"Thor" the God of Kicking Butt

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2011)

First off, I do not consider myself a fan boy or a comic book guy. I grew up on Mad Magazine and their clever fold-ins. The only exposure I had to the comic book "Thor" was as a kid I received the free copies from my dentist office. I think it was "Thor vs. the Cavity Creeps" or some lame knock-off like that. When I heard that Thor the God of Thunder was making the transition from comic book to his own big screen movie I was cautious. Who wants to see some guy swing his hammer and speak in Old Norse for two hours? I am man enough to admit when I am wrong (I am also the same guy that doubted "Ironman" would be a huge success). I was wrong for questioning that stage and screen expert Kenneth Branagh ("Henry V," "Much Ado About Nothing"") would not deliver a stellar movie. Branagh has the ability to pull a strong performance from his cast without forcing them to over act. He also has the ability to create a supernatural world, Asgard, where Thor and his family of gods reign. Branagh and his art production team present Asgard as a tangible place for gods to live.
In the first few minutes we begin our story in Norway and discover how the Frost Giants come to earth to destroy humans. King Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins) and his army defeat the Frost Giants. We are soon attending a beautiful ceremony where Odin's son Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) is about to be crowned king of Asgard. Due to a breach in security the ceremony is cut short. Out of anger and vanity Thor gathers his friends to break a truce with the Frost Giants and launches an attack. After Odin discovers what has happened, he furiously banishes his son to Earth, along with Thor's famous hammer, Mjolnir.
Thor crash-lands on earth where he is no longer the once powerful god; he is just a regular guy (a regular guy who looks like he's been doing P90X since puberty). A scientist, Jane (played by Natalie Portman) and her team literally runs into Thor. Jane is trying to discover a wormhole between our world and others in the universe. The two soon realize that they each have what the other one wants and soon become allies.
This is the part where you should start paying close attention. Not because you get a history lesson on Norse mythology but because Marvel Studios is combining their super heroes to make an "Avengers" movie in 2012. Thor will be one of the Avengers and there are quite a few references of these heroes and characters from the Marvel Universe - Hawkeye, Ironman, Phil Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D., etc.
Thor, now without his powers, must be reunited with his mighty hammer, which as fate would have is only 50 miles from him. While Thor is fighting to win back his hammer and return to Asgard, his brother Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston), the God of Mischief, is stirring up trouble between the Frost Giants and Asgard. The entire story climaxes in a way that you would imagine with any comic book movie; good vs. evil, cocky hero learns a valuable lesson, several awesome fight scenes, that whole thing.
Should you see this movie? Yes. It's has action, humor and some outstanding art direction to develop the mythical worlds. Do you need to see it in 3D? Not necessarily. The 3D was too dark in some of the action scenes at night and didn't add much to the day time scenes. As a stand alone story "Thor" can hold the audience's attention even if they aren't avid fans of the comic book.