Avengers Assemble: Thor

“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR.”

Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4

Thor came out in 2011 and was directed by Shakespearean auteur, Kenneth Branagh, who you ALL recognize as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter. In this film, Thor is banished to Earth because he can't play nice with his classmates, so all of his toys and his hammer are taken away until the script tells him to have an arc.

People have disregarded the first two Thor films because nobody really cared for much of Phase 1 heroes that weren't Iron Man. However, a rewatch for this film may be worth your while because it was far better than I remembered.

This entire film can be described as charismatic simplicity. It's essentially all fluff as this is just meant to set up Thor so that we recognize him in "The Avengers." However, the film itself is very good. Never did it seem to drag and its runtime is just under two hours, which I found perfect.

The main aspect that gives this film any kind of merit is the arc of Thor. In the beginning, he is a spoiled teenager who screams when he doesn't get what he wants. He is then banished and learns to become a hero without the powers. Then they are gifted back with his hammer. And that is what I enjoyed most. This isn't Iron Man where at every threatening situation, he just puts a suit on and it does the work for him. Here, Thor has to be a good man and a hero before being bestowed the power of Thor and that's why I have a soft spot for Thor.

You may notice that Thor looks different in this film and it's because they bleached Chris Hemsworth's eyebrows, which Kevin Feige says was a huge mistake. It is also a very funny film and the first of the superhero genre to utilize fish-out-of-water humor, which "Wonder Woman" slavishly copied. And all the humor still works in the film. It's comedy is preserved very well.

One aspect that irritated me throughout the entire film was Kenneth Branagh's decision to shoot, literally, every other shot as a Dutch angle. It was incredibly distracting and took me out of the entire film every few seconds. The action scenes are also very quickly cut and the editing flat. However, the film itself still looks great.

Loki also makes a charming villain who has motivation. He has an interesting background that will never be important again, but serviceable to the movie. This film also offers the first look at Hawkeye, who I also like because he doesn't have a magic suit that does all of the work for him.

The ending was not incredibly bloated either. It took place on one street, then briefly in Asgard. It was a small scale story that was more about Thor.

Natalie Portman is also here just to be the girl. She does nothing and Kat Dennings is there because she got popular in a sitcom.

It seems like an inconsequential film, but gives Thor some likeability through an enjoyable film.

Rating: See It

-Nolan