By Odin's Beard! An honest review of THOR!

I decided to wait for the crowd to die down, settling with a weekend screening of the movie, Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth (as the God of Thunder) with co-star Natalie Portman (as love interest, Jane Foster) and let me begin by saying I started with lower expectations.

Yes, I'm a comic book lover and often find myself disagreeing with the critics, but after all, I'm watching a superhero movie because I'm a real fan, not because I want to rate the drama. Ok. Let's be honest, Thor is a difficult character to portray on the screen. He's a god for...god's sake. He dwells in the realm of Asgard where magic surrounds everything. How are you going to resolve a mighty "forsooth" sayer on earth?

Well, Kenneth Branagh did it in my opinion. And I think the key element was that he intermixed a level of humor into the flick while Thor was on earth. Had the blonde god been arrogant the entire film, then I probably would have ceased cheering for him.

But that's it; Branagh knew we didn't want to stand behind an arrogant superhero. Right away, Thor's arrogance does him in. Next thing you know, Odin is flinging him to earth, with the hammer not far behind. The plot? Thor can't regain his godly powers until he is worthy.

And that's where the rest of the story takes off.

Some other Notes:
Acting - It was so-so. (Were we watching this movie for great acting?) Still, I think Hemsworth and Portman did a great job, as well as all the main characters (Anthony Hopkins is Odin).

CGI/Special Effects - While I wasn't overwhelmed, there were very good. The destroyer was well done, and the fight scenes with the Frost Giants went great. There was never a point where it looked cheesy.

"Magic Elements" - The movie identifies magic as a some form of Asgardian Science. This makes for a good concept, because it doesn't completely radicalize the concepts of magic on earth.

The Avengers Movie Tie-In - You'll definately want to see Thor if you're an Avengers fan. Most of you guys and gals will recognize Clint Barton (AKA Hawkeye), the gamma radiation references, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Also be sure to stay after the credits. As you guessed, there's a scene with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) you won't want to miss. It also gives you an idea what the Avenger movie theme will be.

On the scale of Superhero Movies, I'd give Thor a 4 out of 5. But only because the director used some serious skill to pull it all together. It actually made sense and fit into our world (as much as a superhero story can.)

Still could have used more action, though!