Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Thor follows the prince of Asgard (Chris Hemsworth) who is soon to inherit the throne from his aging father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins.) However, on the day that he is to be crowned, Thor reacts with brutality when the Frost Giants enter the palace in violation of their treaty. As punishment, Odin strips Thor of his powers and banishes him to Earth. While Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) plots mischief in Asgard, Thor faces his greatest threat.
After the major success of two Iron Man films and a reboot of the Hulk, Marvel set its sights on bringing the comic book God of Thunder to the big screen for the first time. An adaptation of Thor was definitely anticipated by most comic book fans but everyone else was very skeptical about a character that was considered a big clown with a hammer. Admittedly the original comics of Thor were goofy, full of corny humor and bright colors that reflected the era the character was made in. And since Marvel Studios was still in its phase of being taken seriously rather than embracing certain comic book roots, which they eventually end up doing, they decided to take a more serious approach with the character and his story. Even though this decision did hold back creative potential, in the end, it did pay off in being able to deliver a pretty solid introduction of Thor.
Kenneth Branagh brings us a film that has strong direction, good characters, stunning visuals, and great entertainment. The film certainly has issues and could have benefited from having fewer restrictions and taken more risks, but I feel what we ended up getting is still good and it introduced a character that was originally deemed impossible to adapt, as well as giving us the best villain of the entirety of phase 1 of the MCU.
Let’s start off with the characters who I believe are easily the strongest element in the whole film. The casting and acting are mostly solid, with the major standouts being Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. These two are the main driving force of the film, having an awesome and emotional dynamic as well as their own individual arcs that would evolve over the course of the MCU.
Thor, played beautifully by Chris Hemsworth, aside from the bleached eyebrows, starts out as an arrogant and flawed individual that carries the pride of a powerful warrior, especially when wielding the mighty Mjolnir, but lacks the wisdom of a king that Asgard needs. After making a fatal mistake that endangers his people he is stripped of his hammer and sent to Earth, where he ends up meeting a group of human scientists and is made to grow out of his childish arrogance, learn humility, and more importantly, learn compassion. Now, this is a particular trope we have seen many times, but I think what makes this stand out is the setting and the use of one of the most famous figures from Norse mythology.
The characters also make the film feel fresh especially with Chris Hemsworth’s charisma giving the character a, no pun intended, thunderous personality that can come off as humorous but also engaging. While I feel the character is definitely better in later installments there’s no denying that his debut and the journey he has in this film is still well done and entertaining. And yes, when Thor is in his action mode he is totally awesome and badass.
Opposite of him is Loki who serves as the primary villain. Ever since I saw Tom Hiddleston first appear on screen as Loki I knew he was the perfect casting choice for the god of mischief from both mythology and comics. A trickster who loves being the bad guy and brings such a presence every time he is on screen, thanks to Tom’s performance. Despite his mischievous nature, he does actually have understandable motives as well as a surprising origin that really makes you understand and even sympathize with the character, even though what he ends up doing is clearly wrong.
Loki really stood out the most in this film and was truly an amazing and investing character that really carries this film alongside Thor. Their dynamic together is fantastic and you could feel so much emotional weight between them, whether they are having simple conversations, fighting side by side, or eventually fighting each other.
But I also have to mention another stand-out character which is Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins remains one of the best actors in history who gives great dedication to all his performances no matter what. Out of all his appearances in the MCU, this was his best performance, giving such amazing life to the king of the Norse gods, a figure of great wisdom who has endured the horrors of war and isn’t afraid to bring power and authority when he needs to. His emotional confrontation with Thor before his banishing really showed Hopkins’ incredible talent, and to me it remains one of the most impactful moments of the early MCU.
Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the warriors three were all fun and engaging side characters who get their own moments to shine and are played brilliantly by their respective actors, never feeling out of place among the Asgardians. Idris Elba is perfect as Heimdall, the all-seeing and all-hearing gatekeeper of Asgard. I feel he has always been an underrated character played by an extremely talented actor, and even though his role is short in the film he definitely stands out.
The Frost giants that serve as secondary antagonists for the film all look really good and really menacing and are shown to be formidable adversaries to Asgardians. We don’t get to see too much of them, unfortunately, but I think they all looked amazing, especially with the combined effort of practical effects with CGI that brings the race to life.
Now let’s talk about the human characters who most people consider the weakest aspect of the film. While I agree the Asgardian characters are far more fleshed out, I still think the human characters are entertaining and good in their own way. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster is the obvious love interest of this film but she does deliver a really great performance, a character with great energy who isn’t ready to give up no matter what the stakes are. She was no damsel in distress in this film (unlike the next one) and I always find myself liking her in this, especially when she is the one that teaches Thor to be more compassionate.
Stellan Skarsgård does a great job as Erik Selvig, playing a man of science who can come off as being humorous even when he is doubtful of what he is experiencing. A bit of a familiar character trope but one that is played well by a very talented actor.
And then we have Kat Dennings as Darcy. Now, before Wandavision happened I always considered Darcy to be the most annoying character in every appearance she has had in the MCU. However, after seeing Wandavision and rewatching this I’ve actually grown fond of the character. I still think she is terrible in Thor The Dark World, but in this film she’s actually pretty good and I feel I may have judged her too harshly. She is funny in this and has some moments that always get a good laugh.
The narrative, while simple, provides a great balance of humor and drama that I always find to be engaging. Plus the mix of Asgard’s Shakespearean-like culture with the Superman Smallville elements makes for a great combination that I feel was handled perfectly. I would have preferred to see more of Asgard and its culture but I think what we got was still satisfying.
The film may have its tropes but they are still entertaining thanks to the likable characters and great direction by Kenneth Branagh. He put a lot of effort into making the characters and story as interesting and entertaining as possible and I feel he definitely succeeded with what he was given. If he was allowed to just maybe pull off more risks and add more fresh elements to the narrative I feel we could have had a much more impactful and stand-out comic book film. But that is something we would have to end up waiting years for.
When it comes to action this film doesn’t have as much of it as I remembered, but I still think it’s great even if it felt restricted at times. You could tell there were times where they really wanted to go all out with Thor’s true potential but were playing it safe, possibly due to quality reasons as well as trying not to come across as being overly silly. While I understand the reasoning, at the time I feel it hindered the film a bit for sequences that could have been so much better but ended up being underwhelming.
Probably the most underwhelming fight would have to be Thor vs the Destroyer. While visually it was awesome it ends so quickly, even though the Destroyer in earlier sequences showed itself to be a dangerous threat that couldn’t be taken down so easily. Thankfully the other action sequences like Thor vs the Frost giants and Thor vs Loki certainly make up for this, but again I felt more could have been done.
The effects and visuals do hold up well and are actually really beautiful in some cases. I know most people love to talk about the amazing visuals of later Marvel films but I’m surprised most people don’t bring up how good the first Thor film looks, with some really gorgeous shots and environments that just ooze with great life. But I guess the most likely reason most people don’t talk about it as much is due to the most infamous feature of this film, next to Thor’s bleached eyebrows, which is the overuse of dutch angle shots.
Despite the overall cinematography looking amazing in this film, there are so many dutch angle or tilted shots that are heavily used to ridiculous levels. I never realized how frequent it was until I saw all the memes that pointed it out. For some people it will definitely be a nuisance but to its credit it doesn’t go as far as Battlefield Earth in its overuse of dutch angles. Thor is a drop in a bucket compared to Battlefield Earth in that regard.
As for the music, I think it remains really solid and very underrated among the MCU’s grand amount of scores. While I do like Thor Ragnarok’s music I will always consider the first Thor’s music to be the best, as it really fits the tone of the film and can be very uplifting at times, especially in the emotional moments, as well as adding to the overall beauty of the film.
While Thor certainly could have been more it did deliver a great debut to a character most thought to be impossible to adapt or take seriously. I feel it has a lot more to offer than what most people remember and it certainly had a lot of work put into it despite restrictions that would be loosened by the time Thor Ragnarok comes along. I’m going to give Thor a B.
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