Thor-oughly entertained by this one

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2011)

I have to admit, i had low expectations for this adaptation. Hulk yeah sure, Iron man, why not, Captain America, its set in the real word of course it'll work. But THOR? A wildly fantastical tale of Norse Gods and Rainbow bridges and nicknamed hammers ?? Surely not! Ill stop with the bashing; this film is astonishing. The oddest thing has happened here. Coupling notoriously artsy director Kenneth Branagh with one of Marvels most theatrical characters was a stroke of genius. At the beginning of the film, we are quickly introduced to Jane Foster, her whimsical offsider and an older gentleman. Storm chasers aren't normally this clever you might think to yourself during this opening scene, but alas, they are revealed to actually be physicists after a few minutes. An incredible storm arrives and THOR HAS LANDED: or so you would think. Mere moments after being introduced to our title character we are thrust on an astrological journey to Asgard, land of gods. Here we are introduced to Odin, the all father and his 2 young boys; Loki and Thor. Odin recites stories of an ancient war in which a planet load of frost giants planned to destroy the realm of Midgard (earth) before Odin and his merry men stepped in to save humanity. It is during this scene we are first shown Thor's arrogance and thirst for war. Skip ahead a few years and THOR has become Asgard's mightiest warrior, just as Odin had foretold. A celebration is occurring, Thor is about to be crowned as king of Asgard, but alas... this glorious day is interrupted by none other than said FrostGiants attempting to steal a stolen heirloom from Asgard's weapons locker.. The story rapidly gains traction from here. Thor marches into the Frost Giants planet (against his fathers will) in all his Aussie glory, kicking ass and taking names. He and his friends become swiftly over powered and Odin is left no choice but to step in. An argument erupts in which Odin tells Thor of his assholness and douchebaggery and that he is no longer worthy of his giant hammer Mjolnir or his god of Thunder status. Cast down to Earth the audience is reunited with the opening scene and we are officially filled in. A bevy of comedic scenes follow in which Chris hemsworth's THOR is tranquillised and run over multiple times. The film transitions backwards and forwards between our world and that of Asgard so as to keep us informed on going ons. Odin goes into a coma and Thor's mischievous bro Loki starts to come into his own. A marvellous story unfolds filled with action, humour, heartache and a whole heap of awesome!! Branagh's eye for curious shots is on full show here and works fabulously in creating a beautifully surreal Asgard. The films close is a little rushed but is also very heartfelt and strong. Leaving plenty of room for more character development, THOR is as good as if not better than every comic film to date, the characters were superbly cast and played and the story follows as close as it can to the source material as it can without being too over the top. Spectacularly fun movie, worthy of the Marvel name tag and certainly a sequel. 10 out of 10 for performance and entertainment....
Make sure to stay after the credits for the Captain America nod.