Thor (2011)

Thor has always struck me as an odd addition to the company of superheroes because, well, he’s Thor, for crying out loud – the Norse god of thunder. What business does a god have mixing in with the likes of Tony Stark and Peter Parker? And how is this fair? What sort of criminal element really poses a threat to a deity? The new movie version of Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, does actually find a way to solve the second problem by realizing that a hot-tempered god might be his own worst enemy (albeit with some company by film’s end). It has a harder time, however, with that first problem. The god stuff and the earthly-hero stuff never quite gel. Thor feels like two movies uncomfortably shoehorned into one.

One movie concerns goings-on in Asgard, here imagined as a far-off planet home to god-like beings and fabulous art direction. Asgard is ruled by the “All-Father” Odin (Anthony Hopkins, in full-bore regal mode). Odin has been grooming his sons, the boisterous warrior Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the sly magician Loki (Tom Hiddleston), to become leaders of men, er, gods, er, whatever. On the eve of elder son Thor’s accession to the throne, however, he defies his father’s wishes and pays a belligerent visit the gods’ perennial enemies the Frost Giants (who all look rather like the demonic cousins of the Blue Man Group) – renewing the age-old war between them. Furious at his son’s arrogance and lack of control, Odin banishes Thor from Asgard to “Midgard” (Earth, lucky us) until he can learn a little humility. Thor’s trademark divine weapon (a hammer called Mjollnir) follows him, landing embedded in rock and only to be pulled out by one who can rightfully wield it.

Here the second movie kicks in. Thor finds himself in modern-day New Mexico, where he is literally run into by an energetic young astrophysicist named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Jane, assisted by her mentor Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and intern Darcy (Kat Dennings), has been tracking cosmic disturbances by charging around the desert in a van (I like to think of this as the Gram Parsons method of physics research). When she meets a man who seems to have come from one of these disturbances, Jane is both fascinated and, well, disturbed. The guy looks awfully human (and cute) to be from beyond…and yet he seems to know stuff…For his part, Thor just wants to get his hammer back before the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., led by the nigh-unflappable Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) spirit it away, or before the Frost Giants make a move back at Asgard, where Loki has gotten an upgrade in royal standing - for better or worse.

This all sounds like pretty silly stuff, and on a certain level it is. Thor pays its dues with the kind of winks and chuckles we associate with modern comic-book movies (Thor’s method of ordering more coffee, for example), but the surprising thing is that Branagh finds a way to play most of it straight. This is the most earnest superhero movie I’ve seen in a while, and it may well be that this is due to an Englishman being at the helm. Perhaps it takes a European to do (literal) mythology without trying to debunk it. The whole thing has a kind of “Masterpiece Theater” feel to it. This is real heroics – no metaphors needed.

The Asgard storyline is, after all, truly Wagnerian stuff, and Branagh, who is famous for his Shakespeare films, seems to be more at home with the gods of war and royal intrigue. Yes, much of this material is pitched at a Shakespeare-Company level where everything is Really Important, but there is real emotional resonance to this half of the story. It’s in Asgard that the deeper themes come up – parental expectations, brotherhood, loyalty, and so forth. The shiny armor and shimmering CGI bridges can’t obscure the mythic roots of the tale. There’s a reason people still study this stuff, and if Thor sends a few kids scurrying to the myth section of the local library, all to the better.
On Earth, however, the movie falters. Gods are notoriously one-dimensional, known by their jobs or attributes. But what’s a workable strategy in Asgard is less successful in New Mexico. Jane is spunky, Darcy is funny, Dr. Selvig is smart, and that’s about it (though at least Mr. Skarsgard is allowed to play genuinely Nordic for a change). The script aims at a romance between Jane and Thor, but it never really takes off. This is not the actors’ fault. Ms. Portman and Mr. Hemsworth smile and cuddle gamely, but there’s nothing really written for them. They feel for each other because the plot demands it, nothing more—which is a problem for some later story developments.

Neither Thor as a character nor Mr. Branagh as a director are known for subtlety, and so in that sense this is a good pairing. Thor is a big, bright (at least in 2-D), loud, shiny summer movie about a big, loud, shiny guy, er, god. What subtlety is to be found sneaks in through the a few of the performances. Mr. Hiddleston is especially worthy of note as Loki, who is as conflicted as Thor is brash. Idris Elba is interesting but underused as the oracular warrior Heimdall, who dresses like an Academy Award and speaks like Gandalf. And it’s been fun to watch Mr. Gregg add shades to Coulson over the course of several films. Others are fare less well. Colm Feore growls appropriately as the king of the Frost Giants, but he’s buried under tons of make-up and saddled with the decidedly un-terrifying name of “Laufey.” Equally stymied are a quartet of actors playing Thor’s adventuring buddies, including Jaimie Alexander as the obligatory Valkyrie type, and the always-welcome Ray Stevenson as the Falstaffian Volstagg. These characters never register as much more than “Thor’s pals.” As for Thor himself, Mr. Hemsworth hits (hammers?) just the right notes. His Thor is capable of being a lout, but never completely loses our sympathy. He also understands the key to the fish-out-of-water scenes, which is that Thor must never know he’s funny. It’s a fine star turn, and Thor is charismatic enough to be welcome back in the Avengers group-pic and the inevitable Thor sequels.

Thor is the rare comic-book movie that could actually benefit from a little more running time, to fill out its thinner elements. The end result is a little too choppy and incomplete to be perfect – some fun disparate scenes, but not a great movie. It also tries a little too hard to push the upcoming Avengers film (Selvig has a colleague who worked with “gamma rays” and disappeared! Oho! That government archer is played by Jeremy Renner! Wonder who he is?). Overall, though, it delivers an entertaining kick-off to the “big movie” season. There’s some good old fashioned Saturday-afternoon-matinee wonder here. Thor is not exactly fit for the gods, but it’s not too bad for a mortal outing.