Thor - Reviewed

Do not fall into the same trap I did in thinking that Brannagh’s direction will have put an interesting spin on the latest Marvel offering.  Thor, while not awful, is quite disappointingly average.

Based on Norse mythology, the film follows the God Thor, who, after breaking a truce with another race, the Frost Giants, is cast out from Asgard by his father.  Landing on Earth, Thor struggles to find his way back home.

Thor is thus very much a story of personal journey and triumph, and it seems that Brannagh has rather too rigidly stuck to this fact.  The plot offers no surprises; the father-son relationship is typically strained, but with the promise of reconciliation, and the hero’s journey of personal realisation is mapped out and predictably followed.

We could perhaps forgive Brannagh for this if we felt the characters could bulk out the story, but they do not. Thor really does feel like a God, for he has little lines and we feel no connection with him at all; he remains remote throughout the film.  His father, Odin, lacks depth, and his brother is very typically jealous of his elder’s favouritism.  One can not also help but feel that, in trying to bulk up the female ratio in a male-based world, the producers ticked the ‘powerful woman scientist’ box, which just leaves Natalie Portman looking a bit boring.  Likewise, there’s more chemistry in her research than there is between her and Thor (apologies for the cheese).

This is not to say that any of the roles are badly acted; on the contrary, Chris Hemsworth, when he does get some lines, is engaging and actually pretty funny.  Here lies the main strength of the film: Thor’s archaic behaviour in a contemporary setting. Acting and speaking as though still in Asgard, you can tell that Brannagh got a kick out of mocking the incongruity of Shakespeare-like language in today’s world.

The film is also visually stunning, I will give them that.  I don’t feel here that the plot was sacrificed for the visual however, as is most often the case, just that the plot could not quite match up to it, which is a shame.   The only other visually pleasing aspect is Chris with his top off, again another ticked box for the producers.

Overall, Thor is mediocre, because Brannagh could have gone so many places with this.  I admit that old mythology can seem a bit out of touch with a modern audience, that the concept of an unbeatable weapon (a hammer no less) is a bit absurd.  But there must be something in all this mythology if it still fascinates us. Surely someone can do something like this well?

Roisin O’Brien