Highly Entertaining

Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the arrogant son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is banished from Asgard after disobeying his father's orders. On Earth he bumps into (literally) a scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and must find a way to return to his home to prevent it from being destroyed.

To say I had doubts about Thor is an understatement. Kenneth Branagh directing a comic book action movie? Plus all the clips I had seen of Chris Hemsworth as Thor were incredibly cheesy. There's no way this is going to work!

Thankfully I was wrong.

Branagh is actually an inspired choice as a director because he has a great sense for the emotional pulse of a scene - for the action sequences and the more grave parts. Together with the actors there is a gravitas to scenes that seemed cheesy in the clips.

But what surprised me was how funny this movie is. As with Iron Man there's a lot of humor, particularly Thor with his fish-out-of-water bit when he's on Earth.

Chris Hemsworth together with Tom Hiddleston as Loki are the breakout stars in Thor. They really made the movie for me.

The movie moves along rather quickly with the action almost evenly divided between Asgard and Earth. Sometimes a bit too quickly - the romance between Thor and Jane comes into play very quickly. I can believe that the sparks are flying between them but for them to fall in love that fast - it's veering into Mills and Boon territory.

Thor kicks off the summer movie season with a bang. If you liked Iron Man you won't go wrong with Thor.

7/10