March Marvel Madness: THOR

Greetings, True Believers! Welcome to March Marvel Madness! Every day this month, I'll be looking back on a theatrically-released movie based on the characters of Marvel Comics. It's all to commemorate the April 4th release of the next Marvel film adventure, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Today, Marvel's mighty God of Thunder is finally brought to the screen in...

Chris Hemsworth (in a star-making role) plays the title character, the prince of a distant world called Asgard, who is banished by his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), to Earth for his dangerously arrogant behavior. Thor lands in New Mexico and is discovered by a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings). Meanwhile, Thor's brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, in another star-making role), tricks his way to the throne and sets in motion plans to destroy his homeworld and eliminate his adversaries, including Thor. It is up to the Earthbound prince to learn what it takes to be a hero in order to gain his power back to stop him.

Thor, released in May of 2011, is still one of my favorite Marvel Studios productions. The movie is a throwback to the kind of fantasy films I grew up watching in the Eighties. Thor is what the Masters of the Universe movie would've looked like if it had a bigger budget. The film, directed by Kenneth Branagh (yep, the Shakespeare guy), never shies away from being fantastical or feels like it has to defend itself for being fantastical. It's a world you wish you were a part of. The art direction of Asgard is glorious, but the New Mexico town in the picture has an otherworldy charm of its own, too.

Branagh put together an amazing cast, with Hemsworth and Hiddleston creating iconic versions of their characters and Portman, Skargard, and Demming bring quite a bit of humanity to the film. In addition, Jamie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, and Josh Dallas are great as Thor's best friends. Bridging this movie with the Iron Man films is Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson.

The use of dutch angles in this movie is a bit overkill, but that doesn't take any of the magic away from it. Thor is an unabashed piece of fantasy that can instill wonder in an audience. That is a rare treat in this day and age.

Thor
4 1/2 out 5 Cap shields