thunder in my heart

Thor (12A)

8 / 10

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins

Thor is the god of thunder and a bit of a know it all. When his arrogance causes the end of a truce between his people and the Frost Giants, he is cast out from his home in Asgard and ends up on Earth where he learns a lesson or two....

For those people well versed in the Marvel comics, the gradual convergence of the various characters into an Avengers film is presumably pretty understandable. For those of us who don't know anything about Iron Man, Thor and Captain America other than what we have seen in the films, the movies are having to be decent in their own right.

I'm glad to say that I thought Thor was great fun. There's a lot of CGI to contend with - when you create a whole world that isn't Earth I suppose that's to be expected - but it also features some genuine moments of comedy and some very classy performances. Chris Hemsworth exceeded my expectations as the villain/hero whilst Natalie Portman redeems herself after the nonsense that was Your Highness with a great turn here. Stellen Skarsgard is ace (as ever) whilst it was lovely to see Rene Russo back in a big budget film for the first time since, I think, The Thomas Crown Affair.

It's not a hard story to follow and Thor no doubt sets up a tale which will be investigated further in forthcoming movies. However, as a couple of hours of mindless cinema entertainment, it certainly was a cut above the average.