Thor

By the whiskers of Odin, that was superb. Despite its fantasy atmosphere, Thor doesn’t disturb the Marvel universe as much as I had feared. On the contrary, now I have the feeling that it would be worse without him. And the mass of references (beautifully complementing the action) form an excellent foundation for the story and prepare the ground for the biggest event of next summer. Chris Hemsworth is excellent, and considering he isn’t well-known, he did an excellent job, carrying the entire movie on his shoulders without needing his hand to be held by the better-known stars who paradoxically are given much less room. Astrophysicist Natalie is here basically just so that the main protagonist someone to fall in love with and Hopkins to cast our hero out of his home. What I liked was that Branagh exploited the spectacular world of Asgard to the maximum. Midgard (alias New Mexico) serves just as a bridge to the Avengers, but for this story it’s important only to teach Thor (big and powerful) to obey orders. All in all, this is an excellent story just a drop short of perfection. A very little drop. (2011-04-30)

Perhaps my disappointment with this is caused by excessive expectations based on decent to enthusiastic responses, but even though I was only expecting a fun summer blockbuster, I was surprised at how intellectually shallow and easily forgettable this is. The only positive aspect is Kenneth Branagh's perspective, as he was well aware of the stupidity he was directing and didn't take it too seriously. On the other hand, there is too much genre baggage and pathos in it for my taste. I really didn't expect that I would enjoy Snyder's Watchmen more... Overall impression: 40%, influenced positively by the enchanting Natalie Portman. (2011-10-06)

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)

If it wasn't part of the MCU, I would have missed out on it. The comic book adventures of this thunder god aren't my cup of tea either, so I'm not even disappointed. Yet I'm almost surprised that the acting trio of Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, and Kat Dennings was weak. Kenneth Branagh also used to be a much more definite safe bet. But I've already started watching it, so I'll survive every episode this one time. (2015-05-04)

A beautiful fairy tale that manages to illustrate both worlds (based on Thor's realm). I was a little bothered that Thor knew everything. On the other hand, there have been plenty of aliens amazed at cars and so on. I laughed at the scene where Thor walks into the Pet Center and says: "Give me a horse." The film certainly has more positives than negatives, but I'm still a little short of a full count. The 3D was completely unnecessary. (2011-05-06)