Thor

After embarrassing trailers and 3D conversion, I avoided watching Thor in the movie theater. Now, in retrospect, I feel that was a mistake because Branagh has delivered a terrific comic book movie that bucks the fashionable trend of machine psychoanalyses of the heroic mind, and instead has a sympathetic man land on Earth who tackles everything with a disarming combination of unearthly naivety and muscularity. The characters are as flat as ever, but the actors are excellent, it moves along nicely, and it's full of humor (or Asgard) and proper pomposity. A sequel, please! (2011.08.29)

It’s clear to me now why a Shakespeare filmmaker like Kenneth Branagh went for this. All the scenes from Asgard seem like great theatre, with interesting characters, great fatality, betrayal, envy and jealousy. Asgard, with its megalomaniacal architecture and all its pomposity, was the most entertaining part, and the episode from Earth, thanks to the good actors, was also enjoyable, although I can't shake the impression that more unintentional humour could have been extracted from "Thor wondering among men like a bull in a china shop". Chris Hemsworth is likeable in every way, Hopkins finally after a long time in a role that suits him best; these classy characters, that's his thing. Overall an enjoyable 2 hours and I wouldn't mind a sequel. (2011.05.08)

I didn’t believe in it, even after the overall satisfied responses, but this is surprisingly pretty good. Half of the story takes place on earth, the other half in Asgard, Thor’s home planet, which looks quite gorgeous, even if you can see the lack budget a little. But I liked the scenes on earth a bit more, they are filled with pleasant light-hearted humour, especially at the beginning. By the end, unfortunately, things get awfully serious and there isn’t even a hint of humour. But it’s still pretty nice and fun to watch. The biggest surprise for me, however, is that the blond and thunderous Hemsworth is a pretty good actor… (2011.08.28)

It could have been dull weirdness with a bunch of polished mannequins, but thanks to Kenneth Branagh's pedantic guidance, it became a wonderful fairy tale with mythological proportions, a great degree of noble irony and, above all, the excellent Chris Hemsworth (who devoted at least as much effort to acting as he did to his first-class musculature) and, as always, the irresistible glossator Stellan Skarsgård. It is spoiled a bit by the equally fragile Portman and some stupid flubs in the script (maybe even in the Czech translation) as well as the slightly wooden tricks, but Fenriz doesn’t care about any of that... fans of hyper-effective blockbuster modernity may not be enticed, but for lovers of honest epics with a nice design and a magical atmosphere, Thor's Mjolnir should slap them on the head quite nicely. That’s the right frequency, Kenneth! (2011.04.20)

Thor was a fun ride. I really enjoyed how the filmmakers blended reality with Asgard, and how they dropped Thor into our world while keeping things light and humorous. It worked so well for a fantasy film—something I’ll never get tired of watching. The movie paints a world I couldn’t even dream up myself, and the way the creators bring their vision to life, especially with Asgard, is incredible. Hats off to the team for taking on such an ambitious project, and I love that they’re planning to expand the story beyond just one film. While it doesn’t quite hit the five-star mark for me, it’s close. It felt a bit like Men in Black with a different plot—great concept mixed with humor and some really solid actors. Back in the day, Men in Black blew my mind with its blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy, and Thor follows a similar path. And I’m definitely here for it. Overall, I’m just happy movies like this exist—it’s not five stars, but it’s still a really enjoyable film that offers an epic story, laughs, and characters that are either just regular folks or full-blown gods. (2012.06.13)