By Geno McGahee
One of the superheroes that I have had little to no interest in was Thor. It may have something to do with that INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS made for TV movie, featuring a Thor vs. Hulk scenario and stinking up the joint in the process. Thor stunk. What can a guy with a hammer do? My dad owned several hammers and he sucked donkey dong and now we have some blonde guy with just one hammer and I’m supposed to be impressed? Well, I am happy to report that the 2011 THOR film is far superior to the made for TV shit fest that I suffered through all those years ago.
Now, for all of you comic book geeks out there, you may want to turn away as I write this. I hate Stan Lee. No, I don’t hate the many superheroes that he has created, but I hate how he has to show his wrinkled face in every single Marvel movie that I watch. Once again, THOR features this guy. It’s not amusing to have him in it. He’s not funny. He’s one of those annoying elderly people that you just want to punch in the face.
So we start on Thor’s home planet, Asgard, where he is about to be named king by his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), but some bad alien guys interfere and Thor seeks justice…against his dad’s orders. That betrayal prompts King Odin to banish his son to Earth as his other son, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) remains. As it turned out, this entire situation was manipulated by Loki and he quickly takes over once his brother is out of the picture and his dad falls ill.
On Earth, a scientific group led by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), stumble across Thor and take him aboard, thinking that he must be crazy, but they become convinced as time goes on that they may be dealing with the son of a god. Soon, Thor discovers his brother’s evil plans and needs to kick some ass and get his hammer back…which was in possession of S.H.I.E.L.D…the group that brings all the important superheroes together. When he makes it through their security, he can’t pick up the hammer because it’s too heavy. He needs his ailing daddy to give it the green light. When Loki attacks Earth, Thor is given his hammer back and it’s on.
This movie reminded me a lot of THE LION KING, where the would-be king is banished through a jealous relative’s scheme and has to come back to fight for his right to party…and to get his kingdom back. I’m just glad that this movie didn’t have any music by Elton John.
I went into THOR thinking that I was going to dislike it. The CGI world of Asgard was surely going to annoy me and the character wasn’t interesting, but I was wrong. I could cope with the CGI world and Chris Hemsworth does an outstanding job as this superhero. I really enjoyed his time on Earth and how he stood out. I think that was part of my reason why I hated the Thor in the Hulk TV movie…he just seemed like a human being with a hammer up his ass. This Thor seemed like a stranger to this world.
THOR is a winner. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 8/10
I’ve owned the Thor DVD for at least a year, but have never watched it. The same with the Iron Man movies and The Avengers. I guess now I’ll put the DVD into the player and watch Thor do Hammer Time.