review

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2015)

So I gave Thor a try hearing that it was good. First, let me say that I am a big Natalie Portman fan so I definitely went into this with a bit of a bias. The movie opens up with a "comet" striking the earth as Portman and her crew investigate its origin.
This is when we are lead to the mythology that is Thor: Thor is a story about two different planets at war one with one another. When the king of the planet, Anthony Hopkins won the war, he temporarily blocked the other planet from being able to enter into the first planet.
He has two children, one of them being Thor. Now we come to know that Thor is very hot headed and is always in need to fight. This lead to the ordination of Thor, which was interrupted by an infiltration by Froze. Thor, in his anger, decides to go against his father and convinced his brother along with his four soldiers to go to Froze planet and destroy them all.
After destroying an army of froze and going back to their own planet, Thor is met by his own father, who in his anger due to the fact that Thor has possibly cause a future war, cast Thor, along with his powerful hammer, into earth where he loses all his power.
Her, Thor meets Natalie who is in search of a new galaxy system and finds Thor to be part of her future discovery. She and her sister decides to help Thor, despite their undeniable confusion towards his actions and behaviors. As the story progresses, you see Natalie and Thor increasingly being attracted to one another.
To his dismay, Thor realizes that he no longer has power to weird the hammer.
During these incidents, his brother found out his true origin as a froze and now plans to overthrow his father to become king. Subsequently, he is reunited with his four fellow soldiers as they fend off the robot sent by their "new king/brother" who overtook the throne with force. After regaining his power, Thor decides to travel back to his planet to confront his brother. Now let me beginning with one of the strongest points of the movie: Cinematographer. From the get go you see that the director has an eye for iconic scenes, from the settings of Thor's planet to the contrast he makes between earth and Thor's planet. There were one particular scene that highlights Thor's power with his Hammer that is reminiscent of Peter Jackson's helms deep sequence. The director's use of galactic and astronomical imagery improves the movie's grandeur and epic quality. Backdrops of Thor's planet are nothing sort of breathtaking and reminds you of Lucas' Galactic sequences.
Now, I'm a big believer in that if the special effects does not enhance the story, it should not be used. And to that I think the director did a good job, I felt as if every sequence involving the special effects were used for character development and storytelling purposes as opposed to it be just a show up, which many big budget blockbuster tends to utilize now a days. For example, the action sequences during Froze planet was a foundation for one of the biggest plot points of the movie as it precedes Thor's excommunication. It also serves to give the audience a sense of Thor's tremendous power with his hammer. I find the storytelling aspect of this movie extremely engaging, The parallel story lines between Thor's planets and that of earth adds to the complexity of Thor's character. It highlight's Thor's humanity as he loses his near invincible power. I think Christ hems worth did a great job with Thor, from his bulky, Viking-is behavior, He is able to portray a character that seems fish out of the water most of the time, yet is still humane enough for the audience to care about. there are sequences when he bulks around, or ask for a horse at a pet store, that evoke both hilarity and innocence and becomes great contrasting sequences between Thor' then versus Thor on present day earth. I think Natalie port man plays an impeccable role as the astronomer. She truly cares about what she does and you see how upset she gets when her work is questioned. Her work takes priority and the sense of urgency she has towards it's significance gives her character the appropriate intensity when alongside with Thor. There is a scene where her and Thor got intimate that highlights the thorough character development that adds a much needed human touch to the galactic nature of the film.
Overall, I think along with the cinematographer, the story telling aspect of this movie is what makes it for me. The myth of Thor is fleshed out in the beginning of the movie that adds to the intense conflicts Thor eventually faces on earth. Throughout the various sequences, the Thor myth becomes more and more believable as the characters begin to show their strengths and weaknesses and who they are in the context of both their planet and their presence on earth. The hammer also plays an important part in establishing Thor's tremendous power.