Astrophysicists Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) just want to observe atmospheric phenomena in remote New Mexico when they nearly run over a man who seems to have materialized in the midst of a massive, stormy aurora display.
Proud, brash Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a pugnacious Norse god filtered through Marvel comic mythology, awakes in their company, banished from heavenly Asgard by his father the god-king Odin (Anthony Hopkins) for leading his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his comrades in arms, the Warriors Three (Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Joshua Dallas as Fandral, and Tadanobu Asano as Hogun) and the Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), into a confrontation with Laufey (Colm Feore), king of the frost giants, that threatens to plunge the realms into war.
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Thor Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson |
Trapped on earth, powerless, hot-headed Thor must redeem himself by proving his character as well as his mettle in order to reclaim his hammer, Mjolnir, and his rightful place in Asgard, which the mischievous Loki quickly jeopardizes with machinations of his own.
Despite an impressive cast of thespians and award-winners – including stand-out Idris Elba as Heimdall, the virtuous guardian of the Bifrost Bridge which links all the realms – it is necessarily and deservedly Hemsworth himself who carries the film on his broad shoulders, owning the screen whenever he’s on it.
Hemsworth’s advantage is that he is nearly unknown outside of Australia, where he starred in the soap opera Home and Away (in contrast to Captain America, a.k.a. Chris Evans, who already played one of the Fantastic Four and has plenty of other memorable roles already.) Audiences may recognize him from Star Trek, where he played Capt. Kirk’s father in the brief opening scene – but in general he slips effortlessly into the part without the baggage of prolific past roles.
It doesn’t hurt to have the likes of renowned actor, director, and Shakespeare aficionado Kenneth Branagh at the helm, though devotees of his more traditional work may be disappointed he could not do more to elevate the source material.
For all its sumptuous art direction and attention to detail, Thor is a redemption story in broad strokes, betraying its comic-book pedigree with the bold lines and flat colours of the narrative and the intermittently overblown dialogue (though Hemsworth still pulls off lines such as “I require sustenance!” with aplomb – it could be the Aussie background.)
Split between New Mexico and coruscating Asgard, where science and magic “are one and the same,” the plot doesn’t find time to do full justice either to the burgeoning earthbound love story between Thor and Jane or to the immortals’ maneuvering on high, but there is a kernel of authenticity at the core of each thread so that neither grows tedious.
An extended opening battle against the frost giants makes up for the lengthy lull in which the audience (and Jane) gets acquainted with powerless Thor, but without any subsequent climaxes on the same scale, the film feels unbalanced: the increasing role of S.H.I.E.L.D. – at this stage still a faceless government agency – and a clumsily included cameo by Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye) give the impression of a very deliberate stepping stone toward next year’s ensemble spectacle, The Avengers, when this ought to be Thor’s show all to himself.â¨Next up for Marvel’s expanding film universe is Captain America: The First Avenger, due in theatres July 22.