Fine adaptation, entertaining film.

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2011)

So, next up from the Marvel Comics pantheon is Thor, or the Mighty Thor as he was known to fans (or Goldilocks, as he was to Ben Grimm). Here, we have a tale of Norse gods filtered through a lens of superheroes. Thor is the arrogant son of Odin, ruler of Asgard, and the time has come for him to take the throne. At his side is his brother (half brother in mythology, bit more complicated here) Loki, the trickster god. Everything looks hunky-dory, until a commando team of frost giants enters Asgard to try to take back their power source (we get a Lord of the Rings-style history lesson into the Asgardians and the frost giants, as well as the relation to myth). Thor, defying his father (and with a bit of easy prodding by Loki) goes of looking for answers as to why the FG's have broken the truce; or, more precisely, to kick some ice. Thor and his buddies indulge in a bit of mayhem and are rescued when the frost hits the fan, and a lecture from pop. Dad is so mad he grounds Thor, literally, exiling him to our world (if our world had armored billionaires, green-skinned monsters, and we fought HYDRA in World War II). There, we indulge in some fish-out-of-water hijinks, a bit of puppy love, some violence, and we're off to the races.
Kenneth Brannagh proves to be the correct director for something as grandiose as Thor. Marvel's Thor, as shaped by Jack Kirby, was a world of hyperbole, a kind of Hell's Kitchen version of Wagner, with Stan Lee's pseudo-Shakesperean dialogue. Brannagh knows how to handle the real Bard and keeps things from getting too silly, drawing theatrical performances from the Asgardians, while keeping the mortals grounded. He treads a fine line but keeps it believable. These things are all about action and plot, but Brannagh keeps the focus on characters and relationships, so the film doesn't devolve into a video game, like films featured in the previews on my DVD.
The cast is good, with Chris Hemmsworth making for a fine Thor, but Tom Hiddleston (a colleague of Brannagh's, from the Wallander series) shines as the devious Loki, giving real emotions to the trickster, not making him a cackling cliché. The mortals serve their purpose, but Natalie Portman has about as much meat here as she does in the Star Wars films and seems a bit wasted. Kat Dennings adds some nice comic touches, while Stellan Skarsgard provides the Scandanavian angle, though he gets a couple of good scenes. The Warriors Three get a bit lost, since they don't really get a chance to build their characters, though they get some quick action against the Destroyer.
As is fitting for a Marvel character, the film cribbs from other sources, most notably, Superman II, with the Destroyer scenes (one can almost hear Terence Stamp calling the place Planet Houston), though Thor himself cribbed liberally from Superman and Captain Marvel, back in the Silver Age. There's plenty of nods to the Lord of the Rings, itself a byproduct of the Norse Eddas and a bit of Wagner. There is nothing earthshattering her, but its all handled in a pleasant and entertaining manner, which befits a film drawn from light entertainment.
I can quibble with many minor things, like the relative lack of Thor's trademark helmet (which here looks more like Mike Grell's Warlord than Kirby's Thor), or that the "romance" seems to evolve rather quickly (gods are busy beings); but, not enough to dislike the film. It isn't high art but "low art" has its place in the world (and often has greater impact, without all of the snobbery) and so does this. If you want to see how bad this could have been, just check out Dolph Lundgren in He-Man, which swiped wholesale from the works of Kirby.
Fans will be happy to see the characters, the easter eggs (Cosmic Cube and other objects, nods to Hulk and Iron Man, etc...), the cameos (Stan Lee and writer Joe Straczynski, but no Walt Simonson, alas...) and the general tone of things. Non-fans get some thrills and entertainment, without needing to read 40+ years worth of comics or a graduate course in mythology.
In the end, Thor is a fun film, with a mostly satisfying conclusion, despite the need to set up Captain America and the Avengers. There is a nice James Bond touch in the credits, which shows that Marvel is using the right template for light action movies, and a nice nod to some of the creators of Thor (including Walt and Weesie Simonson, who handled the character best, even taking into account the King). Those who want to find fault with the casting or story can't see the film for what it is. Marvel's Thor is not Norse mythology (despite the names and some of the trappings), nor is it the Ring of the Niebelung. It's a blond guy swinging a hammer around, while his brother plots against him. That's more than enough.