BrockTalk

With the release of the first Iron Man, Marvel showed us that who better to handle a comic-book based movie than the company that makes the comic books themselves, and thankfully they continue this trend with Thor. Thor continues Marvels effort to build multiple character focused stories that are eventually going to meet up in the imminent Avengers movie scheduled for release next year. While not quite as ground-breaking and iconic as Iron Man, Thor is a good start to the summer movie season.

We are introduced to Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as he is ready to take over the role as king of Asgard from his aging father Odin (Anthony Hopkins). However, during the celebratory induction Asgard's long-time enemies, the Frostgiants,   infiltrate the kingdom's defenses in hopes to steal back an artifact that was taken from them during an earlier war, and until now has served as a thin truce between the two races. Enraged by this break in the truce Thor along with a few of his friends decides to travel to the the Frostgiant's  home to demand answers, despite his father's decision to approach this situation differently.
When Odin discovers Thor's insubordination and his refusal to listen to reason he banishes Thor to Earth,  stripping him of all his power in hopes that Thor will learn his lesson, and return to rule when he is ready. This leaves Odin's younger brother Loki to step in for Thor as king, and while Loki seems to want to do the right thing it becomes more and more clear that his methods and motives for achieving his end goals are far from the proper path.

Thor does a lot right. There are great  tension-filled character building moments between father and son, and Thor and his brother, as well as power-packed action sequences, eye-catching special effects (the world of Asgard and the evil Frostgiants are the standouts in this category), and light touches of humor thrown in for good measure. Though with all of this Thor can't help but falter a little along the way. The relationship between Thor and earth girl Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) seems very forced, especially in the film's closing moments. There's also just a slight feeling of silliness on occasion in parts of the movie that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but may have something to do with the clashing of the two vastly different worlds of Earth and Asgard existing in the same space, not to mention in the same universe that Iron Man exists. It will be interesting to see how this is handled when Iron Man and Thor finally meet in The Avengers.

While Thor doesn't quite fill the shoes of the original Iron Man, I did enjoy it more than Iron Man's disappointing second outing. Marvel has a good thing going and looks to continue this trend with Captain America later this summer. These are all classic Marvel characters that with the help of today's technology are  finally getting their big-screen dues.