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Laramie Movie Scope: Thor

What's an unemployed Norse God to do?

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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May 10, 2011 -- What a letdown. One minute you are a Norse God, about to be crowned the king of Asgard, the next, you find yourself out of a job, your powers and war hammer taken away and you find yourself exiled in the United States, an illegal alien with no job, no prospects and no marketable skills. A lot of people could identify with this situation.

That's the position Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth of “Star Trek”) finds himself in after he screws up, unwisely attacking the Ice Giants and setting off a war between their kingdom and Asgard. Thor's father, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins of “The Rite”) decides to punish the headstrong, spoiled Thor by banishing him to Earth, hoping some humility will teach him a lesson. He arrives through a wormhole from a distant galaxy into the company of some scientists led by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman of “Black Swan”) and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård of “Angels & Demons”) along with Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings of “Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist”).

A short distance away, Thor's war hammer arrives. It is discovered by some locals, who try to retrieve it, but like the sword in the stone of Arthurian legend, nobody can move it from the stone it is embedded in. Under Odin's spell, the hammer can only be possessed by someone who is worthy of this ultimate weapon. SHIELD, led by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg, reprising his role from the two Iron Man movies) sets up camp around the hammer, trying to unlock its secrets. Those of you who sat through all of the credits of “Iron Man 2” saw a preview of this at the end of that film. Meanwhile the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston) sends a powerful robot to Earth to kill Thor. Earthlings are caught in a deadly battle between Thor and Loki. It is up to Thor to save them.

In this Marvel Comic universe, the old Norse Gods are actually just powerful, advanced aliens who protected earth from the Ice Giants. They can travel across great distances to earth very rapidly via a device which generates wormholes (also called Einstein-Rosen Bridges) through the fabric of space-time. There is a fair amount of action in the film in the form of battles or fights. The production design by Bo Welch (“Men in Black II”) is very impressive. The film has a very elegant look to it. There isn't much character development, but the acting is good, as you would expect with this kind of high-powered acting talent (including two Academy Award-winning best actor Oscar winners in Hopkins and Portman). It is also nice having Stellan Skarsgård aboard since he is a fine actor, and, born in Sweden, provides a nice link to the old Norse Gods. The plot isn't bad, with enough humor built in to give the more silly elements of the drama some much-needed balance.

This is not a great comic book adaptation, but it is a serviceable one with good production values, a slick look and a story that works. It also helps that the director of this film is none other than Kenneth Branagh, best known for his fine films based on Shakespearean plays. This isn't Shakespearean, but it is good enough. This film rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2011 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)