Film Review "Thor"

The road to Joss Whedon’s The Avengers continues with this summer’s WWII period piece Captain America: The First Avenger, and the Norse mythological adventure which is Thor. Thor is the story of Thor, duh, the son of Odin and brother of Loki.

* Spoilers Ahead*

In the beginning of the film, Thor is a hot headed warrior who thinks only with his fists and hammer. He is one of those “shoot first” kinds of guys. An attack by a set of Frost Giants befalls the realm of Asgard during Thor's initiation to becoming King and fearing further attacks, Thor retaliates against the Giants by attacking the Giant’s home world head on. Upon his return, Odin punishes Thor for his ignorance and lack of careful planning by banishing him to Earth. Upon arrival, Thor meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and after trying and failing to retrieve his hammer, and after his brother tells him that Odin has died (he hasn’t), Thor tries to make the best of his new life on Earth. Back in Asgard, Loki is revealed to be the one who allowed the Frost Giants to enter Asgard and attack, and also reveals that he wants to impress his father and be rid of his better brother Thor, so he sends a type of giant robot to earth to kill him. In the end, Thor defeats the robot thing, returns to Asgard, defeats Loki, and accidently throws him into the universe. Then there are some scenes of filler between this film and The Avengers.

All and all this is a good film. The visuals are very well done; the film industry has come a long way in C.G.I. Also the fight scenes are well choreographed. The acting is also very good, with Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Hiddleston all playing Thor, Odin and Loki very well.

The thing is, this film doesn’t sit well with me story or pace wise. I do not know the story of Thor, I will admit that. But I think the second act of the film was way too fast, and Thor’s character development from the hot headed, angry, kind of an ass warrior to the helpful, loving superhero was rushed. It seemed like one minute he’s one way then bam, he is another in the next scene. There was no time for character development, and yet it happened anyway, way too quickly. The first and third acts were very well paced; it is just the middle that I do not like at all. I think for this to have been a better movie, it needed to be longer. If they expanded the middle more, showing the change in Thor, it would have been a better story and more believable (although, this is a superhero movie, how believable does it need to be). It needs to be believable in its own world, and the characters just aren’t believable. Maybe there is a director’s cut with more in the middle, but all and all this film is lacking and could have been better. Did it do its job and make me excited for The Avengers film? Yes, but that is all it seems to be, just filler and marketing for another film. As a standalone film, it doesn’t stand on its own story wise, and could have been better.

Final Score – 7/10
Great Film Aspect: None, except it makes me want to the Avengers movie.
Recommendation – If you like superhero movies, and are looking forward to the Avengers, go see it. If not, rent.