Thor

Movie Title-- Thor

Release Year--  2011

Running Time--  1 Hour and 55 Minutes

Director--  Kenneth Branagh

Cast--  Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Josh Dallas, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo

After Thor disregards his father's orders he is no longer deemed worthy to live on his home of Asgard and is banished to earth where he soon becomes one of earth's greatest heroes.

Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of Asgard wages and wins a war against the frost giants of Jotunhiem to prevent their leader Laufey from conquering the nine realms.  After the Asgardians defeat the frost giants, they seize the Casket of Ancient Winter, the source of all their power.

In the present day, Asgard's crown price, the power but arrogant Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is preparing to ascend to the throne when a band of frost giants break into the palace to attempt to recover the casket.  After the giants are dealt with Thor expresses his anger at what has happened and insists they strike back.  Odin says no and tells his son not to pursue it.

Thor decides to disobey his father and travel to Jotunhiem anyway and takes his friends Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the warriors three Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Josh Dallas) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) with him.  He meets with Laufey and Loki conviences Thor to walk away but as they are walking off, one of the frost giants taunts Thor causing a huge battle to ensue.  Just when Thor has thought he has won, more giants converge on them but Odin intervenes, saving the group of Asgardians.  When they return to Asgard, Odin tells Thor he is no longer worthy of his powers and strips him of them, then he banishes him to Earth as a mortal.  He then sends Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, to earth, putting an enchantment on it that only one who is worthy can wield it.

Thor then lands in the New Mexico desert, where he is found by astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her mentor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and her assistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) when she accidentally hits him with her car.  The trio carries him to the hospital and leaves him behind.  The next day they go back for him while the rest of the town has found Mjolnir and are taking their turns trying to pull it out of the dirt.  S.H.E.I.L.D., led by agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) invades the town and takes over the site of the hammer.  Soon they are confiscating all of Jane's equipment after hearing that she has data relating to the wormhole that brought Thor to earth.  Thor discovers that Mjolnir is nearby and decides to break into the S.H.E.I.L.D. facility to retrieve his hammer but soon discovers that he cannot lift it and he is captured.  

Meanwhile on Asgard, after revealing a long kept secret to his son Loki, Odin falls into a deep "Odinsleep" to recover his strength, Loki takes over the crown.  Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are unhappy with the way Loki is ruling so they decide to defy in and go in search of Thor.  Desperate to prove that he is worthy of the crown and make sure that Thor can not interfere with his reign, he releases the Destroyer and sends him to Earth with the command to kill Thor.  The band of warriors must find Thor and try to stop the Destroyer before Loki can do any more damage.

PLEASE NOTE:

I have not read the comics, so therefore there will be no comparing 

one medium to another.

There will be only honest film opinions.

I thought this film was amazing.  Like a lot of films these days, you could see the love story coming from a mile away but even then it was charming.  The story was very well played out with a lot of action and not too much down time in between.

Although I knew that Loki would turn into the villain, he was actually the one I was rooting for in the beginning.  Thor's arrogant attitude and cocky actions made me want to just punch him in the face.  At the start I began to wonder if I was actually going to be able to like Thor but once he is banished, he realizes the importance of what he once had and it changes him, just as the secret that Loki learns help to change him in a negative way.  What this means is, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston did an excellent job in the roles that they play.  Anyone one that can make the audience feel the kind of emotions and persuade the audience they way they do really helps the viewer connect with the film.  I think that whoever cast these two men did a wonderful job and I say bravo to them.

If you are looking for a good superhero film, this one is a pretty good one to start with.  The story is great, the acting is fantastic and it will leave you wanting more.  Give this film a try and Don't Forget the Popcorn!