OK, but not as good as it should have been

Rating: 3/10 (16 May 2011)

Though I'm old and did read some comics in my time, Thor was never one of them. I do teach some Norse mythology, though, so that aspect interested me. There was an odd steampunk approach to the mythology, which was OK, I suppose. I really didn't expect this movie to be War and Peace, and I was certainly right on the money with that. It went for the snarky Iron Man approach more than I thought it would. It's hard to pull off without veteran snarkmeister Robert Downey, Jr., though. Chris Hemsworth is impossibly charming and good- looking in the title role, and does pretty well, considering some of the lines he had to say. Anthony Hopkins is a safe choice for his patented Older Mentor/Authority Figure performance (enjoy that check, Anthony), and Tom Hiddleston is somewhat intriguing as Loki. Stellan Skarsgard is completely wasted in a role that could have been phoned in. But you know who really stinks up the joint? Natalie Portman. It was DAMN hard to believe she was an astrophysicist, but it was even harder to believe that THOR (god of thunder, possessor of unspeakable power) would find her even remotely interesting. All she does is whine. The alleged falling in love is quite unbelievable, BTW. Yeesh. I hope the inevitable sequel loses her character.