Thor

 
2011

Dir; Kenneth Branagh
 
Marvel Comics have produced some real stinkers over the years. Some real, Grade Z quality, scrape out the bottom of the fridge and don’t even bother feeding it to your dog stinkers. Elektra, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Blade Trinity, X-Men Origins: Wolverine; comic book movies with virtually no redeeming qualities that do nothing but belittle a genre that receives enough negativity as it is. Why, exactly, is another question. And I must admit, not being a comic book reader myself, when first told of the premise of Marvel’s latest cinematic outing, I was sure we had another super powered dud on our hands. Take a deep breath now … I was wrong. I’ll lay the plot out before you and I’m sure you’ll agree that, on paper, it looks more wooden than Blackbeard’s leg and camper than Graham Norton.

Thor is a god loosely based upon the Norse deity of the same name. He lives in Asgard, a nation previously at war with the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, but now in the midst of an uneasy peace. However, Thor, young and headstrong, falls victim to the manipulating whisperings of his sly brother, Loki, and disobeys their father, Odin, by attacking the Frost Giants, thus destroying the peace and reigniting the war. As punishment, Odin strips Thor of Mjolnir, the mighty hammer from which he takes his power, and banishes him to Earth. It is there that Thor meets Jane Foster and her team of scientists, and must find a way back to prevent his treacherous brother from rising to power.

Good eh? If that doesn’t sound camp and clichéd then I don’t know what does.
The film I feared most would be recreated here was Flash Gordon. Yes, we can all look back fondly and laugh now at the cheesetastic 1980 comic strip adaptation from Mike Hodges, but let’s face it, it was pretty bloody awful. And Thor might have the ridiculous costumes, the outlandish hair and the, at times, archaic dialogue, but here’s the thing, it knows it.

Director Kenneth Branagh may have been one of the strangest choices of all time to direct a comic book film, and I was certainly taken aback by the announcement, but what a fine job he’s done. A Shakespearean at heart, Branagh has recognised the hilarity of his characters and injected a real sense of fun and humour into his picture. Chris Hemsworth is absolutely splendid as the bombastic and completely over the top titular hero, both when swaggering around like Superman on speed in the dark, almost Mordor-like Jotunheim, beating the tar out of flimsy Frost Giants, and when trapped as a mortal on Earth alongside Natalie Portman’s conveniently placed and conveniently sexy scientist, still speaking as though he were an extra from Lord of the Rings for some truly hilarious scenes. Both Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hiddleston are similarly well cast as Odin and Loki respectively. Ol’ Dr. Lecter never looks embarrassed to be appearing in a film such as this despite his much more ‘actorly’ traits, providing, much like he did in the essentially crap The Wolfman recently, some real energy and gravitas to his patriarchal role. Hiddleston is quite surprising though. A relative unknown cinematically, he takes a rather creaky villain - Jealousy? Really? - and drips enough malice and poison into every line to remind you that it is Iago directing this film after all, and the villain better damn well be Machiavellian. As a comic book villain he has some stiff competition; but he’s much closer to General Zod than Ming the Merciless. Of course, there is plenty of deadwood. Portman is utterly wasted in her role as the random bit of arse paraded about before Thor, and could Stellan Skarsgård be any more convenient as the Scandanavian scientist who finds Thor in the desert and has a vast knowledge of Nordic mythology? He should really take lessons from Hopkins on how not to look embarrassed; he was in TWO Pirates of the Caribbean films after all.

Visually speaking, Thor is quite the challenge. Asgard is too much. I’ll be blunt about that. Creating the world entirely out of CGI as they have has resulted in a very bright city that really belongs in a Final Fantasy video game. Jotunheim is much more impressive; rocky and brooding, aided by the dark lighting, a very wise choice on cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos’ front. What works is the way these grand, fantastical worlds are contrasted against Thor’s Earthly adventures, which take place entirely in a very unfantastic town in the middle of New Mexico. It is here that the biggest similarity to another superhero flick rears its head, as this setting is almost identical to the unfortunate East Houston town that first experiences the wrath of General Zod and his friends in Richard Lester’s Superman II. The action sequence where Thor battles the Destroyer (some kind of metallic Wicker Man dispatched by Loki) in particular evokes memories of the Man of Steel, and that is never a bad thing.

Another concern surrounding this film was, with the announcement of Thor’s involvement in the upcoming Avengers superhero epic - which will unite a plethora of Marvel heroes and villains - that Thor would become nothing but an extended trailer for Joss Whedon’s spandex-clad ensemble, a problem felt recently by Iron Man 2. But this simply isn’t the case. Admittedly Clark Gregg does get a much extended role as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Phil Coulson, but, unlike Samuel L. Jackson, he fits the bill of a shady ‘Man In Black’ and does not detract from the overall plot. After all, why wouldn’t shadowy government organisation show up when a giant hammer crashes down from the sky? Considering the huge role both Thor and Loki are obviously going to have in The Avengers, it is pleasing that they were allowed to do their own thing first, with even Jeremy Renner’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as super marksman Clint Barton working as little more than a salivating taster to wet your geeky appetite for the film that could make-or-break comic book flicks.

A comic book film that understands its flaws, that understands its hilarity, and yet doesn’t feel the need to sprinkle our eyes with childish nonsense like the Fantastic Four films. At times a dark and brooding Machiavellian tale of the bitter jealousy between brothers, and at others your standard, amusing ‘Fish out of water’ romp. I think the gods must have had a hand in this one.

*** ½ / *****

Buckingham Palace is getting a bit over the top.