'Bore'

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2011)

(sigh). I really don't know what went wrong. Or rather I do, but simply don't understand why it was aloud to happen. Thor is flashy, exciting, and at times, downright epic. It's only when the film slows down (and it does this A lot) and the actors are forced to rely on the script, that the premise begins showing holes.
Thor was going to be tough sell from the beginning. Superhero films were hard enough to market due to some of the source material just being to silly to adapt to screen. Even comic book fans (which I am) can admit that some of the more ludicrous Batman villains (if you're in the mood for a laugh, look up Calenderman) could never make it in the serious, gritty, plausible world of Christopher Nolan. The same goes for any other superhero film. There must be an attempt to ground the more fantastical elements into realism or the audience will taken out of the movie. It's a fine line between realistic, and believable. Thor is about the Norse God of thunder, who's been banished to earth for starting a war with Frost Giants, leaving his sorcerer brother Loki, to plot against his father and all of Asgard; the home of the Gods.
Thor doesn't fit into realistic or believable, to say the least, so that was the first strike. But would not have been the ending blow. Fantsy has done will in the past for summer movies (See Lord of The Rings). But when Thor is bluntly introduced to the very nonmagical world of Midgard (That's Earth doncha know), your mind is suddenly faced with a juxtaposition. This meeting of two very different worlds can work. If the script is any good. And this is Thor's problem.
The dialog feels really wooden at times, and the interactions between Thor and the lesser characters (see everyone who's not Natile Portman), is never developed on. Thor and Jane's relationship just seems forced, as does everything else that's character motivated in this plot. When the film delivers an action sequence, it delivers one HELL of an action sequence. The fights are amazing, and creative, and the effects really show where most of the money went. The acting is great, if hammy at times, and there are no bad actors. There just simply isn't a lot to work with in terms of script. There are some lines that, while emotion is clearly being delivered behind them, just sound flat out silly, and create unintentional comedy.
For what material there was to work with, Chris Hemeisntworth, delivers a more then adequate performance, coming across as the right amounts of kind, confident, but arrogant and angry to a fault. Natiel Portman, feels a bit wasted here, but she delivers a passable performance. Thor is by no means a bad movie, or even a bad superhero movie. Where more of Iron Man 2 territory, rather then Dardevil here. But a poor script keeps the God of Thunder from being great.