Well acted and directed, Thor is not a perfect super hero movie but it is exciting, engaging and far better than a Thor movie should ever have hoped to be.

The story finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) about to have the crown of Asgard passed on to him by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) when a frost giant attack orchestrated by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Norse god of mischief and Thor’s brother, which leads to Thor being expelled from Asgard and to a war that Loki can manipulate to take the throne for himself. Thor is exiled to earth with his power stripped away. The only way Thor can regain his power is to collect his mighty hammer Mjolnir but in order to do that he has to prove himself worthy. this leaves Thor in the company of a couple of astrophysicists and their assistant played by Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings who are investigating the anomalies Bifrost, the wormhole the gods use to come to earth, is causing. They have problems of their own as they find their research seized by SHIELD agents who are trying to figure out just what the hell Mjolnir is and why no one can remove it from the crater. There are a lot of disparate elements at work here and that they come together at all is amazing. That they come together so well is a miracle.

It is important to clarify, for those unfamiliar, that this is not a retelling of Norse mythology but rather an adaptation of the Marvel comics version of Thor who is a super hero and part of the Avengers. Because of this, there are a number of liberties taken with the mythology to allow it to fit into this world. It is not strictly faithful to the mythology and is not intended to.

Thor was a risky proposition for Marvel. For one thing, the character has long been thought to be the most difficult member of the Avengers to adapt into a movie and was thus the biggest confound to making an Avengers movie. Bringing a flamboyantly attired dude with hammer into modern day America and retaining credibility is a difficult task indeed. Doing this while trying to set up another movie in such a way that it won’t turn off casual audiences who don’t give a damn about Marvel continuity is a bit more difficult than that. To do this while splitting between an alien world with crazy things happening and a small New Mexico town and do proper service to both sounds like a nigh unto impossible task. Given these challenges, it seems like this movie would be a real long shot to every be made let alone for it to actually be a successful film. Thanks to a talented cast and sure directing by Kenneth Branagh, the film mostly succeeds.

First and foremost, the writing is crisp and funny and balances seriousness and humor perfectly. The film is sort of bisected tonally between Asgard and Earth but rather than being jarring, the differences in tones make each location feel more authentic. Asgard is much more serious and Shakspearian and Earth is a bit more comdey oriented. This is not to say one is totally serious and the other is pure comedy but the tone definitely shifts between the two.

The writing would have been all for naught, however, if the actors didn’t take it seriously or just phoned in their roles. Likewise if they had gone for camp and over done it the movie would have been a disaster…basically if either of the two villain performances from Batman Forever had happened here it would have been awful. As it was, all the actors committed to the material and did it justice. Chris Hemsworth is absolutely fantastic as Thor and inhabits the character completely. He is absolutely perfect for the role and erased any annoyance I had that Alexander Skarsgard wasn’t cast. Likewise, Tom Hiddleston is a perfect Loki. He could have gone way over the top here but rather gives us a character who is driven by selfishness and jealousy and who is very good at subtle manipulation. He doesn’t chew scenery or go really big with his performance even when most villains would be in full on psycho mode. Even in the heat of battle Loki does his best to manipulate and Hiddleston’s performance is perfect. Sir Anthony Hopkins lends a measure of gravitas to the proceedings and treats the material with respect as opposed to over the top buffoonery. Pretty much everyone on the Asgard side takes it seriously and respects the material and that comes across on screen. This is really important in this kind of film and it works well here.

On the earth side, the actors have less to work with as they are in a bizarre sort of story that exists mostly to justify Thor’s participation in the upcoming Avengers movie. Even given this, the performances are fun and light. Natalie Portman gives a refreshing performance as a scientist who isn’t all seriousness and science but rather looks at the world in a poetic way. Her girlishness when she gets around Thor is very cute and amusing. Stellan Skarsgard makes up for the lack of seriousness in Natalie Portman but manages to not feel stuffy or curmudgeonly and if I can’t have Alexander as Thor then his dad as a scientist will have to do. Kat Dennings has the least to do here but delivers funny oneliners without being obnoxious or annoying. Clark Gregg reprises his Iron Man and Iron Man 2 role as SHIELD agent Coulson and manages to keep his character from feeling like the contrivance that he is.

A criticism of Iron Man 2 was that it was less a legitimate movie and more a commercial for the Avengers. I think that is a bit much but there was a lot of connective tissue built in that film. In Thor there is even more. Pretty much everything that happens on Earth serves to set up the Avengers and that may rankle some fans. I am kind of torn about this. On the one hand I dig that these movies are connected and share the same universe with references to each other but on the other hand it can be a little jarring when you see how workman like the set up is here. Specific moments are handled very well like a sly reference to Bruce Banner without naming him or a worthwhile and amusing introduction to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, but the sort of overreaching plot of the Earth segments seem a little too calculated for my taste. That being said, if you aren’t a fan invested in all of this you probably aren’t going to even notice.

Some of the effects stumble a little as well. Most of them look terrific which makes the missteps stand out that much more. One early example is a moment when Thor walks into the great hall in Asgard and throws Mjolnir in the air and catches it. The hammer is clearly CG and the flipping motion and air time looks fake. This sort of boggles the mind as it seems like it would have saved a lot of money to just have Hemsworth throw a hammer up in the air and catch it, especially since it doesn’t look right. There are a few other moments like this scattered around that are really too bad because otherwise, the effects are very good.

Conclusion [8.5 out of 10]

Thor had a lot of risks attached to it but the director, crew and cast took the challenge and delivered a fun and exciting picture that does justice to the genre and the character even if there are a few effects blunders and one aspect of the story may seem hackneyed to some audience members. I hope that Thor is but a taste of things to come for the summer and it makes me feel a lot better about the upcoming Captain America film.