Thor (2011) --- "Norse God Ground His Son To Earth By Taking Away His Special Hammer."

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Plot Summary

As the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of the Norse gods, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) will soon inherit the throne of Asgard from his aging father. However, on the day that he is to be crowned, Thor reacts with brutality when the gods' enemies, the Frost Giants, enter the palace in violation of their treaty. As punishment, Odin banishes Thor to Earth. While Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor's brother, plots mischief in Asgard, Thor, now stripped of his powers, faces his greatest threat. (1)

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Review

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Hello, Movie Buffs! 

     Among the many Marvel Superheroes, Thor is more of a second-class character because Thor does not have the same popularity amongst fans or the common public that heroes like Spider-Man, Hulk, Batman^(DC), and Superman^(DC) have. This is partly because when people here the name “Thor” most think about mythologies Norse god of thunder and battle, and the son of Odin. However, that does not mean that Marvel Studios is simply going to give the cinematic adaption of Thor the short end of the stick. Instead, they presented a film adaption that did mythology and the comic book justice.  The visuals were quite spectacular, especially the scenes based in Asgard, and the entire cast filled their roles perfectly. The action scenes were good though there were times when it felt like they could have been executed better and the humor added comedic relief appropriate scenes, while not taking away from the serious tone in other scenes. There were times when the storyline was somewhat predictable but nevertheless, it was still fascinating

     Director Kenneth Branagh (1996’s Hamlet and 2007’s Sleuth) has developed a story that has elements of tragedy, pathos, selflessness and surprisingly involves good character development; much like a Shakespearian play or Homer’s Odyssey. The “origin” story of Thor is much like that of Iron Man. The core of the film is the lead characters which encourage the audience to explore the heart of the story. Another aspect like Iron Man is the similarities between the main superheroes. In the beginning, Thor is arrogant and cocky, and in his mind, he is entitled to have whatever he wants no matter the consequences. But then he loses it all and over time he starts to understand that there are more important things than being the ruler of Asgard and his special powers. He still a bit arrogant at the end but he learns how to be humble; like Iron Man. Thor also proves that while a film may appear silly at first, it actually holds much more depth than anticipated you just have to be willing to look; again like Iron Man. Thor combines light-hearted fun and strong acting with drama worthy of a Shakespearian play and archaic language for storytelling thus making an overall entertaining film. In short, Thor tells the story of the god of thunder by delving into the political/family conflicts in the Asgard kingdom thus involving the centuries old war with the conflict centric Frost Giants, and makes known where Thor stands in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

     Aside from the storyline being a bit predictable at times, the only other issue I have is the romance between Thor (Chris Hemsworth – Red Dawn, Blackhat) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman – Black Swan, Star Wars I & II). Their chemistry is great but the romantic relationship is rushed into the story and left as an afterthought with very little development. It almost feels like it was a last minute addition and while the characters are great together the screenplays don't offer much to their “growing” romantic relationship.

     Overall, Thor (2011) is an entertaining and humorous/serious film. While Thor is a lesser known superhero Marvel Studios changed that narrative with the film adaptation. In their own special way, Marvel has managed to take a famous character from Norse mythology and have effectively incorporated one of the most difficult characters into a comic book and now a creditable film adaption. The screenplay is well written, minus the “romantic relationship”, and the action scenes were filmed well with the exception of one to many close-ups that made some moments occasionally confusing. There were so many ways that they could have gotten this wrong and they didn’t, and although I am not a comic book fan I was very pleased with the film. I recommend this to anyone who has been following the MCU since Iron Man (2008) and be sure to watch the end credit scenes for more interesting insight.

***Marvel Cinematic Universe (In order of how you should watch them)***

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Untitled Avengers film (2019)

Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel (2019)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)

 “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR!”

- Odin [enchants Mjolnir]

Final Vote

Worth Seeing:  4 of 5 star

Worth Buying:  4 of 5 stars

I hope you liked this post, subscribe to my blog via email HERE, send in your comments, and watch Thor (2011).

Movies Similar 

Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Avengers (2012)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (2015)
Avengers 3: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers 4: Untitled film (2019)
Black Panther (2018)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 (2019)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Cast & Crew

Directed by Kenneth Branagh  

Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Protosevich, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.

Produced by 

     Victoria Alonso      ...     co-producer

     Louis D'Esposito    ...     executive producer

     Kevin Feige             ...     producer

     Alan Fine                ...     executive producer

     David J. Grant        ...     associate producer

     Craig Kyle                ...     co-producer

     Stan Lee                  ...     executive producer

     David Maisel           ...     executive producer

     Patricia Whitcher  ...     executive producer

Music by Patrick Doyle

Cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos

Film Editing by Paul Rubell     

Casting By Sarah Finn and Randi Hiller

Production Design by Bo Welch         

Art Direction by Pierre Buffin, Kasra Farahani, Luke Freeborn, Sean Haworth, A. Todd Holland, and Maya Shimoguchi

Set Decoration by Lauri Gaffin and Kevin Hickerson         

Costume Design by Alexandra Byrne

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth                ...     Thor

Natalie Portman                   ...     Jane Foster

Tom Hiddleston                   ...     Loki

Anthony Hopkins                ...     Odin

Stellan Skarsgård                ...     Erik Selvig

Kat Dennings                         ...     Darcy Lewis

Clark Gregg                            ...     Agent Coulson

Colm Feore                             ...     King Laufey

Idris Elba                                ...     Heimdall

Ray Stevenson                       ...     Volstagg

Tadanobu Asano                  ...     Hogun

Josh Dallas                             ...     Fandral

Jaimie Alexander                ...     Sif

Rene Russo                             ...     Frigga

Adriana Barraza                  ...     Isabela Alvarez

Maximiliano Hernández  ...     Agent Sitwell

Buddy Sosthand                   ...     Agent Delancey

Jamie McShane                    ...     Agent Jackson

Dale Godboldo                      ...     Agent Garrett

Patrick O'Brien Demsey    ...     Agent Cale

Matt Battaglia                       ...     Pete

Stan Lee                                   ...     Stan the Man

Dakota Goyo                          ...     Young Thor

Ted Allpress                           ...     Young Loki