A film about the Norse god Thor seemed to have considerable potential for an interesting cinematic development given that, unlike characters such as Batman or Superman, Thor is a peripheral figure in the superhero universe, and would be ideal for creative flights of fancy. The choice of Kenneth Branagh, better known for a number of outstanding adaptations of Shakespeare, as director, further raised expectations.
Unfortunately, it seems that Thor had been sitting on the shelf for too long before Branagh was brought into the project, and the director doesn’t seem to have shown much enthusiasm in dusting off this shopworn property.
Thor is set in two worlds. The first is Asgard, where the god Odin (Anthony Hopkins) feels his grip on power slipping. He hopes to hand over the throne to Thor, his handsome, brash, arrogant and reckless son. Thor’s brother Loki also has his eye on the throne and manipulates the none-too-bright Thor into offending their father, who banishes him to a backwater of the universe: Earth.
Photo courtesy of UIP
On Earth, scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) investigate unusual astronomical phenomenas, and notice that there is quite a lot of traffic between deep space and the New Mexico dessert. They run into Thor (quite literally), but their enquiries into the method of his arrival are quickly shut down by Agent Coulson and his cohorts from SHIELD, who will be familiar to Marvel comic fans or anyone who has watched Iron Man. The main plot points are the antagonism between Thor and Loki, the re-igniting of a war between Asgard and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, and a little romantic aside between Thor and Jane Foster.
Unfortunately these are incapable of holding together an unwieldy mix of superhero cliches and Nordic high camp. Thor might be described as Flash Gordon meets The Transformers, though without the technical slickness of the latter, or the campy silliness of the former. Characterization and motivation are weak even within the relatively undemanding form of the superhero movie.
The character of Thor is similar to that of Tony Stark in Iron Man, though presented with none of the nuances given to that role by Robert Downey, Jr. Chris Hemsworth looks the part of a blond, blue-eyed jock, but is altogether too empty a vessel to make Thor interesting. To be fair, he is not given much material to work with, and has to convey almost the whole of his character through beefcake shots of his toned body and the twinkle in his blue, blue eyes.
The presence of A-list talent such as Portman and Hopkins is utterly bewildering and their skills are uniformly wasted. Portman at least manages to achieve a geek-chic that is quiet fetching, but Hopkins does himself no favors as the wise old man, falling well short of similar types, such as Gandalf or the various incarnations of Professor Dumbledore.
All this is not to say that Thor is not without its moments. The few lines given to Kat Dennings (Darcy), who plays a teenage hanger-on at Foster’s scientific field station, are quite funny, but for the rest, attempts at humor come right out of the superhero joke book. The art deco world of Asgard is worth a gander as one of the more inept attempts at creating inter-galactic splendor, and the super monster that provides one of the main set piece battles looks like a reject from the Transformers stable of fighting machines.
Finally, to add insult to injury, Thor is being screened in 3D, an addition that does nothing to improve the experience but necessitates the wearing of silly glasses. The regular dimensions are already more than this movie deserves.
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