It's Got Momentum: Leaves You Wanting More

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2011)

Overview: The action is successfully balanced with comedy in the form of Thor's fish-out-of-water experience on earth. The romance is sweet and sincere, but not overwhelming. Female characters are given full character (as opposed to eye candy) status.
The story: It's basically cut in two equally engaging sections surrounding the two brothers: Thor and Loki.
Thor's story arc follows his journey from a selfish, arrogant brat into kingly material through his sojourn on earth.
Injected with humor and bravado, Thor's story arc works well because it doesn't take it's self too seriously. Yes, the "learning from your experiences" story line has been done before but ultimately Thor is such a likable guy that you can't help but root for him.
(Note to fellow ladies: Thor is what I would call "woman's eye candy". He's attractive and muscular with deep royal blue eyes. Beating people up in one scene and being a complete gentleman by helping serve breakfast the next. Not bad at all.)
Loki is portrayed with passion and sincerity. While being the polar opposite in appearance and personality, he is equally likable. His mannerisms, expression and demeanor demand your attention before he even speaks. He also has an awesome story arc that could have made it's own movie.
Only two things I can say against this movie:
Some of the secondary characters were not developed very well. Odin, Jane, Darcy and Erik Selviq are successful characterizations. However, Thor's BFF's "Lady Sif and the Warriors Three" get minimal introduction and development.
Also, I would have liked to have more info on the Frost Giants. Despite the fact that they are, as Loki says, "the monsters that parents tell their children about at night" the story leads us to believe in their value as sentient beings without allowing us to see them as anything but a brooding, demonic army.
This this kind of a movie to lead up to it, "The Avengers" better be pretty darn good. It doesn't have the same director and that makes me concerned because this guy did such a good job. I am looking forward to seeing where this adaption takes the characters though.