Is it America’s long, cold winters that create a disproportionate hunger for summer blockbusters? Both Furious Five and Thor have been getting rave reviews, the general idea being that, yes, they are mindless fun, but that’s what we’re all in the mood for. But are we really? Thor, which reprises a Marvel Comics character and tells the story of his short exile on Earth, isn’t all that epic, or funny, or eye-popping in the CGI and action departments. While not painfully bad, it’s a bad omen (as the Vikings would say) when such a pedestrian flick gets hailed as the great herald of blockbuster season
The story goes like this. Thor lives in a city that looks a lot like Final Fantasy XII, the kind where everyone has a penchant for cosplay and uses words like “sustenance” instead of food. Ice giants break into his dad’s basement so Thor invades their land and kills a few hundred of them. Thor’s dad, Odin, is upset, takes his son’s hammer, strips him of his powers and sends him to earth. The young god falls on a scientist’s truck, she falls for his pecs. Who wouldn’t? Thor is a really charming guy: he speaks funny, eats a lot and breaks his mugs after downing his coffee. But Thor must recover his hammer—and could his brother’s non-blondness be a subtle clue as to who the movie’s bad guy is?
Before Thor, Kenneth Brannagh was definitely more high-brow (he directed a great Hamlet and Henry V) than pop, and he hasn’t had a directorial credit since Sleuth in 2007. But Hollywood must have figured he’d be great with the whole hand-kissing, fancy costumes, trimmed beards, speaking like in a renaissance fair thing. It’s ironic that for all its self-awareness, controlled irony, and ability to steer clear of unintended ridicule, Thor got labeled as “fun, fun, fun.” If you’ve ever seen Luigi Cozzi’s 1983 Hercules, you already know that beefcakes are at their funniest when their director takes them seriously. Thor is entertaining, but it’s not the thrilling fantasy we had been led to expect.