Okay when reading this keep in mind I'm a comic book geek. All my impressions are based on a LOT of previous knowledge of Thor. So this is the fanboy review, and the fanboy did not like it.

The movie actually started out pretty good, but about 30 minutes in it starts to get really really slow and a little over dramatic. After that it never really picks up speed again, even at the end. It just never quite finds its groove. I blame that partially on the director Kenneth Brannaugh whose talents are better suited for slower paced dramas and Shakespearean fare. The other part was the script itself. It takes elements from too many areas and tries to merge it all together - there's plot elements from classic silver age Thor, modern day/post-Ragnarok Thor, Ultimate Thor. . . and the end result feels a little disjointed.

The cast is a mixed bag too. Anthony Hopkins was flat out too old for the role. He feels like Thor's grand father, not father. Thor himeself was actually okay. He's a little too pretty boy, but he does justice to the roll over all. Loki was great. Best character and actor in the movie, though the rest of the villians -aka the Frost Giants were good too. Everyone else.... utterly forgettable.


Overall it's not worth a theater ticket. Wait for rental. It's not Punisher War Zone bad, but it's right around par with the Ang Lee Hulk or maybe X-3 or the second Fantastic Four. If you're interested in a more spoiler filled review (though I still won't really spoil the big stuff) read on:

SPOILERS.... SORTA


Okay so the movie starts out with a some history of Asgard, Odin, frost-giants, the 9 realms etc. Asgard looks like a strange mix of every bad sci-fi movie from the 70's and 80's. Not very Vikingish, but it more or less works. Then it goes into a battle that sort of introduces all the main and supporting characters. Good fight scenes and just the right amount of humor. Up until this point (the first 30 minutes) it's actually very good. Then Thor gets banished for being a hot head and it all goes to hell.


Once Thor is sent to Earth the movie just starts to crawl. Natalie Portman's character is just awful. There's no chemistry between her and Thor and since she is the love interest it makes all of their scenes pretty hard to swallow. Frankly her character is barely necessary. Plotwise her main purpose to drive Thor from point A to point B.


From there SHIELD gets involved and there's some drama surrounding Thor's hammer. There's a little action there as he goes to retrieve it, but it was a really dull action scene. This is sort of a reoccuring problem with the fights that hampers every other action scene. When there's an epic battle scene going on (like the earlier ones), Kenneth Branaugh nails it. But when it's just these smaller fights it just fails. He doesn't know how to do it and the scenes drag.


So after this, there's some crap and Thor matures as a person and more forced romance with Natalie Portman and blah blah blah. Eventually Sif and the Warriors 3 come down and we get another big fight that sucks. This time with that killer robot from the previews (don't ask). And eventually after that it's back to Asgard for one more big fight (that sucks) and some bad dialogue with Loki... the end.


That's also another problem with the movie. Thor never ends up as a real likeable character. In fact, the one truly sympathetic character is Loki! They made the villian the only character that you can really get emotionally invested in. Hell, during the final battle I was hoping Loki would win (I hope that wasn't too much of a spoiler for you).


So overall it's really a rental at best. Maybe non-Thor fans will enjoy it because they're not as familiar with the mythos, but for me this was just painful. First half hour gets an 8. The rest of the movie.... 4.