A fun afternoon at the theater

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2011)

My parents forbade me from reading comic books when I was kid so, um, I read them all -- at friends' houses, cousins' houses etc. And I loved them to death. So I was very much looking forward to this film, as "Journey Into Mystery," which featured Thor, was a favorite of mine.
This is a fun movie but ... not great thought-provoking cinema. I enjoyed myself, but left the theater feeling that this film will not reward re-watching, as so much of its pleasure comes from wondering what will happen next and the pleasure of how the writer and director worked things out. I'm more interested in how they will play things out in the inevitable sequel than I am in re-seeing the film. That's why it's a 7 and no more for me.
The lead performances were all quite strong and believable, and I was very pleased with the performances of lesser (but still important) characters like Colm Feore as Hlafi (in the official cast, "Laufey," meaning these guys need to get their Old Norse geek on), lord of the frost giants, Kat Dennings as Darcy, and (what a pleasant surprise) Rene Russo as Frigga. Tom Hiddleston was a convincing (and wonderful) Loki, and I can't wait to see where he ends up in the sequel.
What I really enjoyed was how the movie created a wonderful and believable comic-book world. It isn't the actual world of the Thor comics (where he transforms into Donald Blake, M.D., and is in love with his nurse-receptionist assistant, Jane Foster), but I really don't care about that. The worlds of Asgard and the land of the frost giants are wonderfully realized (with CGI), and the film neatly integrates the whole "S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking for a team" motif that's become part of the Marvel film universe. The "son of Coul" remark was priceless as was "I'm not getting killed over six college credits" and, the one that left me chortling, "Oh, my God!" I think I was the only one in the theater who got it, though. Buncha rubes there, I guess.
I'm sure that the chap with the bow mid-film will become Hawkeye by the time some Avengers movie comes out, and I was a fool to leave before the credits were over, as I've now heard we get another Nick Fury cameo.
So overall, fun -- if rather predictable. Comic-book fun. But hey: if they keep making them like this, I'll keep buying tickets.