Movie Review: "Thor"

As you may or may not have noticed, singular movie reviews are becoming a thing of the past on my blog.  But, after seeing "Thor" last night in the movie theater, I decided that it was one movie that deserved it's own review.

"Thor" is a fantastic movie that encompasses everything you could want in a super hero film.  We start off with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in Asgard as a selfish, proud warrior who thinks he knows better than his father and king, Odin (Anthony Hopkins).  After disobeying Odin, Thor is stripped of his powers, namely his hammer, and banished to earth.  On earth, Thor meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and discovers what it means to be a true hero and care about someone and something besides himself.  Once he does this, he is able to reclaim his hammer and take Asgard back from his rogue brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

Kenneth Branagh does a masterful job directing this super hero film.  It's on par, quality wise, with Chris Nolan's directing in the recent Batman movies.  I still like Batman better, but I think Thor has become my favorite Marvel Comics hero, surpassing the Hulk and Wolverine.  "Thor" was so good, that if I were to redo my Top 5 Super Hero Movies list, this would be #2 or #3. 

Now, the acting is probably not Oscar-worthy, but it's not bad either.  Chris Hemsworth was the perfect actor to play Thor, and Tom Hiddleston was the perfect choice for Loki.  I'm excited to see both reprising their roles in next summer's "Avengers" movie.  Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman add a level of class to "Thor", and Rene Russo was a nice addition as Thor's mother. 

In case you can't tell already, I'd give "Thor" a 5 star rating.  I believe this is my first 5 star movie of 2011.  I'm not really sure why it ended up with a PG-13 rating.  I don't remember any bad language, and there were no scantily clad women.  The frost giants were a bit scary, but I'm planning to allow my 10 year old to watch this with me on Blu-ray.  I will be buying "Thor" as soon as it comes out.