Don't mess with the God of Thunder!

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2011)

I have never been very familiar with Thor the Marvel Hero, so I can't say that I was very enthusiastic about a movie with Thor in it at first; having seen screen shots with long-haired men in shiny armor, I feared for something unintentionally ridiculous like Catwoman. When I heard that Ken Branagh was taking the directorial duties, I was somewhat reassured that they would at least make a serious attempt to get something good out of it. But, this being a movie about gods with super powers, I was still less than convinced that they could make something out of it that was both entertaining and engaging.
When the reviews came in quite positively, I decided to give Thor a chance, and I am glad to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. Mixing fantasy with reality in a believable, non-corny way is no small feat, but Branagh and his team pulled it off greatly.
The start was shaky at best, though. The narrated prologue was quite hectic, throwing in vague concepts and weird creatures in a train of fast-cut, badly lit and shaky action scenes, making it hard to make any heads or tails from it, either story-wise or visually. However, then the story slows down considerably and things start to make sense. The rest of the movie is well-balanced between a story of a troubled and arrogant young warrior who has to find his place and prove himself worthy, and some energetic action scenes where you CAN discern what happens, who hits who and what explodes. The feeling I had after seeing the first Iron Man movie certainly comes to mind.
Even though I make the comparison with Iron Man, I also should point out that Thor will require a bigger part of your imagination. The flying suit in Iron Man also needs some stretch of the mind, but it is still basically very advanced technology. Thor requires that you accept the existence of immortal superior beings within our world, edging much more into the realm of fantasy. As I said, I was curious if Branagh could handle this 'clash' between reality and mythology without becoming either too serious or too campy, but he succeeds, by using these situations to great comical effect, again balancing it skillfully against the dramatic moments.
He has some excellent actors to thank as well. Chris Hemsworth does a great job as a superhero who has to be tough, cocky, but at times fragile and funny as well. Same goes for Tom Hiddleston, who is both devious and likable, making for a convincing bad guy. And last but not least, sir Anthony Hopkins in a part that requires his greatness, divinity and fatherly strictness for a change; all too often, he seems to be cast just to give movies some British stage class and grandeur, but here he is the right man for the part.
The 3D presentation of this movie doesn't really add that much; it makes for some nice action scenes, but the 3D rendering has the unfortunate adverse effect of considerably darkening scenes, which was problematic in the prologue and some more scenes that are already dark in themselves. So I'll be looking forward to the 2D BluRay version.
So I certainly recommend seeing this movie, and I even suggest that you sit out the end-credits for the traditional Marvel productions post-credit scene, the best so far in my opinion.