Thor finally made it onto Netflix, so when H announced she needed to go to the mall for something I took my rare opportunity to watch a full length geek boy movie. I enjoyed the pure escapism for a couple of hours.
Make no mistakes, Thor is not a great movie, but it is a good popcorn super hero movie. It lacks the depth o f Nolan's Batman, the edge of Iron Man, and the heart of X-Men. However, it is significantly better than either of the recent Hulk outings, the last few Superman outings, and the last Wolverine movie.
It pulls off a delicate balancing act. The principles clearly know that this is comic book movie, but they take it seriously enough to give solid performances based on a well written script. The big set pieces and special effects are first rate. The plot moves along at a decent clip. It does feel a little jumbled when switching between locations and the script never does anything to explain it away. The love story doesn't really ring true. It is hard to see how a smart woman would fall for a big lunkhead in the time provided, but it never really matters much to the story. Perhaps in the sequel the love story will matter and become more flushed out.
Hemsworth does a great job as Thor. He certainly looks the part. His wooden acting style fits the character's haughty nature. Portman does her usual good work. She is believable as a scientist.
The true star of the movie is Loki. He is deliciously malevolent. Even before he turns completely dark, you can see his mean streak and his underlying shifty nature. Yet he still retains a small morsel of my sympathy because he really does love Thor and his family. He wants to be loved, trusted, and honored for his strengths. It is his insecurity and jealousy that get the best of him.
I'm torn about wanting to see the inevitable sequel. While not a classic, Thor was a solid piece of escapist comic book fun. Sequels, think Iron Man 2 and the X-Men sequels, usually fall short of the original. For a movie like this falling short puts it squarely into rubbish category. On the other hand, there have been sequels that surpassed the original such as The Dark Night. If Marvel can pull that off, the result could be an excellent movie. There is certainly enough material to work with.
