Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is a movie that disappoints by not exceeding expectations. I suppose of all the Marvel Comics properties, this may have been the toughest sell as a film. Even in graphic form, the character often felt out of place in the Marvel universe; a habitat constructed to be a more ‘down to earth’ environment for costumed heroes to inhabit. With Thor, you got a character carrying the baggage of an entire Norse mythology, omnipotent magic, and stilted ‘ye olde English’ dialogue that seemed to fly in the face of both the naturalism of Spider-Man and the metaphorical power of the X-Men. At best, Thor was an anachronism. At worst, he was camp.
Yet in spite of all this (or maybe because of it), I always loved Thor. To me, when handled properly, Thor provided the kind of pure escapism I craved from comics. And I loved the Asgardian mythology; with it’s dark undertones and existentialist outlook. Thor himself may have been somewhat oafish, but his world was beautifully conceived and packed with strong, archetypal characters: Loki, Odin, Sif, Balder, The Warriors Three. Thor worked best in his own magical realm; not as part of Marvel’s super-hero community. Yet, as a founding member of the Avengers, Thor was so powerfully ingrained into the Marvel universe that in bringing that universe to the screen, there was just no getting around him.
So here we are. By hiring Kenneth Branagh to direct, I’m guessing the guys running Marvel Studios aimed at bringing Shakespearian grandeur to the material. Yet they seemed to have overlooked the sad fact that Branagh as a director, never really managed a good film outside the realm of adapting Shakespeare. In fact, when looking at his filmography only Henry V and Hamlet really stand out as anything special. His other films tend to be labored and lurching; lacking a sense of flow and visual style. And so it is with Thor. Constructed on a foundation of a hum-drum screenplay, the film shifts between Asgardian intrigue and Earthly banality. Never really finding a rhythm or establishing a sense of real threat. At best, Thor serves as a basic set-up for the upcoming Avengers film.
The film’s storyline revolves around Thor (Chris Hemsworth), an arrogant, Asgardian God/Prince who runs afoul of his father Odin and is banished to Earth in order to learn humility. While on Earth, the powerless Thor makes friends, falls in love with Natalie Portman (in a role that’s both beneath her and somehow beyond her abilities), and serves as a butt of many jokes. Eventually, the treachery of Thor’s younger brother Loki (the fine Tom Hiddleston) intrudes on Earth and Thor is forced to sacrifice himself in defense of his new friends. You could probably guess the rest. And so could I. And while predictability can often be rewarding; here it was just predictable. And the committee-driven screenplay continually missed every opportunity at cleverness and conflict; bringing virtually nothing to the table and giving a fine cast very little to work with.
Thor is certainly not as bad as it could have been. But it’s aggressively mediocre. Some of the action scenes – specially the battle with the Frost Giants – are cool and entertaining, though nothing we haven’t seen before. The art direction and costumes are striking. And Hemsworth and Hiddleston make a fine pair of Odinson brothers; which I guess is the film’s biggest accomplishment. Yet it’s a shame that Thor never really rises above its humble goals and becomes (like the first Iron Man) a film to fall in love with.
