After wanting to wage war against the Frost Giants, the mighty warrior Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cast out from Asgard by his father Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and sent down to Earth. With no way home and his hammer Mjölnir lost, Thor struggles to reclaim his powers. Meanwhile, on Asgard, Thor’s devious brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has seized the throne and seeks to help the Frost Giants reclaim their glory. With help from scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her team, Thor must learn the true virtue of being a hero and return home to stop Loki and save Asgard from destruction.1
I really liked the first Thor movie, which honestly surprised me a little. I went into it with low expectations; I was originally going to skip it before learning it was important to the plot of The Avengers, but I ended up really liking it. I like the idea of a movie opposite the previous superhero movies, where a regular person gains abilities, and a god loses his abilities and has to humble himself to gain them back. Also, it’s probably controversial, but I actually really like Chris Hemsworth’s bleached eyebrows.
Something I also really enjoyed in this movie is the whole Shakespearean feel to the script and direction. Asgard sounds like it came straight out of the 17th century, which adds to the otherworldly aspect of their community. I also feel like it softens Thor’s character a bit and makes him feel more genuine, which is pretty much lost in newer Marvel Studios adaptations. This version of Thor also seems to match Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster a lot better, and I really liked the romance they built up in this movie.
I also really liked Loki’s introduction in this movie. I love Loki as a character, and watching this movie back for this review after watching newer films emphasizes just how much younger they looked in the first movies. Tom Hiddleston really depicted this character well, and the reveal that he isn’t actually Asgardian is a really well-done scene. His takeover of Asgard was very sudden and unexplained, which confused me a bit on the first watch, but I learned not to question it much.
Overall, Thor is a good MCU film and a great setup for The Avengers, which was released the next year and features Thor as one of the heroes and Loki as the main villain. I recommend that everybody interested in Marvel or the MCU watch this movie, even though it isn’t really the typical Marvel film.
- Blazer346, IMDb.com
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