Thor

It's not art, but it's mighty fun. more

I never would have believed it, but Branagh gets the balance between pageantry and silliness just right. more

Thor meets the elevated expectations for superhero movies today, but doesn't exceed them. There's some sloppy plotting, which always shows a certain disregard for the audience's intelligence. more

It's a film with its own identity, the simple, thrilling story of a handsome god who falls to Earth and reminds everyone what heroes do. more

Humor is the most powerful weapon deployed by director Kenneth Branagh in Thor, his rollicking take on the comic. more

Chris Hemsworth gives a breakout performance as fallen Norse god. more

Turn off the snark-o-meter, and this is a return to form for Marvel, introducing a new hero we'll be happy to see again in, oh, about a year or so. more

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about Thor is that it doesn't feel like a cookie-cutter superhero comic book origin story. more

Though he looks every inch a brawny Norse god, Hemsworth is not just a hunk. His charisma and charming grin go a long way toward making Thor engaging. more

Hemsworth, an Aussie actor with a vocal command to match his heaving brawn, doesn't just play the role, he owns it. I'm expecting both sexes will feel his impact. more

Easily one of the best looking Marvel movies so far. I was never a big Thor fan in the comics but this movie had me locked in. Overall i think this movie shines thanks to Hemsworh, Hiddleston the supportin cast. It takes its place among the top super hero films Marvel has done now that they are in control. more

Simple characters, a totally implausible plot coupled with a totally implausible romance (a little incompetence for everyone!), a dreary and plodding disaster of a third act, awful comic relief including fucking iPod jokes, a lousy ending simply begging the audience to come and watch The Avengers and Thor 2 and whatever other shit Marvel wants to cram down our throats...but shit, at least it's beautiful, and full of explosions and half-decent action. Right? Right? Very much the Iron Man of its time; a product of the tried-and-true Marvel machine, dreary high-budget formula that would be... more

Full review to come, but a few brief notes: Hemsworth as Thor is fine, but most of the characters are surprisingly simple, and the directing certainly doesn't feel like Kenneth Branagh. It's almost as if they made a big-budget-type superhero movie, but on a limited budget. The plot is a little light, action sequences are brief and somewhat empty, the greenscreen work obvious, and every scene, whether in Asgard or New Mexico, feels like its taking place on a soundstage. Nothing feels like a convincing real location. All this isn't to say I didn't enjoy the film - I like the character, I was... more

Thor is the latest in line to the build up for the all-star Marvel bash "The Avengers". As a standout movie it's not that impressive. But among the recent wave of Marvel hero movies, I'd say this is the best so far. As the brawny, ill tempered Norse God, Chris Hemsworth seems born for the part. Tom Hiddleston as Loki also delivered an impressive performance. The rest of the big names in the cast, just about does their bit in the limited screentime they were provided. more

Despite the talent of the strong lead, who is also incredibly handsome and charismatic, this superhero blockbuster is very unimpressive and never takes risks, trying more to be a prequel to The Avengers than anything else. Besides, the character goes through sudden changes in his personality that are really hard to buy. more

More comic-strip than comic-book - in other words fun, a bit camp and always unpretentious (which doesn't mean this is anything more than slightly akin to Joel Schumacher or Mike Hodges - though I'm sure the humourless won't agree with me). The love interest is completely disposable and is far less important than the Shakespearean (ahem!)/Greek tragedy (don't scoff!)/soap-opera at the heart of 'Thor' - two brothers, only they're not (far be it from me to inject the queer reading here), one misunderstood, one 'different' (still not saying it's queer) slug it out for the approval of their... more