Thor (2011) Review
In just 17 days, the fourth movie in the Thor franchise, Thor Love and Thunder hits theaters. In preparation I’m going to be reviewing all of the previous Thor movies. It’s week 1 so we are talking about the original Thor. How is this movie? Let’s get started!
The Good:
I think this movie is about the cast. Almost every MCU movie has a great cast and this is another example of that. Back when they were casting this movie, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddelston were not household names that everybody knew. And they are great in this movie, Hemsworth can play the arrogant side of the character really well. But he’s also a really funny guy and brings a lot of humor to this movie. Hiddelston can play the mischievous side of the character really well and you buy him as this broken character. But even getting the legacy actors like Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo as Odin and Frigga is great casting. And the character of Jane Foster isn’t the best but I don’t blame Natalie Portman and I think she is really good in this movie.
Another great thing about this movie is all of the comedy in this movie. Every time I watch this movie, I always forget just how many jokes there are in the first 5 minutes of Thor arriving on Earth. You get Darcy shocking Thor with a taser and gets a laugh out of the audience. Or within like 5 minutes of one another Jane hitting Thor with her truck. It’s a cheap comedy but it always makes me laugh. And you also have all of the fish out of water comedy with Thor. The big one being “Another” in the diner in the small town. It always puts a smile on my face when it happens. This isn’t one of the funniest MCU movies, but has a nice sense of humor running through-out the movie.
I also think that Kenneth Branagh was a great fit to direct this movie. The thing that really made Kenneth Branagh a well known director were the Shakespeare adaptations that he made in the 90s and early 2000s. And he brings that level of skill set to this movie. When it’s on Asgard it feels very Shakespeare like in the way that it looks and the way that scenes are directed. It’s done very well.
Also, I think some of the action in the movie is handled very well. When Thor, Loki, Sif, and The Warriors Three go and confront The Frost Giants that is a fun little scene. And I think Thor vs The Destroyer is another fun little scene. Given this is a Thor movie, it’s not as good as it should be. But for what it is, I think it's done rather well.
Finally, this movie does some nice world building for the MCU. Because this was our introduction to the cosmic realm of the MCU. And so looking back on it I think this movie does have some nice world building going on. We get teases of what The Infinity Stones are. And tied to that, this movie introduces a bunch of key pieces in the MCU. Obviously, Thor and Loki being two important MCU characters. As well as The Tesseract which was used in several MCU movies after this one.
The Bad:
And the big thing here is I don’t think the romance between Thor and Jane is fully earned. Basically, this movie takes place over a weekend. Day 1 is when they meet, day 2 Thor goes his own way and then reunites with Jane. They go and attempt to get Thor’s hammer, then they go stargazing and they fall in love. Day 3 Thor has to go back to Asgard. I just think the romance happened a bit too fast and I didn’t buy it. Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman have good chemistry with one another. But the writing could have been a whole lot better.
Another thing that bugged me about the movie was there isn’t a sense of forward momentum in this movie. With the plot they decided to go with Loki on Asgard doing all of the evil things. While Thor is on Earth hanging out with Jane and friends. And Thor doesn’t know about what is going on in Asgard, and he’s not desperately trying to get back to Asgard. While there is entertainment in this movie, the forward momentum and the urgency of the story was lacking for me.
Also, there are some pretty big changes in the tone in the movie. Where in the first 25 minutes of the movie it's on Asgard. There are basically no jokes in the movie. Then we get to Earth and there are like 5 jokes in the first 10 minutes. When it goes to Asgard it’s serious, then it goes back to Earth and more jokes happen. And it’s tonely inconsistent with itself and it pulls you out of the movie.
Finally, The Frost Giants are pretty underwhelming and underused as villains. In the comics, The Frost Giants are important to Thor. And here they felt so bland, boring, and forgettable. There isn’t anything about them that pops or stands out.
Final Thoughts: In general, this is a good and watchable addition to the MCU. I know that I listed a few negatives about the movie, but the positives are pretty good. The cast is great with promoting Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddelston to the lead. There is plenty of humor in the movie. But I think the storytelling and tone really hold this movie back for me.
The Score: 8.3/10 (B)
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