Kenneth Branaugh, as a director, is known more for his adaptations of Shakespeare's work - he makes the works accessible, entertaining and imaginative - just look at his takes on Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V. But he's also done a few films that aren't Shakespeare adaptations and the results are a bit mixed - one of his earlier films, Dead Again, was a very well done thriller that touched a bit on the metaphysical and earned some comparisons to Hitchcock. But he was also responsible for the misfire that was his adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein - which suffered from woeful miscasting (John Cleese), some questionable decisions (like casting himself in the role of Dr. Frankenstein - which is a good idea - but spending the movie mostly shirtless like some harlequin romance novel cover model - which wasn't such a great idea). When I read that he was going to direct the adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor, I was struck by mixed feelings, worried that he might go the Frankenstein route.
But the surprise lies in how well he manages to pull the movie off - his take on Thor respects the pulpy roots of the comic, but he still infuses it with the wonder and fun that Iron Man had in it's first outing. Thor is almost as fun as Iron Man (though Iron Man had a bit more going for it), and makes for a great way to kick off the summer movie bonanza that some claim started already with Fast Five. It's also another great teaser of what next year's The Avengers has to offer.
Chris Helmsworth, who played Captain Kirk's father in the Star Trek "[url="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=260"]reboot[/url]" of 2009, is really well cast in the role of Thor, and infuses him with a arrogant charm and almost bratty like quality early in the film. He delivers on the promise of being a bona fide movie star that was hinted at in the brief screen time he had in Star Trek.
The film starts with the ceremony of Thor inheriting the throne of Asgard and succeed his father, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins). However, the ceremony is disrupted by an attack on Asgard (the place where Norse Gods call home), by frost giants. Thor manages to save his kingdom, but managing in doing so to disrupt the balance that his father had managed to attain. When called on this by his father, Thor is cast out of Asgard and stripped of his powers as punishment for his arrogance (including a tantrum thrown towards his father for which a five year old might deem "excessive") and his sense of entitlement. His place of exile: Earth. Meanwhile, Thor's half brother Loki (an excellent villain role played by Tom Hiddleston), is setting up events to inherit Asgard for himself in Thor's absence.
Thor's place of arrival is in New Mexico (?), where he meets (more crashes into) and befriends a storm chaser Jane Portman - played well with what little she has to work with by Natalie Portman. He spends his time on Earth trying to understand the nature of his punishment, falling for Jane and a variety of fish out of water scenarios (what would a god think of an iPod?). Compared to the depiction of Asgard, Thor's time on Earth seems nearly flat by comparison.
The ending feels a bit rushed and anti-climatic, but the movie whizzes by very quickly, hinting at The Avengers movie through appearances by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (the guy pursuing Tony Stark and Pepper Potts in the first Iron Man movie) and Jeremy Renner stops by (he'll be playing Hawkeye) to tease the comic nerds a bit.
It's a good movie, and apart from the ending feeling a bit rushed, and maybe a slightly unconvincing bit of portraying Thor as having learned his lesson of humility, stopping just short of great - but it's still more than enough of an exciting beginning to the summer, and an exciting hint of what The Avengers could offer next year.