A Thor(n) in the Side (Movie Review)

Thor

Action, Drama, Fantasy.  2011, U.S., 114 Minutes, directed by Kenneth Brannagh

Medium:  3D, Currently in Theaters

Rating:  3.0 (5-point system)

Well, if this review doesn’t blow my image for elegance and sophistication, nothing will.

It’s the question men my age frequently ask one another:  “Hey, dude, are you DC or Marvel?”  It’s a debate that’s right up there with, “Emma Peel or Honey West?” “Jeannie or Samantha Stevens?”  and of course the ever popular, “Ginger or Mary Ann?”  I’m a DC guy myself.  Batman, Superman, and The Flash were among my favorites.  Yet, here I am reviewing a movie based upon a Marvel Comics superhero.  So, if my rating seems a bit low to you, take into account my predilection for DC.

That’s not to say that I am unaware of Thor and his backstory.  I’m not.  And getting some of that backstory and his entire mortal alter ego wrong is but one reason for my rather mediocre assessment of this movie.  In both the movie and the comics, Thor is vain and impulsive.  He suffers from a total lack of humility that borders on the egomaniacal.  This is where the two backstories diverge, to the detriment of the motion picture.

Marvel Comic Backstory:  To teach Thor a lesson, his father Oden wipes clean his memory of Asgard and his previous Godly existence there, banishes him to the planet Earth, strips away his powers, and entraps him in the mortal body of a physician—Dr. Donald Blake—who is mildly disabled and thus walks with the assistance of a cane.  Dr. Blake’s love interest is his nurse, Jane Foster.  Dr. Blake’s cane is actually Thor’s legendary hammer Mjolnir in disguise.  When Dr. Blake strikes this cane upon the ground, it transforms into Mjolnir and Dr. Blake becomes the Norwegian God of Thunder—The Mighty Thor.  Yeah, it’s as hokey and convoluted as it sounds.  But it works better than the movie’s rather simplistic, streamlined version.

Feature-Length Film Backstory:  To teach Thor (Chris Hemsworth) a lesson, his father Oden (Anthony Hopkins) banishes him to Earth.  But Thor is now a mortal who still inhabits the same muscularly built, fully functional body he had before, and his memories of who he is and where he’s from are completely intact.  Mjolnir lies embedded in rock several miles from where Thor appears in the New Mexico desert.  He is found by college student Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who is doing atmospheric research with her professor Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and fellow student Darcy (Kat Dennings).  Attempting to retrieve Mjolnir, Thor is unable to dislodge the hammer from its stone encasement, reminding him of the powers he has lost and finally bringing home to him his now mortal existence.

From here on the two storylines merge once again.  Thor’s archenemy remains in both story arcs his adopted brother Loki, a being of the race of Frost Giants who was raised by Odin to believe he was a fellow Asgardian until the truth is revealed to him.

From here on we have a tragic Shakespearian hero, which is why I assume the incredibly adept Shakespearian actor and director Kenneth Branagh (one of my personal favorites) was brought in to direct.  And ironically it’s on this level of tragic Shakespearian hero that the film works best.  It certainly doesn’t make it as a comic superhero, especially one which completely forsakes a rather intriguing mortal alter ego with disabilities that provide such a stark dichotomy between the main character’s two identities.  Unfortunately, plot takes back seat to special effects for far too much of the film—pretty much the same affliction that infected Iron Man 2 and made that picture far less satisfying than the original.

At any rate, the Avengers are certainly preparing to assemble.  We’ve already been introduced in the past few years to Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo will take over the role from the incomparable Ed Norton, who did a superlative job).  Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) has made cameos in both Iron Man pictures.  Captain America: The First Avenger (Chris Evans, who also played Marvel character Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in both Fantastic Four films a few years back) is scheduled to hit the theaters on July 22.  These characters comprise the core of The Avengers, so we all should be pretty well prepared for this movie when it debuts May 4, 2012.

Let us hope that neither Captain America nor The Avengers suffer from the same fate as Thor—SFxF (Special Effects Fatigue).  As the original Iron Man and the two most recent Batman movies have taught us, character development and storyline are paramount considerations in making this type film work on an intellectually adult level.  And if skillfully done, this approach does not adversely impact a movie’s appeal to the younger crowd.  It’s a shame that this invaluable lesson was lost in the making of Thor.