Movie review: Thor

Paramount Pictures

You knew summer blockbuster season had arrived when Thor ripped through the May box office and a new superhero franchise was born. Played with charm, humor and bravado by Chris Hemsworth, Thor is a godlike hero based on Norse legends; he comes from Asgard, a mythical dreamy place where his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) runs the show and Thor is the presumed heir apparent. Only, he’s a little excitable, so when Asgard is threatened by an old enemy he decides to go to war himself, instead of waiting for his father to pursue patient efforts at diplomacy. He gathers up his friends and they set off to wage glorious battle, but soon realize they’re badly outnumbered and Odin has to rush to their rescue. This escapade makes the old man pretty mad, so he strips Thor of all his powers and banishes him to earth.

And then he meets Natalie Portman.

C’mon, people, it’s a comic book movie. It only stands to reason that Thor will fall out of the sky and land right in the path of a beautiful, brainy scientist. Jane Foster feels responsible for the fallen hero because he bounced off her car when he plummeted to earth, and then – in one of the film’s funniest scenes – her assistant, Darcy (Kat Dennings) tases him when he starts ranting on about Earth and Asgard. (“What! He was freaking me out!”). And so the adventure begins, with Thor trying to find his way home, and Jane trying to help him while she tries to understand who he is.

There’s a lot of great comic book style action in Thor, especially on Asgard, but the real fun happens when the young superhero attempts to navigate his way around Earth; even without his powers, he is quicker and stronger than the “puny” humans who surround him, and there is a charming buffoon quality to his efforts to understand propriety in this tiny Western town. He also eats a lot. Thor figures he’ll be in good shape if he can just get his mystical hammer back, but Odin has thrown it to Earth protected by a Camelot style curse: only someone worthy will be able to wield it. In other words, Thor has to learn his lesson; which he does, eventually, but not before he tangles with a shadowy government group that has taken an interest in him and his hammer (they can’t wield it, of course, bureaucrats aren’t worthy). He also has to manage a duplicitous younger brother who perceives Thor’s banishment a grand opportunity to pursue his own ambitions. (Tom Hiddleston plays brother Loki with slick creepiness; you recoil from him but you can’t wait for him to come back on screen.)

If you think summer blockbuster movies are a silly waste of time, this one will not change your mind. It doesn’t stretch the boundaries of the genre, it sits squarely within them. But it’s fun, lighthearted, popcorn stuff, and if you’re in the mood for that well, hit the multiplex. It scored big at the box office so it will probably survive the onslaught of the new Pirates movie on Friday. Playing everywhere. B