One of Marvel's best

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2013)

First off I was never aware Marvel had made a comic out of the Norse mythology, and after doing some research into the franchise I learned why. Suffice it to say "The Mighty Thor" is not one of their best characters.
The film is about a race of aliens living on the planet Asgard, who have a history of war with the so called Ice Giants from a nearby planet. Odin, the king of the Asgard who defeated the Ice Giants is dying and his son Thor is set to replace him. However, as Thor is about to become king, a group of Ice Giants infiltrates Asgard in order to steal some weapon or other. Odin stops them, but Thor wants revenge and goes to the Ice Giant's home world to challenge them. The resulting confrontation almost unleashes another war between the planets, but Thor's father intervenes just in time. As punishment for almost starting a war Thor is banished to Earth, where he has to live among humans as a mortal.
If you know a thing or two about Norse mythology you will of course recognize a lot of the themes in this film. King Odin, the Halls of Asgard and of course the thunder-god Thor with his hammer, which also has a prominent presence in the film. While this all sounds rather cheap, far fetched and ridiculous, the writing is surprisingly good. The dialogue is strong and the mix of humor and tension is executed nicely. Most of the characters are strong, albeit only the main ones. The side parts, such as Thor's team of warriors, would have more personality if they were replaced by cardboard cut-outs.
The acting is also, frankly, quite superb. Chris Hemsworth plays the part of the arrogant warrior prince very convincingly, Natalie Portman is great as the love interest and Anthony Hopkins is as good as ever in his role as Odin. However Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor's evil brother Loki, really steals the show in my opinion. He is given a well developed character to work with and he does it very well.
I was surprised to hear that Kenneth Branagh was directing. Needless to say he did a good job. Being a super hero movie most of it is action, but there are enough quiet scenes to give us a rest from all the running around and screaming and these are also handled very well. The art direction is superb, there are glorious alien vista's and incredible special effects, even if everything is CGI.
To me Thor was a surprising film. The first half hour or so, with all this stuff about Asgard and all the fancy visual effects and not much proper story I found myself thinking that I was watching a cheap, no brains, action movie with no real depth. Just as I started to think that the film seemed to spin 180 degrees and turn into what I now see as a surprisingly good feature. With an all star cast, stunning visuals and good story telling, Thor is definitely one of Marvel's best.