Thor (12A.)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Denning, Idris Elba. 114 mins
When the movie studios run out of superheroes that everybody knows they will have to chance their arm with the ones only the hardcore comic book aficionados care about. So here we are with the film of Thor, the Marvel superhero who wasn’t really a superhero but a Nordic God of Thunder who had been exiled on Earth and flew around in a red cape protecting us. If Iron Man is Marvel’s Batman, Thor is Superman with his big hammer.
Since Marvel took control over the film adaptations of their creations they have tried to merge them into a single interlinking universe, building towards an ensemble Avengers film. So a Thor film was inevitable; that it would be directed by Kenneth Branagh was not.
This has been described as a shocking comedown for Branagh, but actually getting the job was a remarkable achievement for a man whose directorial career is split between Shakespeare films and stinkers. “You will be Unprepared” on the posters for Sucker Punch would win the prize for most unwittingly accurate tagline if not for the stark honesty of “Be Warned” which featured on those for Branagh’s abominable Frankenstein flick. Any other director who had a CV containing that, Dead Again and the Sleuth remake would be lucky to be handed a Go Compare ad. I guess, having played Wallender, they must have assumed he was an authority on all things Scandinavian.
Thor though is by no means a bad film but it is harmed by a clumsy dual narrative that’s half yet another superhero origins film, and half sword and sorcery fantasy. The scenes on earth where a group of scientists led by Portman are trying to work out who this strange unearthly beefcake (Hemsworth) that landed in the New Mexico desert is are quite enjoyable with a nice line in humour. But we keep getting returned to the struggles of King Odin (Hopkins) on his dull and humourless home planet, Asgard, which the special effects budget can’t really do justice to.
Hemsworth is a likeable screen presence but he doesn’t project wild Viking warrior; more frontman in a Christian heavy metal band.
Marvel assert a rigid and frugal control over their film output and have maintained a steady level of supreme but uninspiring competence. Like all their films Thor is alright, which will do for projects like Iron Man or Hulk but maybe not for Thor.
As a kid, Thor didn’t sit right with me and he still doesn’t. Unlike all the proper heroes who got quite plausibly got their powers through the capricious whims of benign radiation he was a figure of ancient myth. They are incompatible traditions, like trying to mix Merlin and Robin Hood.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Denning, Idris Elba. 114 mins
When the movie studios run out of superheroes that everybody knows they will have to chance their arm with the ones only the hardcore comic book aficionados care about. So here we are with the film of Thor, the Marvel superhero who wasn’t really a superhero but a Nordic God of Thunder who had been exiled on Earth and flew around in a red cape protecting us. If Iron Man is Marvel’s Batman, Thor is Superman with his big hammer.
Since Marvel took control over the film adaptations of their creations they have tried to merge them into a single interlinking universe, building towards an ensemble Avengers film. So a Thor film was inevitable; that it would be directed by Kenneth Branagh was not.
This has been described as a shocking comedown for Branagh, but actually getting the job was a remarkable achievement for a man whose directorial career is split between Shakespeare films and stinkers. “You will be Unprepared” on the posters for Sucker Punch would win the prize for most unwittingly accurate tagline if not for the stark honesty of “Be Warned” which featured on those for Branagh’s abominable Frankenstein flick. Any other director who had a CV containing that, Dead Again and the Sleuth remake would be lucky to be handed a Go Compare ad. I guess, having played Wallender, they must have assumed he was an authority on all things Scandinavian.
Thor though is by no means a bad film but it is harmed by a clumsy dual narrative that’s half yet another superhero origins film, and half sword and sorcery fantasy. The scenes on earth where a group of scientists led by Portman are trying to work out who this strange unearthly beefcake (Hemsworth) that landed in the New Mexico desert is are quite enjoyable with a nice line in humour. But we keep getting returned to the struggles of King Odin (Hopkins) on his dull and humourless home planet, Asgard, which the special effects budget can’t really do justice to.
Hemsworth is a likeable screen presence but he doesn’t project wild Viking warrior; more frontman in a Christian heavy metal band.
Marvel assert a rigid and frugal control over their film output and have maintained a steady level of supreme but uninspiring competence. Like all their films Thor is alright, which will do for projects like Iron Man or Hulk but maybe not for Thor.
As a kid, Thor didn’t sit right with me and he still doesn’t. Unlike all the proper heroes who got quite plausibly got their powers through the capricious whims of benign radiation he was a figure of ancient myth. They are incompatible traditions, like trying to mix Merlin and Robin Hood.
