Excellent fantasy epic and a nice final piece of The Avengers puzzle

Rating: 9/10 (23 June 2012)

In the magical and mystical realms of Asguard where Norse legends and myths are told, a brave but arrogant warrior named Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has caused a ruckus on another realm thus making his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) very upset. Indeed, so mad that he takes Thor's powers, strength and Hammer away from him as he casts him out onto Earth where he will be a mortal and learn humility as his his punishment. Odin even sends the mighty hammer down to Earth on a stone in a "Sword in the Stone" kind of situation where only one worthy person can pull the hammer from the stone, Thor falls in love with a scientist named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) where she teaches him things that he will learn to understand. His half-brother Loki (Tom Hiddleson) has plans of his own like terrorizing some of the people on Earth and taking over Asguard as their new king, Thor's 4 pals (Ray Stevenson, Tanabou Asandu, Jamie Alexander and Josh Dallas) hear about this as they head to Earth to warn Thor but can the god of thunder learn what it takes to be a true hero to get his powers back?
An outstanding and worthy companion in The Avengers linking story movie saga that leads to the main event which actually begins with the prequel to the saga "Captain America" then on to "Iron Man" then "Incredible Hulk" then Iron Man 2" and finally this. This movie is a nice fantasy epic in the tradition of 80s fantasy classics like "Clash of the Titans", "Excalibur", "Willow", "Heavy Metal", "Conan 1 & 2" and others of that era as it's sword and sorcery meets superheros. I like how it stays true to it's comic book roots despite no Donald Blake, the performances are good and so is the direction from Kenneth Braghn who does a Shakespearian job of bringing a comic character and mythological figure to life. Co-starring Samuel L. Jackson, Rene Russo and Colm Forree, this is one of the best Marvel movies ever and a very enjoyable fantasy story that leads to the biggest Marvel event ever.