Thor Reviews

I was interested in seeing this ever since it came out. After finally seeing it I am so glad I did. It is a visually stunning film with excellent cinematography and editing and the costumes, settings and effects look wonderful. There may be the odd longueur in the plot, with a little too much of admiring the scenery, but most of it is amusing and while not sticking true to the original source material there are a lot of nods to it. Kenneth Branagh directs superbly, the action is earth-shattering and the script is filled with witty fish-out-of-water moments. The acting is fine with Chris Hemsworth giving his all in the role, Anthony Hopkins bringing some welcome gravitas to Odin rather than hamming up, Natalie Portman more than a pretty face and Tom Hiddleston's Loki a villain worth watching for. All in all, an immensely enjoyable film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

fun facts
Thor's outfit the actor took an hour each day to put it on and another 90 minutes for hair and makeup.
* Thor Filming began in Manhattan Beach with a huge battle between the Asgardian and the Frost Giants.
* They were inspired by the style of boxing Mike Tyson to choose how to combat Mjolnir Thor when pushed.
To decide the final look of Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, became almost 200 sketches of designs and worked almost 14 weeks in its preparation.
* The confrontation with the Destroyer, where Thor fight not only for his life but for the lives of their friends who have gathered to help defend, was held in the streets of Old Bridge, now in ruins.

fun facts
Chris Hemsworth, the burly Australian actor who plays Thor comments that received books about finding yourself and how to accept the reality of existence.
The final showdown between Thor and the Destroyer was shot in the estate of 10,000 hectares of Tom Ford (where they filmed Silverado, Wyatt Earp and 3:10 Dangerous Mission) on the outskirts of Galisteo, New Mexico, about 25 miles south of santa Fe, where there was already a traditional village west for cinema.
  Piesta created a landing in the desert about 20 feet in circumference and designs inspired by Celtic runes.

I absolutely enjoyed this movie, I think I am probably grateful that I never really read much of the Thor comics because I can't pick apart the story as much as I can something like X-Men. Chris Hemsworth was amazing, Kat Dennings was amusing, Natalie Portman was lovely. Tom Hiddleston's portrayal of Loki actually sent shivers down my spine, he did it so well. It was amazing the way the 'revea' was given. And until Odin spoke I had no idea it was Anthony Hopkins, the makeup and costuming had done great.

really awesome picture. . . The epic adventure
"Thor" spans the Marvel Universe
from present day Earth to the
realm of Asgard. At the center of
the story is The Mighty Thor, a
powerful but arrogant warrior
whose reckless actions reignite
an ancient war. Thor is cast
down to Earth and forced to live
among humans as punishment.
Once here, Thor learns wha ...
( more)

Haters can hate, but we fans know the truth- Joss Whedon is the king. From the science fiction goodness of "Firefly" to the tongue-in-cheek tunes of "Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," Whedon never seems to step wrong.

Despite the knowledge that Joss Whedon would be directing "Thor", along with, strangely, Kenneth Branagh, I could not put aside my apprehension about thus project. The trailer promised lots of yelling, million-dollar special effects, dewy-eyed Natalie Portman, and Chris Hemsworth's abs.

Wasn't I, after all, a girl more interested in Lars Von Trier and Ingmar Bergman than mainstream action films? Wasn't I fan of Simon Rumley? (the fact that you have no idea who this is hoists my arguement considerably.) Who didn't like "X-Men- First Class" even as others gushed about it?

I'm pleased to report, despite my apprehension (and dare I say it, pretensions,) "Thor" exceeded my expectations considerably. Yes, there was dewy-eyed romance, bazillion-dollar special effects, and perectly physiqued A-listers (all the things I hate in a movie- Bah Humbug!)

It's actually one of the first big-budget action/adventure movies I've really enjoyed in a long time. At the heart of the story are two brothers, Thor (Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston,) who live with their parents the king and queen(Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo) in the mythucal land of Asgard.

Loki wants the throne, and his brother stands in the way of him getting to it- sound familiar (i.e. Disney musical featuring an award-winning Elton John-performed song?) Anyways, Loki is allwed more depth than Scar, because what he really wants is his share of Dad's love, and he's always felt a little different from his royal family.

Just as Loki is devious and back-handed, Thor has a superhuamn dose of hubris. Let's consult the dictionary.
hubris- n. Overbearing pride or presumption: arrogance.
Yeah, that's Thor. He has so much hubris, in fact, that he refuses to back down from a fight, and in a roundabout way, Loki uses that against him, getting him kicked out of Asgard and cast into the human world.

Enter a trio of meteorologists- Darcy (Kat Dennings,) Erik (Stellan Skarsgård,) and Jane (Natalie Portman,) an attractive enough but frankly dull character who becomes the love interest of THor when he crashes to earth. Trapped in the human realm, Thor must learn humility; meanwhile Loki lies, cheats, and manipulates his way to the top, and Asgard suffers for it.

Arrogance driving a hero towards ruin hasn't been done very often in superhero movies (Besides the Godawful "Spider-Man 3," so Thor's hubris proves a welcome motif. Menawhile talented Londoner Tom Hiddleston gives a good performance asthe tormented and sly Loki, making it difficult to tell whether Loki is emoting or merely affecting.

ALthough the special effects are dazzling, they didn't get in the way of the story (although sometimes they distracted me.) One complaint I have is that Jane was as boring a romantic interest as you could find (which is the fault of the script, not Natalie Portman, who proved she could act her ass off in "Black Swan." Otherwise, do I think you should see it? Yes I do.

This wasn't a bad film, but it wasn't a great film. At times the sections on earth almost felt like a parody of itself, and the silliness sometimes overrode the comical effect of these scenes. I also couldn't help but feel a similarity between the 'god world' in this film and then 'god world' in the film 'Clash of the Titans', and this almost seemed to weaken these scenes for me. However, I found Chris Hemsworth to be an engaging hero and I loved Natalie Portman. Most of the act,ion sequences were exciting and the story was fairly compelling. It could have been improved on, but overall this is a solid comic book adaptation.

I've always loved superhero movies, even if I'm not an avid comic book reader. That's really my sister's territory. She knows a majority of the comic book superheroes, their villains, what comic book company they came from etc. I've always enjoyed a lot of superhero films and I enjoy seeing them when they come out (with a few notable exceptions).

Thor is just awesome. Sure, it may not have a concrete plot that will redefine comic book movies as we know it, but Thor is just entertaining. The action sequences are very good, except for the first one which is really my main problem with the film. The first action scene is very dark and hard to make out, and I found myself leaning forward and squinting to try to see the action better. But the fault in this scene are more than made up for in any of the other action sequences.

I've never read the comics, like I've already said, but just as an uninformed mind, I thought the characters were solidly written. They seemed realistic enough to feel like real people, but don't seem too realistic to keep reminding you that this is, in fact a comic book movie. The acting is also very good. The guy that played Thor (I'm just too lazy to look it up right now) was perfectly cast. He looked and sounded like he could play Thor and pulled it off nicely.

With this film and Captian America watched, I'm eagerly awaiting the Avengers film coming out next summer and for the sequel to Thor that will hopefully be released in the following summer. What else can I say about Thor? As far as summer blockbuster popcorn films go, this one is just enjoyable. This is one of those films where you can turn off your brain, and at the same time not feel like it's insulting your intelligence. If you like superhero films, I think you'll like this one too.

Alright, back when this was into preproduction, I (and so many comic book fans) were surprised when Branagh was slated to direct. Here we have Thor the god of lightning and his mighty hammer, directed by a man who works mostly around William Shakespeare plays.

Thankfully, this helps. A lot.

Almost every superhero movie (Marvel, lately) focuses on more action instead of character development. Sure, they may look awesome, but you get used to it. Branagh bravely steers away from this predicament and directs the actors with such skill and flair you may mistake this film for yet another Branagh/Shakespeare costume epic.

Make no mistake this is still a superhero film, with some nice special effects and a stylish production design for Asgard, but there's a nice human twist to the story - that of dueling brothers, or gods, or god- brothers... you get the idea. Chris Hemsworth looks just about right for the part and shows some charisma as well as the hero. Branagh has assembled an interesting mix of actors - we have the great Anthony Hopkins, the cute Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba and even Rene Russo. Tom Hiddleston however steals the scene as the mischievous brother Loki.

Here's another good thing about the movie - the story and acting outweigh the special effects and action sequences. For a superhero film, this is extremely rare. Branagh deserves kudos for the effort, however some parts do not gel in nicely and there's some action bits that are not too well-filmed.

All is forgiven though - "Thor" is an above-average superhero movie, not extremely exciting, but definitely intriguing. Fans of both comic book films and costume dramas will certainly enjoy this.