Has the potential to be great, but never really gets the chance to achieve

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2011)

When Marvel announced its intentions to create a film based on The Avengers, most fanboys cheered with delight. I remain to be incredibly interested in what the company and Joss Whedon have in store for us next summer, but in the interim we have Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to look forward to. While every new image and trailer has kept me excited for Cap's entrance, I have always remained skeptical on Thor. The trailers did nothing to help my hesitation going into the film, and after watching it, I am even more apprehensive Marvel's future plans.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a ridiculously powerful god living in the "realm" of Asgard. He is due to be crowned king by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), but during his commencement, Asgard is briefly invaded by rogue members of the Frost Giants, a group who hold a long standing truce with Asgard. After acting out recklessly and endangering the lives of his warrior companions, Odin strips Thor of his godly powers and his hammer Mjolnir and exiles him to Earth. As he searches for hammer, Thor ends up in the care of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a scientist studying wormholes, constellations and the causes for certain spatial phenomena.
I find it incredibly difficult to go even further trying to describe Thor. The ending is ridiculously obvious moments after the film begins, and the proceeding moments make no attempt at trying to do something outside of playing by-the-numbers. Origins are vaguely discussed, and there is such little emphasis on character development and explanation that you wonder why Marvel even bothered giving the character his own film in the first place. The best part of the film is the initial introduction to Thor, Asgard and the powers possessed by these godly warriors. Everything past his exile feels secondary and almost useless.
One of these reasons is the simple fact that Thor's journey on Earth is not interesting in the slightest. It is the battles, the characters, the settings on Asgard that offer the most fascinating, engaging and enjoyable scenes in the entire film. The film has a habit of jumping back and forth between what is occurring on Asgard as Thor treks on Earth. Almost every time, I found myself more focused watching those scenes that keep jumping in, and was ridiculously bored by everything else. I figured these scenes would be the most satisfying parts of the film, but never figured they would make me totally oblivious of everything else that was happening.
But I digress, because it seems like the plotting and story existed only because Marvel needed some time to show Thor off to anyone who does read comics on a regular basis. He is the character with the most "development" in the film and his role in the film is defined merely to tease how he comes on S.H.E.I.L.D.'s radar and becomes a part of The Avengers. Hell, they even go so far to only give us small dialogue exchanges, a few nods and two awesome cameos as they build towards that film (unlike Iron Man 2, whose second half revolves almost entirely around increasing audience awareness), and spend the rest of the time trying to tell us who Thor is. I appreciated less emphasis on Avenger lore, but considering Thor is not an incredibly exciting character, that appreciation can only go so far.
Special effects wise, the film is a mixed bag. Many of the scenes on Asgard are simply astounding to watch. They are truly breathtaking, and provide one of the only reasons anyone should bother watching the film. But a lot of the fight scenes are the exact opposite. They move too fast, are hard to see, and are almost cartoonish in nature. I know Thor and his warrior compatriots exist in a place of pure fantasy, but that does not mean everything has to look so preposterous. The 3D adds to a few of these scenes and makes them infinitely more impressive. But at the same time, it also helps mask how terribly composed a lot of them are as well.
Hemsworth as Thor is one of the other small amount of reasons to see the film. He is built like a tank, and has a powerful aura about himself. He easily embodies the character's superhuman abilities with ease, and makes something as silly as waving a hammer look ridiculously bad-ass. He transcends the role, and stays strong throughout, whether playing the character as an arrogant and pompous warrior, or a meek and mostly powerless stranger. He has a lot of fun with the role, but he never forsakes or even attempts to not take the role deadly serious.
Sadly, much like the interchangeable story, the majority of the supporting cast simply does not match up to the power of Hemsworth's performance. Portman, fresh off her Oscar win, is supposed to be a brilliant scientist. But one look at Thor, and she is thrown into a giggling schoolgirl like trance that she is unable to shake for the entire film. Stellan Skarsgård is decent, but he does nothing outside of answer a few questions and hint at future developments. Kat Dennings exists solely for comedic purposes. Hopkins and Idris Elba are two stand outs, but they are so horrendously underplayed that it is practically criminal. I was actually really impressed by Tom Hiddleston's performance as Thor's brother Loki and Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson of S.H.E.I.L.D. But sadly, they can only do so much in light of being overshadowed.
While there is quite a bit to enjoy about Thor, there is way too much to dislike. It had potential to be something great even with what it has working against it, but it sadly just never makes anything for itself. It exists merely to help Marvel fit an agenda. And Kenneth Branagh seriously directed this? You could have fooled me.
6/10.