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Star cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins.
What’s Good: The concept of the story; the scale of the visual effects; fans of the comic, on which the film is based, will be glad to see their favourite hero on-screen.
What’s Bad: The average performances; the badly written screenplay; the lack of drama or emotions.
Verdict: Thor will fail to make its mark at the box-office.
Loo break: Several.
Watch or Not? Recommended only if you are a Thor fan. Even then, be cautious.
Marvel Studios’ Thor is the movie adaptation of the comic hero, Thor – the God of Thunder, and his exploits on earth.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a brave yet arrogant warrior who lives in the faraway realm of Asgard. Thor’s father is Odin (Anthony Hopkins), the ruler of Asgard. The Asgardians are considered as Gods in the lore of the Scandinavian nations because many years ago, Odin had saved the earth from the mighty alien race of Frost Giants and their leader, Laufey (Colm Feore), who had set to destroy all nine realms by using a powerful artefact known as the Casket of Ancient Winters. Odin keeps the casket in a secure location in Asgard and agrees to a truce with Laufey.
Years later, when an ecstatic Thor is about to be coronated as the king, a band of Frost Giants tries to steal the Casket but are unsuccessful. An outraged Thor wants to wage war on the Giants, but his father disagrees. Thor, along with his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and his warrior friends, Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Joshua Dallas) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), travel to the distant realm of the Frost Giants. There, the Asgardians fight a losing battle with the Giants where Thor proves his skill with his powerful hammer.
Odin arrives to rescue his erring sons and soldiers. On returning to Asgard, he banishes Thor to the Earth, where Thor is left a mere mortal minus his powers. Odin also transports Thor’s hammer to earth after casting a spell on it.
Thor arrives on earth in the form of a shining meteor. The event draws the attention of a scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her assistant, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), and her mentor, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard). The three take Thor to a hospital and, seeing his weird behavior, take him to be delusional. Meanwhile, Thor’s hammer is found by SHIELD, a secretive government organisation. SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is deployed to study the hammer. Thor, on learning that the hammer is in the vicinity, wants to get it. Jane wants to help Thor but is dissuaded by Erik. But when agent Coulson forcibly takes over Jane’s data about Thor and his strange arrival on Earth, Jane decides to help Thor. Once at the site where the hammer was found, Thor breaks into the SHIELD facility but he is unable to lift the hammer because of his father’s spell.
He is taken in with agent Coulson but is soon rescued by Erik. Thor has to accept that there is probably no going back to Asgrad until his father forgives him and he soon falls in love with Jane.
In the meantime, Loki discovers that he is Laufey’s son and was adopted by Odin after the war ended. When Odin slips into a coma, Loki overtakes the throne and decides to not let Thor into the kingdom. He instead plans to kill Thor by sending a dangerous warrior to earth so that he can reign over Asgrad. Does Loki succeed in his evil designs? What about Thor’s friends? What happens to the enmity between the Asgradians and the Frost Giants? The rest of the film answers these questions.
Story and Screenplay – Thor Review
The story (by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich), adopted from the Marvel comic book, Thor, by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, is appealing in parts. The concept of a faraway realm (planet) and an alien God arriving on earth holds promise. However, the screenplay (by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz and Don Payne) is a major letdown because it tells the story in a non-linear format, which makes it difficult for the audience (that is not familiar with the comic) to understand what is going on. Moreover, there are very few scenes, except a few action sequences, that stand out. The screenplay alternates between what is happening on earth and what is happening in the faraway realms. This becomes tiring after a while. The conflict in the story – that Thor has been sent to earth as a punishment and Loki’s subsequent betrayal – hasn’t been brought out well through a confrontation between the two brothers. The climax has a surprise in store but it makes no sense to the viewer who is looking for some vengeance by Thor. Hence, in spite of the massive scale of the film, it doesn’t have much entertainment value – as the screenplay lacks punch.
Star Performances – Thor Review
Chris Hemsworth looks good as Thor but delivers a mediocre performance. Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman are wasted. Tom Hiddleston does an average job but doesn’t suit his character at all. Stellan Skarsgård , Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Idris Elba (as the gatekeeper), Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Josh Dallas and Jaimie Alexander support well.
Direction, Music & Visual Effects – Thor Review
Kenneth Branagh’s direction is average. He loses track of the film midway and cannot maintain either its pace or the drama. Patrick Doyle’s background score lacks the punch. Haris Zambarloukos’ cinematography is good. The visual effects are very nice. Editing, by Paul Rubell, could have been much better.
The Last Word
On the whole, Thor is a disappointing fare. Even the massive scale of the film will not work wonders for it at the Indian box-office.
