Thor Reviews

Forse dei supereroi Marvel è quello più difficile da rendere credibile, soprattutto in un contesto "terrestre" che lo vede un po' avulso dal maxi progetto dei Vendicatori, dove invece i vari Iron Man, Captain America e magari anche Hulk ci possono stare più comodi. Ma accettato di buon grado il contesto più fantasy del personaggio, resta un film che non convince fino in fondo. Le vicissitudini terrene del semidio si risolvono troppo in fretta e in maniera superficiale, così come quelle di Asgard, dove il ruolo di Loki (intrigante potenzialmente) resta incompiuto. Certo, non era un film facile ma alla fine, forse per esigenze di azione, scende dal gradino di maestosità che era lecito aspettarsi e scade un po' nella mediocrità.

It seemed incredibly odd that Kenneth Branagh, known mostly for his 90s Shakespearean adaptations of varying quality, would tackle a comic book property. But Thor based on the Marvel comics series, and very loosely on the Norse mythology that preceded it, has something vaguely in common with the Great Bard in its character archetypes and story machinations. With numerous plot lines containing warring kingdoms, fallen sons trying to regain their birthright, jealous usurpers trying to create general havoc, it’s a wonder that Branagh had enough self-restraint to not go all-out and make something as loud, dumb and inert as his version of Frankenstein.

At some point in time action films forget that the action was supposed to be in service of the story and the characters, and we’ve all become accustomed to carbon-copied grunting he-man’s running away from unnecessary explosions. Even in the current state of Marvel adaptations, they’ve been guilty of this. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was the worst offender to date. Thankfully, mercifully, Thor sidesteps those issues. Every time we’re launched into a battle sequence, which isn’t edited within an inch of its life and filmed so we can clearly see who is who and where they are in relation to one another, it’s a natural outgrowth of the story or the character. In this regard, Thor trumps the noisy but dull Iron Man 2.

It also trumps Iron Man 2 in its casting choices. While Iron Man 2 went for movie stars with little attention being paid to whether or not they could actually play the role or were right for the it in the first place, Thor is happy to fill the screen with little-known actors in some big roles. Sure, Anthony Hopkins is playing Odin, but he’s got the right kind of gravitas needed to carry off the role. And yes that’s Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, a research scientist. But doesn’t she seem smart and warm enough to be a scientist? I’m talking about choosing newcomers Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as the anchors for your (hopeful) new comic book/action franchise. And both of them are sensational in their respective roles. Hemsworth, for whom the term ‘beefcake’ seems to have been invented, injects some much needed humor into the Viking warrior prince. It’s also a testament to his performance that he manages to say such faintly ridiculous and make you not want to die of laughter. And Tom Hiddleston as Loki is a richly complicated character. He’s not a villain in the traditional comic book movie sense, he’s got far too many identity and daddy issues to be truly evil. He’s damaged and only wants to bask in the same glory that his older sibling gets so easily.

But Thor does suffer greatly in the story department. It can generally overcome its shortcomings, but its speed bumps are highly pronounced. For one, the love story between Thor and Jane Foster is rushed and practically anemic. It’s a nice addition to Thor’s rehabilitation on Earth, but it’s artificial and forced. Not every superhero needs a damsel-in-distress to fall in love with. And generally, the story lines on Earth aren’t given as much time and attention as the Asgardian family drama. This should come as no surprise since the Asgardians are a far more interesting – visually and plot-wise – than the dull earthlings. With the presence of SHIELD, certain moments in Thor recall the same problems in Iron Man 2, that this is just an extended trailer for the eventual Avengers movie. And, I know I’m in the minority on this, but I just don’t like or care for Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. And Thor’s friends, the Warrior’s Three and Sif are also given little to no real development. They’re played mostly for laughs, which is fine, except that we’re consistently told how great, valiant and tough they are as warriors and they get taken out so easily.

As a whole, Thor is fun and enjoyable. It’s got a sense of humor about itself, which is nice in these times of mirthless super heroics on the big screen. It never truly achieves greatness, but it’s a very fun and well-crafted introduction to the character and his mythology. Here’s hoping that the inevitable sequel will flesh things out more properly since it won’t be shackled down to an eventual crossover film. I say bring on the Enchantress and the Executioner in Thor 2.

i dig comics, but i have to admit, that movie really lacks what Thor is all about. It lacks epicness...it could have been more like in comics....WAY MORE action scenes...actually the ONLY action scene i remember was fight with frost giants and....it was like 3-4 minutes MAX...and thats fucking it...most guys who go to watch it are comic fans i think...they wanna see film made after comics...but it's an approach: "we wanna make a blockbuster movie for everyone"...but in the end: when something fits for everything, it actually doesn't fit for anything....LOTR was epic, THIS IS NOT

Not being much of a comic book guy when I was a kid I wasn't all that psyched about seeing Thor. But Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins got me interested in it enough to see it. I was was pleasantly surprised by the film. It has all the action you can want and enough humor to keep the story moving. I wasn't blown away by it but I did like it.

All in all not a bad movie. Not knowing a whole lot about Thor in general. I was still able to watch the movie and not be lost. My only draw back, is at points the movie got TOO loud. Especially when The Destroyer was on the screen, and the ending seemed a little rushed too me. Loki & Thors fight should of lasted longer than it did.

Instant character change to a flat boring hero guy no less. Instant romance. Only 3 jokes work. The bad guy eventually makes no sense.

Why is Thor so damn flat? After arriving on earth he does the nearly silent, cutout, and really underdeveloped hero.

The movie Thor is a great adaption of the comic book and stays very true to the Norse mythology. Interesting, mostly well paced, and a great edition to the superhero franchise. All the actors respectively do their jobs very well. Action and a bit of humor is what keeps the movie going. Hopefully they make a sequel that doesn't ruining the good they have going for them. And as with all new Superhero movies, stay tuned after the credits.

This is coming from one who had almost no knowledge of the Thor comics before seeing the film and when the trailer aired, it looked like a very enjoyable film and would have stunning effects with a lot of good fun coming out of it. However, in many ways the film both really surprised me and expectedly blew me away. As predicted, the cinematography, art direction, visual effects and the action Thor was exactly what was required: magnificent and should pull off a few Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and maybe even Best Costume Design. However, what was so surprising about Thor was how emotional it turned out to be, how gripping and epic it felt from the first shot to the last and despite that some may not believe it, Asgard and other worlds show that there could be another world like it and that the Universe is like a tree with planets on the end of the branch.


Just like Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor is another MARVEL build-up to The Avengers which is due for release in 2012 and now after seeing this, I am even more excited about it and Thor truly is the dark horse of those films. In fact, the dark horse of all MARVEL films thus far seeing as I underestimated it to start off with and look how great it turned out to be. This does have its similarities with Ancient Greece such as the Gods and monsters within and I do think that some kind of inspiration from that went towards the Thor comic itself but it still is an absolutely fantastic MARVEL creation with such a solid, imaginative and entertaining story.


At the centre of the story is the Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As punishment by his father King Odin or Asgard, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.


Chris Hemsworth didn't seem entirely convincing as Thor to start off with seeing as in my opinion he looked rather flat for the character and perhaps could have picked a list of actors who looked like a better choice for Thor (my favourite pick was Paul 'Triple H' Levesque). However, he was more or less an unexpected surprise and played Thor absolutely brilliantly. Hemsworth provided everything that is the Thor character in a nutshell: badass, a heartthrob and a bad boy turned to real hero. The Thor film itself as well as the Thor character is, in my mind, MARVEL's own version of the greek mythological hero Hercules and the Gods and humans involved that are alike in so many ways and its funny that neither of them are classed as princes seeing as they are the son of a leader/king of Gods. Chris Hemsworth is one of those actors who not many people had even heard of before Thor was released but now it has been, it has truly become his breakthrough performance and hope to see more great roles in the near future, including The Avengers coming up in 2012.


Natalie Portman makes her return in a summer blockbuster for the first time since Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith and guess what? She delivers exactly what you expect of her: brilliant acting by playing such a lovable character which wasn't really a huge surprise although her appearance in Thor made the film even more interesting. Jane Foster had so many similarities with Megara in Hercules (apart from being a scientist) due to the at-first oddness about Hercules and then binding love for him despite being so different. The great Sir Anthony Hopkins makes an appearance as King Odin (father of Thor) and to no surprise, gave a great performance. The character Odin had a lot of similarities with Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator who was portrayed by the late Richard Harris by both looks and personality and how they act towards their younger protégés. Stellen Skarsgard, Tom Hiddleston, Kat Dennings and Idris Elba gave good performances too. Also, keep an eye out for Jeremy Renner in this film. His role may be minor but his appearance of what we saw was pretty awesome.


Speaking for perhaps a lot of people who thought Kenneth Branagh as director of Thor was really surprising but my response to it was ''Uhh.. What?'' especially the fact that his previous works as director have been films based on plays by the great William Shakespeare (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet) so, yeah films totally different. Anyway, I as well as a lot of people were proven wrong and truly did underestimate Branagh's directorial role in Thor. They perhaps couldn't have found a better director now after watching it and it makes us all think now that if Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, Jon Favreau or anyone else who has been the director of a MARVEL film before could have made it too soppy and like a lot of Hollywood crap we see nowadays. The action scenes were filmed unbelievably seeing as during throughout every single part, it really looked like real action rather than overloaded CGI effects like in a lot of films we see nowadays. I hope Kenneth Branagh considers making another action film like Thor or maybe even the sequel if planned because he went somewhere really special with this one and is bound to blow the audience away and totally surprise them.


Overall, Thor is such an entertaining, epic and highly intense MARVEL film that is perhaps is the dark-horse of summer blockbusters in 2011 (maybe even of the entire year) and was a surprisingly amazing film and the same thing could be said for J.J. Abram's Star Trek in summer 2009. It is definitely the best MARVEL film in years (probably the best one since Spider-Man 2 in 2004). If this doesn't pull off a few Academy Award nominations, they will need a brutal beating! Amazingly, Thor manages to provide both typical Hollywood and something that we haven't seen before or at least something that we haven't seen for a long time: a comic adaptation with a strong soul and was in a word; epic. I didn't see the film in 3D but even after watching it, I wasn't entirely convinced that a 3D release of the film was a good idea but Thor is still a brilliant film nevertheless. Thor will bring even more excitement to The Avengers! Speaking of which, if you are about to see the film at the cinema and are reading this review, make sure you stay until the ending credits for one last exciting build-up scene.

"Thor, Odin's Son, through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and devastation of war..."

By serving as an origin story for Marvel's God of Thunder, Thor denotes the next step in Marvel's superhero world-building effort leading up to 2012's The Avengers. Admittedly, the outlook for Thor was never overwhelmingly positive - the title role was given to little-known Aussie beefcake Chris Hemsworth (a soap star glimpsed oh-so-briefly in 2009's Star Trek), and the director's chair was allotted to Kenneth Branagh, who had never been near a big-budget spectacle in his career. Nonetheless, the film denotes another home run for Marvel - it's easily one of the best, if not the best Marvel feature to date. Hemsworth is truly an excellent find, while Branagh's directorial dexterity belies his inexperience with action extravaganzas. The first of four superhero movies to arrive during the 2011 summer season, Thor is a highly entertaining, assured masterpiece which kicks things off in style.

Following an ancient war, the denizens of Asgard develop a tentative peace with the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. However, on the day of Thor's (Hemsworth) ascension to the throne of Asgard, a group of Frost Giants breach Asgard's defences. In response to this, the hot-headed Thor mounts an assault on the home-world of the Frost Giants; an act which threatens war between the two realms. Due to his disobedience, Thor's father Odin (Hopkins) banishes Thor to Earth, leaving Thor's brother Loki (Hiddleston) to seize power of Asgard. After being dropped into New Mexico, Thor meets astrophysicist Jane Foster (Portman) and her colleagues. Stripped of his powers, his hammer and everything he holds dear, Thor is compelled to learn what it takes to be a true hero in order to reclaim his hammer and the throne of Asgard.

From the epic prologue to the climactic action sequences, Thor is brimming with excitement and solid, confident storytelling. The fanboys concerned that this is a Thor film in name only can rest easy - this is ultimately a story about what's at stake in Asgard. The uninitiated can also rest easy, as there's enough leeway for the newcomers to find their footing. What's most commendable about Thor is that it is not a proverbial origins tale which adheres to the standard template, but instead something fresher and more imaginative. Origin tale clichés are usually eschewed, while the rare conventional situations fulfil their purpose magnificently rather than feeling familiar and cringe-worthy. (Take, for instance, the "hero is thought to be dead but comes back with a vengeance" scene - it was handled exceptionally well, yielding a badass set-piece). When Thor arrives on Earth, there are amusing moments and comical fish-out-of-water antics as the God of Thunder adjusts to life as a mortal in a different culture. The culture clashes generate some of the film's best moments. Thankfully, the smart script does not dwell upon these comic moments, nor does it take Thor as a fool - he "gets it" quickly.

Thor transpires in three worlds: Earth, Asgard and Jotunheim, each of which possesses a unique aesthetic and identity. Fortunately, Branagh and his crew worked to create worlds that look and feel real, and it paid off. All of the more fantastical moments throughout the film are perfectly grounded; ensuring that nothing feels silly or bloated. Furthermore, Thor is a home run in terms of technical achievements, from the luscious production design to the bravura visual effects to Patrick Doyle's immersive score. The action, too, is magnificent. An exhilarating, pulse-pounding sequence depicting a skirmish between Thor's band of friends and a bunch of Frost Giants has got to be in the running for best action sequence of 2011. Rather than feeling like CGI overload, Thor is imbued with nail-biting tension. Happily, this quality is retained throughout. Branagh is also of a more classical brand of filmmakers; he and his crew captured the action with inventive, fluid cinematography, without excessive shaky-cam or quick-cutting. Unfortunately, however, the 3-D effects add absolutely nothing to the experience - in fact, they're more of a distraction than an enhancement.

The strongest moments of Thor are not necessarily the big special effects sequences, but rather the dramatic scenes. The dialogue between Thor, Loki and Odin crackles with emotion and intensity, and the sincerity which pervades these scenes allows us to buy this world as being real. Also, the romantic subplot concerning Thor and Jane possesses a spark and a dynamic which places it light-years ahead of standard contemporary romantic comedies. These particular strengths are no doubt thanks to the exceptional Kenneth Branagh, whose career in Shakespearean tales and dramas prepared him well for the film's dramatic elements. Furthermore, Thor takes a number of unexpected twists and turns; focusing more on suspense and clever narrative gyrations than CGI blotation.

The cast is marvellous from top to bottom. Thanks to Branagh's experience with drama, he was able to bring out the best in each actor. Hemsworth is hugely engaging and charismatic as the titular Thor. His astonishing physicality suits the role to the ground, and he delivered his lines with tremendous gusto. The former Aussie soap star is no doubt on his way to true stardom. Alongside Hemsworth, the reliable Anthony Hopkins is, of course, a scene-stealer as Odin, while Tom Hiddleston's performance as the conflicted, ambiguous Loki is flawless. Natalie Portman admirably performs her duties as the token love interest, and she is boosted by solid back-up courtesy of the funny, cute Kat Dennings and the kindly, wise Stellan Skarsgård. Jeremy Renner also appears briefly as Hawkeye. Renner's brief inclusion just amounts to a sly nod to the upcoming Avengers movie for the more perceptive film-goers, but his presence makes sense rather than feeling forced. In fact, this applies to all of the references to other Marvel movies - they feel organic, rather than included for the sheer sake of it.

In an era of summer blockbusters of declining quality, Thor is a refreshing treat indeed. Mere movie-goers can rejoice that this is a masterpiece of blockbuster filmmaking, while fans should rejoice that this is both a great standalone movie and a terrific bridge to The Avengers. The trailers for Thor were admittedly not overly impressive, but this is a real case of the trailer not doing the film justice. Trust me - this is a masterpiece; it's better than Iron Man, better than Spider-Man 2, and it's worthy of both your time and money. And, as usual, stick around until after the end credits for an extra scene.

9.3/10

I really liked this film, specially the plot. But everything happens too much far from my point of view. Natilie Portamn has an easy work in this film but she shines with her smile. A good film to enjoy.