Thor

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: April 21st, 2011
Lead Actor: Chris Hemsworth
Running Time: 114 mins
Genre: Action
Nation: USA
Budget: $150 million

Review by Fraser Green

As far as simple-minded big-budget action films go, director Kenneth Branagh has certainly ranked Thor as one of the best. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Middleson, Stellen Skarsgaard and Anthony Hopkins.

The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.

Thor is simple, but entertaining. Thor is mainstream, but effective. Thor is the God of Thunder, and ‘thunderous’ is probably the best word to describe the film. From depicting a sequence that appears later in the story, at the start of the film, following by brief opening credits with epic music, you know Thor is going to be something good. It turns out I was wrong – it was great. Sure, it may be predictable like any superhero action film, and sure, it may be quite simple-minded, but it put to the best use possible. The film is an epic, on a cross-universal scale, but it is so contained. There are really only two locations of performance here, and the Earth location is isolated – it doesn’t take place across the world or across a large American city, it stays in the one location, and the audience can feel as if they are part of the film itself. A great juxtaposition – undoubtedly epic but very contained – which is also used through the culture clash of the depicted ‘Roman-esque’ Asgard civilisation and the simple, isolated, post-911 modern society of the ‘Earth characters’. This containment is what made me feel a part of the film, and it wasn’t just mindless nonsense unfolding in front of me.

Chris Hemsworth is highly likeable in the title role, garnering solid support from all round, and the script is well-written and funny, even if it is simplistic. The most notable aspect of Thor is a the direction under Kenneth Branagh, reflecting his love for Shakespearian tales in his iconic visual style and epic set design. Branagh manages to take something totally other-worldly, and make it feel very plausible with the techniques described above. On top of that, his clever, effective cinematography using unique angles provdes the film with more authenticity, which is reflected in the action sequences where the audience can actually see what is going on, by controlled editing and camera movement. What makes this more impressive, it how the massive scale of CGI effects does not hinge your viewing and our experience of Thor.
Thor is undoubtedly simple-minded and predictable, but on the scale of Hollywood blockbusters and superhero films, Kenneth Branagh directs with thunderous authenticity, managing to keep the film contained enough so the audience can feel apart of the story, and perceive the implausible, as plausible. Also to the film’s credit, the use of 3D technology is very well-handled.

Critical Analysis Rating: 74/100

My Rating: 3 and a half stars