We here at Thinksquad watched the movie Thor on Tuesday, so here is our take on the ever fabled Norse god Thor.

“Two worlds. One hero…”

The latest Marvel superhero/action film begins in the fantastical world of Asgard – just one of nine realms that make up the entire universe (of which Earth is another)…

The powerful and highly-regarded king of Asgard, Odin, is ready to hang up his crown and pass the title onto his son Thor – the god of thunder. However, the ceremony is cut short when the castle is infiltrated by a number of Frost Giants, a race of big and, um, frosty creatures who live in the realm of Jotunheim and have been at war with the Asgardians for centuries…

The Frost Giants are incinerated by The Destroyer – the castle’s seemingly indestructible robot bodyguard – but the headstrong Thor decides that action must be taken so, against his father’s strict advices, he formulates a plan to enact revenge…

Thor – along with his brother Loki (the god of mischief) and his friends “The Warriors Three” consisting of the gluttonous Volstagg, swordsman Fandral and a gutsy female warror called Sif – travel to Jotunheim and confront the realm’s king. However, he does not take kindly to Thor’s arrival and a battle ensues. Despite having Thor’s mystical hammer ‘Mjolnir’ within their powerful arsenal, they’re eventually outnumbered but they are saved when Odin arrives on the scene. Despite Odin’s attempts to explain his son’s intentions, the Front Giant’s king calls their fragile truce off and declares war on Asgard…

Back in their own realm, Odin decides that Thor needs to be punished for his reckless behavior and, taking away his powers (and his royal title), banishes him to Earth. He throws Mjolnir to Earth as well which becomes lodged within rock in the desert of New Mexico and will now only lend it’s powers to those worthy of them (a la ‘Sword In The Stone’…)

The rest of the story concentrates on Thor coming to terms with his life as a mortal without powers, trying to reclaim his hammer and befriending scientist Jane Foster as well (as her colleagues Darcy and Erik) who happen to be researching strange weather formations like that of the ‘Bifrost Bridge’ used to travel between the realms…

Meanwhile, in Asgard, Odin falls into the ‘Odinsleep’ (a kind of reguvinating coma) after becoming highly stressed and Thor’s brother Loki becomes the ruler of Asgard. However, he’s not called the god of mischief for nothing and he soon formulates a plan to be able to stay in power…

You know that in the end Thor learns humility, and sacrifice, and saves the day.

FINAL VERDICT

Of all the Marvel heroes, the character of Thor has always been by far my favorite, so I had pretty high expectations going into it.

Thor had the potential to be quite an annoying and unlikable character but I think that the film makers, as well as Hemsworth himself, managed to pull it off quite well and gave him a lot of comic moments which gave the film a nice sense of balance… As soon as the character was banished to Earth, I was dreading some awful ‘fish out of water’ scenes where Thor tried to work out what an iPod was but, thankfully, there were very few of these.

The villains of the piece were all great but the highlight of the film was an epic battle set on Earth between The Destroyer robot and Thor (alongside the Warriors Three). The faceless mechanical ally-turned-enemy is very menacing and proves to be an extremely formidable foe throughout the film.

The 3D effect, although not spectacular, definitely tries to served to enhance to picture and the graphics in general were impressive, to everyone, but a film student, but 3D and action is what you’d well expect from a Marvel blockbuster! Every time I was watching Loki on screen I had flashbacks of Steve from Blue’s Clues.

All in all, this movie knows just how campy it is (very) and it not only doesn’t give a fuck, it basks in it.  In a lot of ways, it reminded me of trashy kids action movies from the 80’s.  Masters of the Universe is an almost too obvious comparison.  It’s a ridiculous premise, but the goofy gags that come from a fish-out-of-water God on Earth are undeniably fun. 

To a film-maker or student of film, there is a lot to dislike.  The movie is littered with unmotivated dutch angles for it’s entire duration, and while the production design of Asgard wears the movie’s budget on it’s sleeve, the actual photography throughout is very, very average.  But at the end of all that, it’s the fun - with a fantastic after-credits scene foreshadowing events of the Avengers film and a cameo from the character Hawkeye, a member of the aforementioned superhero team – was worth a watch. Next is Captain America.

THINKSQUAD Rating: 3 1/2 brains out of 5 brains