Viewed once in theaters, May 2011
Being a huge superhero movie (a.k.a. Marvel) fan, I was super-excited (sorry) to see a film about an apparently-important, little-known hero who is one of the core group of heroes known as the Avengers. (Aaaand that's about where my comic-book knowledge ends. I know about most of the Marvel movies, but have virtually no literacy in the comic-book counterparts.) I expected the same type film that I've come to expect in the last few years--flashy, stylistic, violent, adventurous, slightly-sexualized and profanity-ridden.
I was not disappointed. Coming into this film with very, very little knowledge of who Thor is or where he came from or even what he's like, I thoroughly enjoyed the crisp, clean buildup of the character. Although this film is a bit shallow and a little too quick, it is surprisingly very family-friendly--very little sexual content, only a handful of profanities, and really only one "violent" scene (involving an epic planetary battle with ice-monsters). The characters are all fairly simple and uncomplicated, making the film enjoyable at a very basic level. The visual aspect of the film is breathtaking, with hyper-realistic colors and some classic physics-defying stunts. And one of the most impressive things? All of Chris Hemsworth's massive muscles are 100% his own, gotten by completely natural and healthy means.
And it's not just the surface things that make this film worth watching: This film puts huge emphasis on virtues like courage, family, honor, loyalty, hard work, and honesty. It derides characters who possess arrogance, pride, anger, and jealousy. Although Thor's father is a bit extreme and a little crazy, he inadvertently forces characters like Thor and Loki (Thor's younger, jealous brother) to look at themselves critically and make a decision on what to do with their inner desires. It all comes together to produce a message that is vaguely reminiscent of Scripture--there is an inner battle within each of us, with two sides. One is our own desires, which we must wrestle with and fight against, because it is inherently bad. The other is the desire of "good," of moral correctness, which comes from something bigger than ourselves. Thor is forced to look at his naive, immature self and make a decision: Do I stay immature and force my way into becoming the king, or do I grow up a little and earn it, become worthy of the crown?
The religious aspect of Thor is actually relatively downplayed. Although many of the main characters are "gods" from Greek, Norse, and Roman mythology, they wrestle with many of the same problems that we do. Also, the main human character (played by Natalie Portman) is very resistant to and skeptical of the idea of supernatural beings, and she attempts to explain their powers away by saying that it's just a result of the "gods" being aliens from other planets, where they have discovered the bridge between science and magic. Even Thor himself says that, in his world, science and magic are "one and the same." It's an interesting twist on gods and supernatural beings: simply make them extraterrestrial, and you remove most of the religious implications...of course, this invites new theological debates, but that's for another story.
Another huge part of the film is the idea of "loving" (or at least, not obliterating) one's enemies. It's a pretty big piece of the plot, and it becomes even more important as the twists continue to unfold. At the end, one character decides to sacrifice something very important to them, in order to save their enemies from annihilation. An unusual moral, especially for a superhero movie.
Plugged In says, "We know him to be a hero, and yet he's at his most heroic when he bows his head in submission...He scores his greatest victory when he suffers a killing blow...Thor, a film with undeniably pagan roots, can feel at times almost Christian."
5 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
Plugged In Movie Reviews
The Internet Movie Database
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