Two worlds. One hero.

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2011)

The epic adventure THOR spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the mystical realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As a result, Thor is banished to Earth where he is forced to live among humans. When the most dangerous villain of his world sends its darkest forces to invade Earth, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero. (C) Paramount Pictures
THOR is a mediocre superhero flick. It opens with a shaky 10 minute beginning that introduces the mythology of THOR in a fast pace with exposition-esque dialogue. Here, you can see one of the main problems of the film: The scenes in Asgard are waaay too serious. So serious, in fact, that you might find yourself laughing unintentionally at the damn cheesy lines that are being said by the actors with a straight face. Fortunately, most of the film takes place on Earth, where it DOESN'T take itself too seriously. This is good because the film is actually really funny when it needs to be. This is mostly due to the whole "fish out of water" aspect of the film with Thor being banished on Earth. He acts the same way as he does on Asgard, and that is what makes it funny.
Saying that, you might feel that there were two directors working on this film because of the completely different tones between the settings on Asgard and Earth. Since THOR jumps between the two settings now and again, you feel like it's doing a juggling act to try to balance the serious and laid back parts of the film. I can't say the film maintained it too well since I just couldn't take the Asgard scenes seriously. And those partly to blame is on the actors themselves.
For starters, I didn't think Chris Hemsworth had enough in him to play the serious side of his character. Every time he tried, I had to hold the laugh waiting to burst out within me. As an actor in general, I think Hemsworth is great. He CAN do serious, as seen in A PERFECT GETAWAY and the opening of STAR TREK (2009). It's just that he couldn't do it here. Tom Hiddleston is a bit better, but I felt that he sometimes played his character more over-the-top than it needed to be. I can't say many good things about Anthony Hopkins either. I felt like he just wanted a paycheck. However, I did like Idris Elba. He played his serious character without being too laughable.
The "human" actors, on the other hand, are better. As much as I love Natalie Portman, I didn't think she did much here. She seemed to just go through the motions with nothing spectacular to do in particular. Even her chemistry with Hemsworth didn't seem convincing enough. Kat Dennings' character, on the other hand, might be my favorite. She provides some of the films biggest laughs, and it's obvious her character is in the film to only provide comedic relief. Stellan Skarsgård was pretty good too, but he doesn't get to show much range.
As for the action in THOR, I must say that I was pretty disappointed. Apart from the opening action sequence in Jotunheim, the majority of the action scenes were pretty middling and incomprehensible. Even the scene with the Destroyer seems to be a rip-off of Klaatu from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (2008). I just felt the film had too much CGI and not enough practical effects to make the action scenes memorable or exciting enough. I guess I was spoiled with the fresh and exciting action scenes in FAST FIVE the week before. Overall, I found THOR to be mildly enjoyable mostly because of the scenes on Earth. It's not the worst superhero flick, but it's not THE DARK KNIGHT either. It's just "there." Once the credits roll, you'll forget mostly everything about it. 5.5/10