Thor

My first comic book hero was Superman. When I was 11, I got hooked on comics and it was because of Superman. Since then I have waited years for that character to be properly portrayed on the big screen. I’ve never been a big fan of the Donner movies. Looking for Superman during the 90’s those felt old. The most recent film focused so heavily on those movies that I just couldn’t like it. But finally I have a movie that feels like what I want from a Superman movie, but that movie isn’t Superman. It’s Thor.

I’ve never been too interested in Thor. I’ve read a little, I particularly think the recent run by JMS was brilliant, but he's never been a go to hero for me. I have trouble getting past the whole “god” thing. But I found this movie highly entertaining. In it we get to see the tale of a reckless prince being banished, and then redeeming himself to again take his rightful place. The movie has science, magic, kings, deception, action and fun. It’s exactly what I would have wanted from a Thor movie. Kenneth Branagh made a lot of smart choices in making this movie. From the costuming to the look of Asgard itself, a lot could have gone wrong and made this movie feel really bad, but he pulled it off. While there wasn’t really a lot to chew on, the acting from everyone was also spot on.

I have a few issues with the movie though. Thor’s redemption was a little weak. He was in town for about a weekend, beat up some people, had a beer and made some eggs and suddenly he was worthy. I’ve made eggs for people before, does that make me worthy. Then there was the cameo by Hawkeye in the middle of the movie. This felt pretty forced since he didn’t do a single thing, he just came off as some guy that likes a bow instead of using a gun. Finally there was the post credit sequence, a tradition in Marvel movies. So far I haven’t had to explain them to anyone after it happened, regular non-comic people understood it. Not this time. I mean honestly how many people know what a cosmic cube is. I don’t think it’s even been in the comics for 10 years. It got me excited, but it’s wasn’t a good choice for to get people excited for the next movie.

Other than what I just wrote, “Thor” was a great fun movie and a welcome addition to the Marvel series. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.