Thor

After embarrassing trailers and 3D conversion, I avoided watching Thor in the movie theater. Now, in retrospect, I feel that was a mistake because Branagh has delivered a terrific comic book movie that bucks the fashionable trend of machine psychoanalyses of the heroic mind, and instead has a sympathetic man land on Earth who tackles everything with a disarming combination of unearthly naivety and muscularity. The characters are as flat as ever, but the actors are excellent, it moves along nicely, and it's full of humor (or Asgard) and proper pomposity. A sequel, please! (08/29/2011)

A beautiful fairy tale that manages to illustrate both worlds (based on Thor's realm). I was a little bothered that Thor knew everything. On the other hand, there have been plenty of aliens amazed at cars and so on. I laughed at the scene where Thor walks into the Pet Center and says: "Give me a horse." The film certainly has more positives than negatives, but I'm still a little short of a full count. The 3D was completely unnecessary. (05/06/2011)

Perhaps my disappointment with this is caused by excessive expectations based on decent to enthusiastic responses, but even though I was only expecting a fun summer blockbuster, I was surprised at how intellectually shallow and easily forgettable this is. The only positive aspect is Kenneth Branagh's perspective, as he was well aware of the stupidity he was directing and didn't take it too seriously. On the other hand, there is too much genre baggage and pathos in it for my taste. I really didn't expect that I would enjoy Snyder's Watchmen more... Overall impression: 40%, influenced positively by the enchanting Natalie Portman. (10/06/2011)

Branagh is a tremendous guy; he knows full well that not even a popcorn relax movie can be purely action for action’s sake, but that it needs emotions through (almost Shakespeare-like) destiny, (almost Shakespeare-like) tongue-in-cheek humor (the above applies only to the original, undubbed version - dubbing can easily bury any attempt at humor) and also some acting talent in the cast... Simply everything necessary to make sure that this wouldn’t turn into an effective “American-style" brainwasher, but into a regular, although still popcorn movie with all the trimmings. And not only does Thor manage this throughout, but the relaxed impression remains with you even after you leave the movie theatre, which is unusual today. You could not get more out of the naive comic book story (which hijacks Norse myths and legends) that it’s based on. The only thing that isn’t clear to me with respect to future plans is why the last fall didn’t take place with the opposite guard? (04/27/2011)

Thor was a fun ride. I really enjoyed how the filmmakers blended reality with Asgard, and how they dropped Thor into our world while keeping things light and humorous. It worked so well for a fantasy film—something I’ll never get tired of watching. The movie paints a world I couldn’t even dream up myself, and the way the creators bring their vision to life, especially with Asgard, is incredible. Hats off to the team for taking on such an ambitious project, and I love that they’re planning to expand the story beyond just one film. While it doesn’t quite hit the five-star mark for me, it’s close. It felt a bit like Men in Black with a different plot—great concept mixed with humor and some really solid actors. Back in the day, Men in Black blew my mind with its blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy, and Thor follows a similar path. And I’m definitely here for it. Overall, I’m just happy movies like this exist—it’s not five stars, but it’s still a really enjoyable film that offers an epic story, laughs, and characters that are either just regular folks or full-blown gods. (06/13/2012)