"Thor" Review

(I should start off with a disclaimer that I've never read the "Thor" comic books, so I won't be comparing the two for accuracy and contradictions)

Two-And-A-Half Stars

There are two schools of thought when it comes to reviewing movies: one that takes them for what they are, and another where they are judged critically. Action movies tend to get good reviews when seen through the lens of the former, and less-than-stellar reviews when seen through the latter. This is due, mainly, to the fact that actions often are more interested in telling a decent, exciting story that compliments the action well, rather than trying to be both "The King's Speech" and "James Bond". A combination like that is incredibly hard to pull off, though not impossible.

"Thor" is no exception to this. It's very much an action flick, and thus it has both the strengths and weaknesses of that genre. The movie follows the eponymous Thor, a super being from the realm of Asgard, and an heir to that world's throne. After nearly and foolishly inciting a war with the Frost Giants, enormous blue ice-wielding creatures from another planet, Thor is banished to Earth by his father and left there without his powers or his mighty hammer. Jane Foster, a beautiful astrophysicist, has been tracking the interstellar movements of Thor and his companions, unaware of the true nature of these astrological findings. As fate would have it, Thor and Jane cross paths in New Mexico, where Thor lands after being banished, hoping to reclaim both his powers and his honor.

As an action movie, "Thor" delivers as you would expect it to: fantastic action sequences spurred by special effects, a straightforward plot with a romance mixed in, and an easily identifiable villain. If you like big fights and grand battle sequences filled with explosions and stunning visuals, this is the move for you. It is clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and why they are the way they are. Our protagonist is on the path towards redemption, and along the way there are breakthroughs, setbacks, laughs, and tears.

But when you peel away the action movie label and look more deeply at the film, it turns out to be not so great. Don't get me wrong, I liked the film overall (though there were a few parts that were just too melodramatic and overdone), and I probably nit-pick a bit too much when it comes to action movies, but I'm just trying to be honest. I found that the movie struggled to find a balance between Thor's mystical realm of Asgard and our real world of Earth. The opening scenes that explained the universe of "Thor" and its many characters felt too fantastical to fit well with Jane and her friends back in New Mexico. I know that establishing the film's setting requires a rather lengthy introduction filled with exposition, but it still feels a bit overwhelming.

And while the film picks up after it moves beyond Thor's backstory, there are still other issues at play. The inevitable romance between Thor and Jane comes off as incredibly forced, thanks in large part to it feeling like Jane and her friends were barely in the movie. It didn't seem to me that Jane didn't interact with Thor long enough for a romantic connection to be built between the two of them, in particular for Thor. We don't see much of him acclimating to our culture, one that is completely different than his native one, and it's hard to believe that his cultural understanding of love would be so compatible to our own (and since we never see how love is depicted in his culture, that makes it doubly hard to grasp his feelings for Jane).

Another problem I had were some of the secondary characters, and how they weren't put to very good use. Without spoiling anything, there are a few critical moments when Thor's comrades are in the midst of battle and I found myself let down by the decisions the filmmakers made regarding what happens to them. Jane's friends, a professor and an assistant, don't get enough screen time or backstory to convince the audience of any sort of deep, emotional connection between the three. When Jane's friends' lives are put in danger, this lack of a connection keeps me from genuinely caring about what happens to them. They haven't been shown to mean enough to Jane for me to worry either about them, or what their possible deaths would mean to Jane. I'm sure she'd be sad, but there'd be no emotional resonance as an audience member when it comes to what Jane loses.

All that being said, I still enjoyed the movie. The acting was superb, with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston meshing well together as protagonist and antagonist. Natalie Portman is, as always, very good considering how much I thought her character was underdeveloped and poorly written. It was fun seeing Anthony Hopkins in an action-oriented role rather than a cerebral one. And I love Stellan Skarsgard no matter what role he plays. I figured that S.H.I.E.L.D. would have some sort of role, and was glad to see not only that it did, but brought agent Phil Coulson from the "Iron Man" movies with it to provide some continuity as part of the eventual "Avengers" movie. And speaking of that, stick around after the credits for a short scene concerning S.H.I.E.L.D. that was directed by Joss Whedon, who wrote the screenplay for, and is set to direct, "The Avengers," which is due in theaters 2012.

Until next time, Orange Hat Guy