Like Iron Man, think big, for Heroes, think small for story.

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2011)

In the beginning ...ish, Odin and his people overthrew the frost giants and their attempted occupation of Earth and came to a sort of peace between the different galactic realms. As a king he overseas this peace, as a father, he attempts to instill a sense of wisdom in his two sons, Loki and Thor. However, when their realm is broken into by the Frost giants Thor's attempt at retribution is ill-thought out and Odin is forced to act, stripping Thor of his status as heir and banishing him to Earth, after which, medium-sized hell breaks loose. Can Thor regain his place as Heir of Asgard and be worthy again to wield his mighty hammer, which I have thus far forgot to mention?
Many of the film critics that have thus far reviewed Thor seem to regard him as an also-ran in the Marvel catalogue of heroes, not knowing perhaps that Thor was one of the company's biggest heroes, however, bringing a Norse God into a sense of modern reality was always going to be tricky, and it would have been easy to have a giant-sized "Masters of the Universe" style mess. However, like Iron Man (The first one, not the disastrous 2nd instalment) it makes its heroes big, larger than life figures, while making their predicaments very human ones, a search for knowledge, a desire for a parent's approval, the folly of youth and the vulnerability of age, ground the story and allow us, as viewers a way into this tale.
Kenneth Branagh, while not an obvious first choice for a big budget blockbuster does a decent job of tying all the different elements together, the script is decent and the cast do a good job, with particular praise to both Chris Hemsworth as the brash Thor but also Tom Hiddleston who was very good as the complex and unreadable Loki, who added real depth to what could have been just a, well, a cartoon super-villain really.
Enjoyable for young kids who will like the 3D stuff and all the action and okay for their parents who were raised on this stuff. The only major drawback, if you can call it that, is that unlike previous next movie tie-ins after the end credits of recent Marvel films, the one at the end of this one was a bit disappointing. But still. Enjoyable, but not as great as previous Marvel outings.