Comics To Film: Thor (2011)

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Adventure | Fantasy
Official Trailer: Here

Editor’s Note: The following review of Thor is apart of Umar’s ongoing series entitled Comics to Film.

Kenneth Branagh has done a wonderful thing with Thor; he has made it something different from what an ordinary person would think the film would be about and do what a true fan hoped he would. With the great mythology of the Norse Gods as a source material, Marvel Comics created a comic book series that would bring ancient mythologies to modern times. Branagh had the challenge to bring this immensely rich material to the big screen, and he did it with surprisingly a great deal of humour. Thor behaved more like a Shakespearean theatre play with great effects than an actual comic book action film, and it worked well.

Kenneth Branagh has done a wonderful thing with Thor; he has made it something different from what an ordinary person would think the film would be about and do what a true fan hoped he would.

The film starts off with a history of Asgard and their battle with the Frost Giants. It quickly introduces Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), the greatest warrior of Asgard and son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) the King of the realm. In his thirst for battle and glory, Thor breaks his father’s truce with the Frost Giants with his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and their friends. Having brought Asgard to the brink of war, Odin banishes Thor to earth without his powers to teach him humility.

On earth, Thor meets Jane (Natalie Portman) and her team of scientists that are attempting to understand the strange phenomenon, which turns out to be the Asgardian teleportation device. As Thor attempts to find his lost hammer, Mjolnir (the source of his power), with Jane’s help, Loki begins to put his plan into motion to seize the throne in Thor’s absence for himself. Thor must reclaim his power and become the hero his father wanted him to be so he can return home to stop his step-brother from taking his birthright and wiping out an entire race in the process.

Branagh does an excellent job with Thor, focusing the attention more on storytelling and acting rather than action. While the film’s action sequences did leave the audience wanting for more intricate and better choreographed battles, the character development and mythology were the main focus. Branagh brought out the best in everyone, whether it is humour, heartbreak, action, or disappointment. It almost seemed like Branagh purposely brought his vast Shakespeare and stage experience so he could integrate it into the atmosphere of the film, so as to bring a comic book character to life in a more verbal rather than physical way. It was easy to capture the imagination of the audience during the scenes in Asgard, as the production team was able to create magnificent sets for the actors and director to use as their stage. This only seemed to provoke Branagh into focusing more on acting, staging, and dialogue than actual superhero powers, battles and typical villains.

As mentioned before, the real weakness of the film was the superhero battles. They seemed to be too short or not very well in sync with the CG. Some of the action scenes even had the most cheesy/melodramatic moments within them, such as when Jane is tending to a hurt Thor as the Destroyer advances. However, the break-in scene of the SHIELD base, where fans can see a cameo of the future Avenger’s character Hawkeye, is the exception. While the focus on the films story and acting was its strength, it needed better choreography in its action to have made it a truly wonderful film.

The true enjoyment of Thor comes from its hero and villain. Hemsworth does an excellent job of capturing the arrogance and vanity of Thor at the beginning of the film, but he is also able to show the changes in his personality once he arrives on earth almost as if he is going through it himself. He is able to shift from the action hero, to the romantic, and to even doing humour with ease and his chemistry with the rest of the cast is undeniable.

Hiddleston is also a wonder to watch, but in a different way. As Loki, Hiddleston creates an emotionally volatile person who is constantly at odds with everything and everyone and does not know why.

Hiddleston is also a wonder to watch, but in a different way. As Loki, Hiddleston creates an emotionally volatile person who is constantly at odds with everything and everyone and does not know why. He is able to portray a character that at first seems calm and calculating, where you can almost see him worming dark thoughts into Thor’s head much like the character of Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello. But as the film progresses, Hiddleston goes much deeper and shows us a damaged character full of raw anger and envy that slowly twists his mind and his actions into doing terrible things for understandable reasons.

Both Hiddleston and Hemsworth seemed to bring their best performances from their first scenes with Hopkins and continue that momentum throughout the film. Both played their roles with such conviction that they were not only able to make you believe in the magical world of Asgard, but you could actually feel that these characters were alive and have lived in that world and have many pains and desires pushing their actions.

The other noteworthy performance is of course Anthony Hopkins. He was a joy to watch and a perfect casting for Odin, the all knowing, all powerful Father of Asgard. He was able to prove that he is still a great actor in how he portrayed a wise old king who had to break his own heart as a father in order to fulfil his duty. His scenes playing off with both male leads, on the magnificent sets, created wonderfully theatrical character moments that conveyed much more than just the dialogue the actors were speaking.

Portman, Skarsgard and Dennings played their roles well, and their interactions with Hemsworth were entertaining. The story moved easily from Asgard to earth and the combined performances of all four allowed for not a step to be missed in terms of pacing. The characters of Sif and the Warriors Three were good supporting roles, but their actions scenes always seemed more chaotic than impressive. Aside from that, not much attention was focused on them. The true surprise was Elba’s character Heimdall, who was both stoic and funny. You could feel he was a force to be reckoned with, and briefly see it too, but his humour and honour was what really made his performance enjoyable.

Ultimately, those who are looking for a big action movie with lots of explosions and great battles will only be mildly satisfied with Thor. It will draw in more audiences with its imaginative sets and costumes, amazing visual graphics, surprisingly funny moments, and complex characters with rich backgrounds.

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Umar Shameem

When I was 6 years old, my mother showed me the 1978 Superman movie. I watched that maybe 1000 times by the time I was 7. Ever since I have loved movies, and comic books. Fast forward 20 years, a couple film courses, several thousand comic books and over 2000 movies, and you get me. I continue to watch films of all genres and read comics. It is apart of my identity and it is something I love and hope to be able to continue loving and enjoying until the end of my days.

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