‘THOR’ brings it! – film review
Posted on 08. May, 2011 by Harrison Cheung in Featured, Movies
The highly enjoyable THOR is one part hero-action movie, one part Shakespearean drama – no doubt due to its director, Kenneth Branagh, who treats the material with all the seriousness of a HENRY V. Lead writer, Ashley Miller, penned the highly anticipated X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and is a veteran of sci-fi TV with FRINGE, ANDROMEDA, and THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES under her belt.
Aussie actor, Chris Hemsworth, who was best known to North American audiences as Captain Kirk’s father in the 2009 STAR TREK movie, stars as the god of Thunder, Thor. The cast is rounded out with Natalie Portman as a physicist and love interest, Jane; Anthony Hopkins as Odin; and Stellan Skarsgard as Jane’s professor.
THOR accomplishes a tough task – balancing Nordic gods with science fiction. There is a longer than expected flashback to get the audience up to speed with who’s who in the Nordic pantheon of deities. The movie has an epic feel, influenced by 300 and GLADIATOR, but as the first THOR movie (one might assume a sequel is in the works), has the dual task of origin story and straightforward action movie.
Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman in "Thor"
In a nutshell, Thor is cast out of his realm when his father, Odin, decides that he’s too hotheaded for the throne. Banished to Earth without his hammer and his powers, the arrogant young prince soon learns some serious life lessons about the little people. He falls in love with Jane and vows to defend the Earth against some serious collateral damage from a war in his realm between Valhalla and a planet of ice people and political meddling thanks to his brother, Loki.
Hemsworth balances superhero with arrogant prince well, but has the unfortunate appearance of being a member of Abba on steroids. Maybe it’s the well cropped beard or the coiffed blonde hair that looks like he raided a Taylor Swift wig collection. Aside from the distracting hair treatment, Hemsworth fits the part as a buff regal warrior.
After her Oscar-winning turn with THE BLACK SWAN, it’s amusing to see Portman in such a slight role, as gushing damsel in distress. Though Thor likes Jane, the movie is chaste with lots of hand-kissing.
The 3D special effects are eye-catching, while the entire look and feel of Thor’s realm is part Nordic Viking, part Flash Gordon. It’s refreshing to see a “hero” movie stray from the formula – the results can be amazing.
THOR official website: http://thor.marvel.com/
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[...] on 22. Jun, 2011 by Henry-K in Featured When the big-budget, cinematic incarnation of Thor, Norse god of thunder, began swinging his mighty hammer in theatres last month, much of the media [...]
Dave
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I enjoyed this film and look forward to the sequel, plus the Avengers movie.
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