God of Thunder: Thor fails to deliver

Thor is yet another example of a good Marvel comic gone wrong on the big screen. Once you get past the awesome special effects and well-choreographed fighting scenes, the movie is quite bland.

            Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a powerful warrior on the verge of becoming king when he gets banished from his home planet Asgard, for arrogantly defying his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and reigniting a war with the Frost Giants.  As punishment, Thor is sent to Earth to learn humility and is stripped of his godly abilities and more importantly his hammer, Mjolnir, which rips apart anything in its path.

            When Thor lands on Earth, wormhole-searching scientists, led by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), find Thor in the desert.  A distraught Thor eventually ends up befriending the three as they semi-believe his story of coming from a cosmic realm.

            After word reaches the group that a strange satellite has touched down not too far from where they are, Thor realizes his hammer has followed him to earth and ventures off to get it back.  Yet after fighting through a horde of special agents from S.H.I.E.L.D who took control of the site, Thor is unable to pick up the hammer and realizes he is only a mere mortal.

            Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Valkyrie), with screenplay by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who are two of five screenwriters on the film, the movie's intense action scenes and $150 million budget couldn't hide the plot's gaping holes.

            The costumes weren't horrible, but they left out one important detail, Thor's helmet, an aspect that will surely piss off avid followers of the series.

            Hemsworth does a decent job playing the badass god, and even entices a few laughs among the audience with his old English vernacular.  Yet Portman, Peter Skarsgard, and even Hopkins, who are all very good at what they do, failed to deliver the powerful acting you would expect for a movie like this.

            While some comedy in a movie is good, everything was forced and left the audience laughing at how weird certain parts were.  From the comics and previews, one would expect the movie to be more serious, yet they seemed intent on giving the movie mass appeal, instead of staying true to the story.

            The awkward love tension between Portman and Hemsworth never developed and looked to be thrown in only to accommodate the current trend of movies these days, plus the scenes were too predictable.

            Needless to say, the film failed to grab attention.  Even though the film did almost $66 million domestically opening weekend, it is definitely not worth the price of admission.  If you do end up going though, make sure to not miss the short spoiler at the end of the movie.