Movie Review: Thor

Synopsis: The Mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war in Asgard. He is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

I guess the reason that I skipped this during it's theatrical run is that growing up reading Marvel comics, I never was a big fan of Thor. I liked him in the Avengers but always thought his "solo" bits were sort of goofy with their mythological tales and such. Yes, I know, reading super hero comics and calling mythology goofy is the whole kettle/pot/black thing but I just didn't like them. So I wasn't that excited about this film and didn't think they could pull it off. Turns out I was wrong. They did pull it off and it's actually a very fun movie, moreso than the last couple of Spiderman films in my opinion.

First, Chris Hemsworth as Thor is just awesome. Not sure a lot of guys could have done this well as a cocky, yet likable, fish-out-water Norse god. He's charming and funny, yet a total badass. Another nice surprise was Tom Hiddleston as Loki, he's just fantastic I thought. There are plenty more fun characters who are well played by a few A-listers (Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman) and some who I have no idea are. A lot of good characters, well-played here.

And it realizes that it's supposed to be a big ole popcorn movie with giant effects sequences and enough action to keep you cheering and fist pumping. It's visually fantastic enough to keep the action junkies happy yet the story of Thor is intelligently done well enough to please all the fanboys. Well, as much as you can please the fickle fanboy crowd at least I would guess.

It's not all serious either, with an underlying plot of love (of course) and plenty of intentional humor. I do have a problem with this magnificient god choosing Natalie Portman above all the other mortal women he could obviously have, as I've never really found her attractive. He could pretty much walk into any bar on earth and take his pick of 50 hotter women, maybe he should have looked around a bit before deciding on the first women he sees. Talk about settling.

So all-in-all I found this a pretty intelligent, comic-book, popcorn epic that's definitely a cut above most of the usual fare. It'll go along side of the first Iron Man on my Marvel favorites list and I look forward to seeing Thor in The Avengers now. Too bad I can't got back to my youth and not skip all those years of reading his comic.

8/10