Review: Thor

Grade: A+

In the fantastic realm of Asgard, the mighty Thor is next in line to be king. On the day that the realm was holding a celebration so Odin, his father, could announce him to be the next king, some ice giants from the Jotunheim realm break into Asgard to steal an ancient relic that will aid them in conquering the nine realms. They are stopped, but Thor overreacts and heads to their realm where he tries to start another war. As a punishment for almost breaking the peace between the realms, Odin banishes Thor to Earth and takes away his power and makes it so Thor can’t pick up his hammer, Mjolnir, and regain his power until he proves himself worthy. On Earth, Thor meets Jane Foster, a physicist, who is fascinated by his tales and decides to help the mysterious man in anyway that she can. Meanwhile, a traitor in Asgard does everything he can to make sure Thor does not return home.

Thor is an awesome comic book movie and that is exactly what everybody should expect out of it. It is the latest Marvel comic book movie based on the character of the same name and is another tie-in movie to the upcoming Avengers movie in 2012. Thankfully, that aspect doesn’t take up too much time in the movie (not like Iron Man 2), instead there are a few passing references. For instance, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town) does show up in the movie briefly as Hawkeye. The action in the movie is awesome and I feel that the mythological aspects of this movie are handled extremely well and make the character seem at least moderately believable. The movie also has a lot of great moments in it that are quite hilarious, it is surprisingly funny. One of my favorite aspects of the movie has to be the costumes. They made the Asgardian wear look absolutely amazing and fun and the helmets are awesome, so glad they didn’t drop this aspect of the comics from the movie.

Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) plays the titular role of Thor, god of thunder and wielder of the mighty hammer Mjolnir. Hemsworth really hasn’t done much but he was spectacular in this movie. He really manages to not only fit the role perfectly in terms of looks, he also did a great job at portraying such an interesting character. Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Your Highness) plays the role of Jane Foster, an astrophysicist who begins to fall in love with Thor. Portman is great in this role and is very enjoyable. I think that for some of the scenes, specifically the one where she kisses Thor, I think they had to have her standing on a platform of some kind as she is probably a foot or more shorter than Chris Hemsworth. Anthony Hopkins (The Wolfman, The World’s Fastest Indian) plays the role of Odin, king of Asgard. Hopkins was really perfect for this role and I thought that he was great in this movie. Tom Hiddleston plays the role of Loki, Thor’s brother. He did a pretty good job with this role. The movie also features performances from Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard, Clark Gregg, Ray Stevenson, Jaimie Alexander and more.

Thor is an incredibly awesome and fun movie. One of the best comic book movies to come out in a while. If someone is expecting a serious movie, like Dark Knight, this is the wrong movie for you. It is fun and fantastic filled with great myths and lore. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to go see it again.

Great quote: “Meowmeow? What’s a Meowmeow?”

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