Movie Review: Thor

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Action, characters, acting, story

Cons: A few of the effects, one fight scene; just minor things

The Bottom Line: 

Superhero myth

In an action packed movie

That's plenty of fun

"Does He Need CPR?  Cause I Totally Know CPR."

I know very little about comic books and superheroes.  Case in point?  I didn't know that Thor was a superhero until they started making this movie.  All I really knew about him was that he was a Norse god.  So I went into this movie pretty much a blank slate, but I enjoyed it.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a prince in the land of Asgard.  While his wise father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) tries to train him to be a wise ruler, Thor just wants the adventure and glory of battle.

And so Thor is sent to Earth and made human.  His path crosses that of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), an astrophysicist who thinks he is the answer to her research.

Meanwhile, back at home, Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is trying to take over the throne.  Will Thor learn the lesson he needs to regain his power?  Will there be a way to defeat Loki?

So, not being familiar with the character, I really had no idea what to expect from the movie.  I often found myself a plot point ahead of the action, but that was about all.  Most of the time, I was caught up in the story and just enjoying the ride.  While I don't know the Marvel universe all that well, I did catch some references to Iron Man, which made me smile.

I was surprised at how much humor there was in the movie.  No, it isn't a comedy, but a few of the scenes and plenty of lines were funny.  Since I saw it on a Tuesday night, the theater wasn't packed, but there were spots where all of us were laughing.

But when it comes time for the action, the movie really delivers.  Thor gets several fight scenes, most of which are well done.  The first one is a little hard to follow, but I didn't have any trouble with the others.

Likewise the effects are mostly good.  Most of the time I bought what I was seeing on the screen, but one race of characters we meet seems a little fake sometimes when they are on the screen.

The acting, on the other hand, is uniformly good.  Honestly, I didn't recognize anyone in the cast until I saw their names at the end, so I wasn't distracted by thinking of past credits.  The actors pulled me into the story and made me really care about their characters and the outcome of the story.

I saw the movie in the 2D format.  Frankly, I don't see the need for 3D on this film.  It was perfectly fine visually this way, so don't spend the extra money on 3D.

And yes, you'll want to stay through the credits for one last scene.

Superhero movies are meant to be fun and entertaining, and Thor succeeds in that regard.  Sit back and enjoy a fun story for a couple of hours.