Personality splits are standard-issue camouflage for most super-heroes, and the Marvel comics version of Thor is no exception. But Kenneth Branagh and the team of writers who have brought the super-hero spin on the Norse god of thunder to the big screen decide to largely ditch the whole alter-ego bit, as well as most of the usual trappings of super-hero origin stories that often cause them to drag with exposition. In their place is a movie with a split personality of its own.
On one side is a well-constructed story with Shakespearean overtones — power and familial betrayal writ very, very large — alongside some well-played humor and fantastic fantasy imagery. The darker side of the coin, though, is some of the clunkiest character writing yet seen in the collection of movies leading up to next year’s Avengers, and a handful of plot points so poorly conceived that they test the limits not just of the necessary suspension of disbelief, but of basic common sense. Throw Anthony Hopkins on top in what is now his standard mode of overplaying every scene, and there’s a lot of annoyances to get past before you can enjoy yourself.
It makes Thor a maddening movie, because the things that it does right, it does really well. Marvel’s first smart move was in choosing Kenneth Branagh, one-time heir apparent to the Yorick’s skull belonging to Laurence Olivier, to direct. Branagh, despite never really fulfilling all the overblown expectations of his wunderkind early career, understands deep in his bones how to do overblown drama without making it fussy and staid. And whatever legitimate complaints one might have about his failed 1994 Frankenstein, that film and his 1991 Hitchcock homage, Dead Again, demonstrate a real affinity for the grammar of the classical thriller.
He brings all that to bear in this film, which takes as its premise that the gods of Norse mythology are not gods at all, but an alien race whose powers made them seem godlike when they came to earth near the end of the 10th century and helped humankind avoid destruction at the hands of yet another alien race, the Frost Giants. They banished the devious ice masters back to their cold and rocky realm of Jotunheim, retreated themselves to their own world of Asgard, and the Vikings back on Earth made a mythology out of their saviors.
Odin (Anthony Hopkins), the “allfather,” rules Asgard, and after the tidy Lord of the Rings-style prologue, is about ready to step down from his throne in favor of his son, the brash, bold, and bicep-y Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Thor’s brother Loki is jealous, but accepts the arrangement until an attack by the Frost Giants, and Thor’s resultant counter-attack — in direct contradiction of Odin’s orders — results in his banishment to Earth, robbed of his powers, and his Mjöllnir, the magical hammer that crushes any foe, returns like a boomerang when thrown, and even gives Thor the power of flight. With Thor out of the picture, the tricky Loki looks to install himself in his place. Loki is easily the most fascinating figure in the film; this is his origin story as a villain even more than Thor’s as a hero, and Tom Hiddleston plays the character with just the right blend of innocence and sinister intent. As the Dark Knight taught us, the most important part of a good superhero movie isn’t the hero: it’s the big bad.
All of the Asgard action takes place in opulent palaces and otherworldly exteriors, a beautifully rendered digital realm that, while it doesn’t really benefit much from the 3D if you choose to pay extra for the glasses, is some of the most gorgeous design yet seen in a Marvel film. Branagh plays up the formality, the staginess of the heightened language, in order to create comedy with it once Thor is stuck in 21st century New Mexico. The team of scientists, led by Jane (Natalie Portman) who find him there don’t know quite what to make of his grandiose declarations, and his habit of smashing diner coffee mugs as an indication that he has enjoyed his beverage and wants more.
There’s a lot of charm in the humor, and as was the case with the first Iron Man, it plays cleverly against the action and the dire stakes. Branagh sets up Thor’s quest to return home, Loki’s betrayal, and the unforeseen dangers facing Asgard in Thor’s absence, quickly and efficiently, saving us from an overlong first act. He gets right to the briskly told story, wielding fantastic visual flair; even if he’s a little too in love with all those skewed dutch angles he learned from classic horror.
If only he hadn’t been saddled with a script so prone to tired character clichés and a series of lazy cheats used to get our heroes out of some tough spots. Worst among these is Jane (Natalie Portman), a brilliant, ambitious physicist who somehow drops about 80 IQ points at the sight of Thor’s pecs, and continues the dumb little girl routine throughout much of her remaining interactions with him. It’s no wonder Joss Whedon isn’t including the character in his Avengers movie next year: female characters this weak and underdrawn aren’t in his writing vocabulary.
Then there are the logical slips: Thor and Loki appear in the Norse mythology of the movie as adults, despite the movie making clear that they were children when Odin came to earth to help out the Vikings; the Asgardians keep referring to humans as “mortal,” implying that they’re not, despite the fact that Odin seems to be stepping down from the throne because he’s close to a death brought on by his advanced age. In one scene that is almost insulting in its implausibility, after Thor has infiltrated a heavily-guarded secret government compound, Jane’s colleague, Professor Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), manages to get effect his release by simply telling them that Thor’s an upset scientist on steroids. Because that always works.
It seems ungrateful to complain about having to check your brain at the popcorn counter for an action movie. A little implausibility is to be expected, but moments like these, that nag at you after you’ve left the theater otherwise largely satisfied, could have been easily remedied. They don’t ruin the movie, but they make it obvious how much better it could have been. You may need a large hammer to the head to silence the voice in there that keeps sighing in exasperation and saying, “C’mon, really?!?” Luckily, Thor has just the thing.
—
Thor
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne, from a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich, based on the comic by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, and Anthony Hopkins
Running time: 114 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence.
Opens today at theaters around the area.
