘the King’ Kirby’. Like every Marvel superhero of the time, Thor had a secret identity, although in reverse (much like Superman / Clark Kent). Dr Donald Blake was a limping surgeon, whose crooked walking stick transformed Blake into the hammer-wielding God of Thunder whenever he knelt down and struck the floor with it. Over the years, the Earth-based secret identity of Thor has been discarded in favour of Thor as an outright superhero-at-large, much like Tony Stark and Iron Man have lost their distinction.

Apart from the pleasure of seeing one of their A-list characters make the transition from comicbook panel to the silver screen, Marvel Studios have an ulterior motive for giving a cinematic debut to ‘Thor’. 2012 will see Marvel’s ‘superhero supergroup’ ‘The Avengers’ take the genre onto another level. Take ‘Iron Man’ (Robert Downey Jnr), ‘Thor’ (Chris Hemsworth), ‘Captain America’ (Chris Evans, out 29th July 2011), and ‘The Hulk’ (Mark Ruffalo replaces Ed Norton, who replaced Eric Bana of course), not to mention returning characters such as ‘Black Widow’ (Scarlett Johansson), ‘Nick Fury’ (Samuel L. Jackson), ‘War Machine’ (Don Cheadle), ‘Agent Coulson’ (Clark Gregg), as well as at least one character introduced in ‘Thor’ (Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner), and you have a movie that makes the mind boggle. No film studio has ever put four huge movie franchises together into one film before! It’s the sort of thing that fanboys have dreamt of for decades, and Marvel Studios have spent the last decade actually planning and implementing it. It’s like The Beatles, the Stones, and U2 on stage at once. I don’t know how it can possibly work, but how can anyone NOT want to see that?

So to avoid ‘The Avengers’ requiring backstory for each character, by releasing ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America’ this year, all the groundwork will have been laid. ‘Iron Man 2’ definitely suffered from too much ‘Avengers’-related information, but I’m glad to say ‘Thor’ has minimal redundant exposition. In fact, although SHIELD feature more prominently than in ‘Iron Man 2’, their role is integral to the story.

‘Thor’ begins by acknowledging it’s roots in mythology with a scene set in 10th century Norway, where the Gods of Asgard defend the people of Earth from the hostile Ice Giants of Jotunheim. Having maintained peace ever since with a fragile treaty, Lord Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is about to pass his crown over to his son Thor (Chris Hemsworth), when agents of Jotunheim attack Asgard. Upon the urgings of his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), a reckless Thor fights back in direct violation of his father, earning himself the grounding of all time! Stripped of his armour and his hammer, Thor is banished to Midgard (or Earth, as we like to call it), although Odin whispers ‘whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor’ to Thor’s hammer Mjolnir before throwing it down the celestial portal after his son. Perhaps there’s some form of father/son test at work here…?

Astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, upgraded from a nurse in the original comics), Dr Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and intern Darcy (Kat Dennings) are based in the New Mexico desert, investigating celestial disturbances. Which is handy, as there’s someone coming down the celestial pipeline right now. They run into (literally) a plain-clothed, and disorientated Thor, while super-secret government agency SHIELD, led by the familiar Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), set up a secure perimeter around a mysterious hammer that cannot be moved from the lump of rock it’s wedged into. Back in Asgard, the peace Odin has forged over centuries is being taken apart by nefarious forces. As a weakened Odin falls into ‘the Odin Sleep’ (such a powerful God needs a extremely long nap every few years), and his son Thor is long gone, it falls upon Loki to lead Asgard. If you know anything about Loki from mythology, then you’ll know that Loki is pretty pleased with how everything has turned out.

Kenneth Brangah is the perfect director to take on ‘Thor’, with his knowledge of Shakespearean tragedies and feuding royalty. Asgard is a gleaming kingdom of brotherly rivalry with a tired King at the helm. Thor simply wants to swing his hammer and ask questions later, whereas Loki is all mind-games. Odin shouts at his sons to let them know who’s in charge. This family dynamic is at the heart of the story, and Branagh’s vast experience means it plays out perfectly. There was a possibility that Branagh could mess it up (he unbelievably messed up ‘Frankenstein’ in 1994), but with the Marvel Studios machine behind him (‘Thor’ has been two years in the making), he’s directed a ‘Thor’ movie full of drama, action, and a few laughs.

Before highlighting ‘Thor’s main problem, I’ll start with a minor one that could have been fixed so easily. Had someone had the bright idea to delete Kat Denning’s character, the film would have been all the better for it. Virtually every line she utters is a comedic one-liner, and as far as I can remember, virtually every one of them falls flat. The ‘Kat Dennings’ of ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’ feels out of place in ‘Thor’, and it’s a shame. There is enough humour in the film anyway, mainly coming from Thor himself with his Asgardian ways looking out of place on Earth.

The second, more problematic area of ‘Thor’ is the story. Apart from a brief opening scene on Earth which introduces us to the New Mexico research team, ending with the line ‘where did he come from?’ as an unconscious Thor lies on the desert floor, we spend the first thirty-odd minutes of the film solely in Asgard and Jotunheim. And this is the best part of the movie. Gleaming Asgard thrills you with endless gorgeous other-worldly buildings and ceremonial events, and when the Gods take the fight to the Ice Giants of Jotunheim, they really do have a colossal scrap. Thor gets to show-off most of his trademark moves (spinning hammer, throwing at through opponents), saving just one or two for the Earth-bound action. The rainbow bridge between worlds which the Asgardians use looks amazing, both fantastical and somehow realistic. A multi-coloured, smooth glass sheet that stretches for miles. Asgard is a place where science appears, to the people of Earth, to be magic. So when the action transfers to Earth, it all feels a little bit dull compared to what we’ve just been watching. And why wouldn’t anything on Earth pale in comparison to the playground of Gods? Agent Coulson and SHIELD work better in ‘Thor’ than they have in any other movie, having a legitimate reason for being there. Clark Gregg gets the most screen-time he’s had so far, and he’s a really dry, likeable character. He gets to deliver a great line for the fans concerning Tony Stark. Portman and Skarsgard are both fine, but they don’t really have too much to do, and they don’t really have any impact on the story. I can’t help but feel that Thor and SHIELD are the only components that were really necessary for us to see on Earth.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed ‘Thor’, but couldn’t help but feel it could’ve been even better. Anything set in Asgard rocks, but anything set on Earth has a slight ‘going-through-the-motions’ feel. It easily allows Thor to return to Earth for the big superhero mash-up in 2012, and there is a post-credits scene that Marvel like to tag onto all of their films. It won’t mean much to non-comic book fans, but you’ll get the gist. I didn’t notice too many hidden ‘easter eggs’ for eagle-eyed fans, but Marvel does like to tuck some of them away very carefully.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE