Thor

I have known Thor since 2008. I know him as the God of Thunder, that he is part of the Avengers and that he carries a massive ax that when bolted up in the air it will summon a hefty amount of lightning that can kill you. Other than that, I am completely dumbfounded about the myth.

I am not really sure what to expect when I heard that there will be a movie about him. I thought, how interesting he could be? What possibly could outdone Spiderman and the X-Men in terms of coolness?

Thor is just a prequel to the most anticipated Avengers movie. The series of films made such as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America are made to give Avengers a background so that writers doing the Avenger film will not bother doing a back story in all of its characters. Thor stands out as an introduction to the character.

Thor is arrogant and proud. It is his nature. Loki, his brother, is wise and cunning but lacks the masculinity and strength that Thor has and he is greatly jealous of that advantage. The movie follows like a Shakespearean drama while in Asgard and transforms into charming romantic comedy when Thor was banished and was sent to Earth. The old premise of the Sword in the Stone is seen in this movie where Thor has to prove himself worthy before he can get his ax from a stone. Familiar, eh? Loki sought to it that Thor will not bother him anymore and ultimately caused his demise, or so we thought... stay for the post credit scenes...

Thor does wonderfully in terms of humor which mostly plays on Thor's innocence while stuck on Earth. Natalie Portman plays well as the astrologist-type/love interest in this movie. And no, she is not doing the "Halle Berry post Oscar syndrome" in this one. The biggest surprise for me is knowing that Kenneth Branagh directed this movie. I expect him to be the heavy drama type of director and not this eye-candy type of movies but he did a good job nevertheless. He relied much on tilted shots and i loved it.

Thor is a great opening for this summer line up. Though the story is not as chiseled as Thor's body, I recommend you watching this one if you are curious enough to know the Thunder God's story.

GRADE: B