By Odin's Beard!!

What do you get when you take classic Norse mythology, add a pinch of Sam Jackson, and a whole bowl full of Marvel?

You would expect an unholy concoction, but the truth is you get Thor.

Thor, the latest in the Marvel owned and produced films, opened today with great success.  The film follows in the footsteps of Iron Man and Hulk and actually picks up where Iron man 2’s epilogue left off.

Out of all the comic book movies slated to come out Thor was the one I was most worried for.  Most other superhero films can stand on their own ideas and concepts, man who gets bitten by spider and fights crime; loyal soldier gets magic rings and fight evil; scrawny guy become buffs and punches Nazis for America; kid watches parents get gunned down in alley, goes nut and devotes his life to fighting crime; rich playboy watches way to much anime and builds a mech suit.  Thor is different.  Thor is a story based (loosely) on the Norse Mythology.  It’s about a God who comes to earth and becomes their defender in the battle against evil.  Thor is also a character very heavily built into/upon the Marvel Universe and a very important figure within it.  It is a concept that if done incorrectly would be a movie that had a required reading list attached to it.

Luckily things turned out better than expected.

Thor tells the story of….well Thor.  He is the oldest child to Odin, the king of all gods and ruler of Asgard.  Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has fought many wars and become very wise in all of his years and his is trying to teach his son to be the same but the truth is Thor is a spoiled rich kid whose fame has given him anything he wanted.

Thor is a male Paris Hilton….with godhood.  God that’s scary.

Thor’s brother Loki is the silver-tongued usurper who using a crafty plan convinces his brother to disobey his father.  Thor starts a war, is punished and banished to Earth.  This is all on the trailer.  What the trailer doesn’t show is how arrogant and spoiled Thor actually is.  He demands things, he assumes that he deserves everything and he has no respect or concern for anything beyond fame, honour and glory.  When he is banished to earth he is made mortal, stripped of all his powers, and when he finally gets his hands on his mighty hammer Mjolnir he can’t lift it.  He is not worthy.  So he has to learn a lesson, get his powers back and save not one planet but three.

The movie is brilliant; it has the humour, memorable characters, and a brilliant acting cast.  It teaches you the Norse mythology needed to enjoy the film without becoming preachy, or text-bookish.  The cast which has Jaimie Alexander (Kyle Xy), Ray Stevenson(The Punisher himself), Joshua Dallas (Doctor Who), Tadanobu Asano (Zatôichi), Colm Feore (24) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars Ep 1) but the best praise goes to Chris Hemsworth who plays the title character.

Chris, best known as George Kirk before now, is the perfect Thor.  He is smug and arrogant, emotional and touching, and most importantly heroic and divine.  He is well built, with a solid six pack that you see over and over, long flowing golden locks.  He is perfectly capable of holding the movie and standing toe to toe with bigger named actors like Hopkins and Portman.

Speaking of Portman:  She is a powerful actress in a petty role, one similar to Katy Holmes in Batman Begins.  It is almost a pointless role that could have been changed and written into just about any character under the nine realms.  This is proven by the fact that Jane Foster is not the astrophysicist she is in the movie she is originally a nurse, but unlike Batman Begins Portman makes it work.  She makes the role hers, and somehow makes it important.

I saw it in 3D and I do not recommend it.  The ending credits are the only part of the movie worth seeing in 3D.  Movies filmed in 3D all suffer the same fault, if action moves to quickly things get blurry, your eyes can’t catch up.  This happens quite often in the action packed movie.

All in all a GREAT movie.  Also Do Not Leave before the credits are fully done.  There is another marvel cliff-hangers and one that will make comic fans squeal.  It is a COSMIS SURPRISE!