DVD Review:Thor

THOR

reviewer Dexter Kong
Rated: 12a (UK)
Release Date: September 26th, 2011(UK)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård

Thor is the latest comic book franchise from Marvel Studios.

The plot: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is about to be crowned the new king of Asgard. His coronation ceremony is interrupted by an attempt to steal the ice box (essentially a Pandora like box that can bring about another ice age or destruction), by some Ice Giants. Being the wreck less warrior he is, Thor decides to go to the Ice Kingdom of Jotenheim, to get some answers. Except not being one to shy away from a battle, he lets his hammer do the talking instead, breaking an eons long truce. His father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) discovers this and as punishment, banishes him to the earth realm to get his shit together.

Thor continues along the same continuity line as Iron Man, essentially all Marvel films lie within the Stark universe now.

Even all the dialogue and jokes feel the same.

There are a few laughs in the film mostly at the fish out of water situations of Thor. The film would like to position itself as a Lord of the Rings Esq type franchise, but never quites hits it’s strike as it doesn’t delve deep enough in to the environments of Asgard nor it’s people. At moments I was reminded of Masters of the Universe. I felt it would have been better suited to have stayed in one realm or the other, as most of the Earth happenings felt redundant. I understand there is supposed to be discord and separation between Earth and Asgard, but the two placings felt like wholly separate films. One being interesting the other, well, kind of rubbish.

The problem with Thor as a character is that is he never really feels vulnerable. Even as ‘mortal Thor’ he was able to brutishly smash his way through special agents. I felt that there needed to be some more humanizing traits, otherwise there isn’t really any conflict. The only point at which he was threatened, was up against a metallic fire spitting behemoth, which is hardly the time for one so wreck less to make redeeming decisions, given that was his reason for banishment in the first place.

Tom Hiddlestone puts in a good performance as the insidious, misguided Loki. Whilst the omnipotent sounding Anthony Hopkins as Odin is just that.

The relationship struck between Thor and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), is very forthcoming and almost as if Marvel needed a vehicle to get  the Thor franchise back to Earth. This is an inherent problem I’m finding with the Marvel series of films, that they have to somehow try to tie all the films together by some lackluster means. It’s no wonder Jon Favreau jumped ship from Iron Man.  It was never about creating a self contained film but more of a stepping stone entity to the Avengers.

Thor does start promising with great action set in the Asgard world and steeped in this Marvel Norse mythology but loses momentum half way through, giants start to drastically vary size, characters become incredibly flippant and it never really recovers. If you’re a fan of the Marvel series of films then you will enjoy this, but I found it rather disappointing.

P.S Stay after the credits and definitely don’t pay the extra for the 3D, does not add anything and mostly detracted.

MOVIE RATING: 3/5

• Commentary by director Kenneth Branagh
• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
• Road to the Avengers

About the Author

Paul

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The founder of The People's Movies, started the site 20th November 2008.The site has excelled past all expectations with many only giving the site months and it's still going strong. A lover of French Thrillers, Post Apocalyptic films, Asian cinema. 2009 started Cinehouse to start his 'cinema education' learning their is life outside mainstream cinema. Outside of film, love to travel with Sorrento, Guangzhou and Manchester all favourite destinations.Musically loves David Bowie, Fishbone, Radiohead.

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