Another solid Marvel superhero film

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2015)

"Thor" is another directorial effort from Academy Award nominated actor, director and writer Kenneth Branagh. The film features Chris Hemsworth as the hero, Tom Hiddleston as his brother, Anthony Hopkins as their dad and Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård as a trio of scientists. Idris Elba plays a minor part too and made the most of it. This was the second or third time I watched this movie and I have to say it really lost most of its charm during rewatch. The one thing that stays in the mind though is the brilliantly looking gigantic rainbow bridge.
There were quite a few negative things about this as well. One big flaw is the sound. The voices are just so silent while the action sequences are way too loud. Hemsworth does a solid job, but Natalie Portman was a bit of a disappointment here. Shortly after her Academy Award win, this must be one of the weakest performances of her career. The "O M G"-moment was downright cringeworthy and there are two or three more scenes like that. Apart from that, I wonder what Thor saw in her. Dennings' character is far cooler, more interesting, funny and seemingly a great time to be with, if she doesn't attack you with her taser. But of course Portman is the bigger star and the much better scientist in this film, so yeah, they took her as Thor's love interest. Oh and finally Stellan Skarsgård completes the trio. Not much to say here. Solid performance, but not too much to work with. His short scene after the closing credits was probably the most interesting thing about him.
This film had no happy end for Portman's character and Thor, but it's obviously not final. Loki said there is other ways to get to Planet Earth and there is already another Thor movie out and there will be a third and he is also in the Avengers films, so... lots of room left for relationship and character development. What I did like about the film was the hammer storyline that not everybody could pull it out, but I would have preferred if he had actually managed to take it after his transformation instead of the hammer flying right at him, when he fought that strange robot-like creature Loki sent. Said creature was actually a weak point. I'd have this film preferred to stay a bit closer to its Nordic roots than go full superhero movie because so many already do and it could have made for a nice change. Hopkins and Thor's gang also did not do too much for me. I think they could have cut at least 15 minutes from this slightly-under 2-hour film and it would have improved the overall quality.
The frost giants were okay as villains, but not half as interesting as Loki. Tom Hiddleston does a fine job here with portraying Thor's tortured "brother" with whom you never know if he is caring, ruthless or just plain evil. Or if he is loyal and if yes, then towards whom. Easily one of the film's highlights and some awards bodies agree. All in all, I recommend this film. It had actually a great opportunity to turn out as a somewhat different creative superhero film, but unfortunately it still stayed fairly generic and (too) close to the genre. That does not mean, however, that it's a bad film. If you enjoy superhero films, you will probably have a good time watching this. If I remember correctly, I gave it even an 8/10 the first time I watched it, but now 6 seems more accurate.