THOR (2011) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

thor (2011) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   114 minutes

Released         |   6 May 2011

cast

Chris Hemsworth ... Thor
Natalie Portman ... Jane Foster
Tom Hiddleston ... Loki
Anthony Hopkins ... Odin
Stellan Skarsgård ... Erik Selvig
Kat Dennings ... Darcy Lewis
Clark Gregg ... Agent Coulson
Colm Feore ... King Laufey
Idris Elba ... Heimdall
Ray Stevenson ... Volstagg
Tadanobu Asano ... Hogun
Josh Dallas ... Fandral
Jaimie Alexander ... Sif
​Rene Russo ... Frigga

director

Kenneth Branagh

writer

​Ashley Miller ... (screenplay) (as Ashley Edward Miller) &
Zack Stentz ... (screenplay) and
Don Payne ... (screenplay)
 
J. Michael Straczynski ... (story) and
Mark Protosevich ... (story)
 
Stan Lee ... (comic book) &
Larry Lieber ... (comic book) &
Jack Kirby ... (comic book)

cinematographer

​Haris Zambarloukos ... director of photography

music

​Patrick Doyle ... (music by)

film editor

​Paul Rubell

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​​​​449,326,618

Australia                 $​​​​​​​20,135,378

North America       $​​​181,030,624

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movie minutiae

​Tom Hiddleston described his role of Loki as "a comic book, but nastier version, of King Lear's Edmund." In the William Shakespeare play, Edmund was the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, who was jealous of his legitimate brother Edgar, and tricked his father into banishing him into exile.

​According to director Sir Kenneth Branagh, this movie's biggest challenge was connecting the worlds of Asgard and twenty-first century Earth: "It's about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and distinctions in those worlds. If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different. The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film."

​In April 2006, screenwriter and "Thor" fan Mark Protosevich wrote a script for this movie, which he described as "an Old Testament God who becomes a New Testament God". However, the script was so laden with visual effects sequences that it would require $300 million to film, so when Matthew Vaughn signed on, he re-wrote and trimmed the script to bring the budget down to a more agreeable $150 million.

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related movies

THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013)

THOR (2011) MOVIE IMAGES

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THOR (2011) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Thor, a powerful god of Asgard, is banished to the Earth by his father for his recklessness. Stripped of his divine power, he joins the other members of S.H.I.E.L.D to save earth from a dark force.

THOR (2011) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 6 May 2015

​​Pop Movee Rating

After two hugely successful IRON MAN movies, Marvel Studios expanded its superhero roster with the decision to bring both THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA to cinema audiences almost simultaneously mid-way through 2011. The first of these films to be released was THOR, starring Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in the title role under the direction of Kenneth Branagh.

The idea that one of Nordic mythology’s great Gods had been transformed into a Marvel Comic hero was never really a stretch for the comic book medium, but a feature film adaptation represented a challenge in terms of the balance between high-concept pantomime and an action adventure that could be taken seriously. Marvel Studios had a lot riding on THOR and, fortunately, Branagh delivered them a film that struck a balance between story, character and visual impact that has become a template for their franchise.

The film has to work quickly to establish its premise and opens with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) leading his Asgardian warriors to defeat the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and seize from them the source of their power, the Casket of Winters. The story jumps forward as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) prepares to ascend to the throne of Asgard, but is prevented from doing so when the Frost Giants try to recapture their source of power. Enraged, Thor and a group of his closest warrior friends travel to Jotunheim to confront Laufey (Colm Feore), the Frost Giant leader. Odin is forced to rescue Thor from Laufey but banishes him to Earth for breaking the peace and putting the nine realms (of the universe) into jeopardy.

Arriving on Earth, Thor is discovered by scientists Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). Back on Asgard, Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) ascends to Asgard’s throne when Odin is forced to recuperate from his battle on Jotunheim.

Throughout the remainder of the film, Thor must work out a way to restore his powers, save Earth from intergalactic invaders and return to Asgard to assert his right to the King’s throne. It’s exciting stuff, even if the story’s mythology is confusing to follow!

Much of the success of THOR rests with the casting...

There is little doubt that the calibre of actors who signed on to the film were keen to work with Branagh to see how much of his Shakespearian training he would roll into the way his actors played and the manner in which the drama was staged.

The answer turned out to be quite a lot.

Looking at the writing credits for THOR, it’s clear to see that it had been a difficult project to adapt. The two writers to try and develop THOR were Mark Protosevich and J. Michael Straczynski. TV writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who had both worked on TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, were involved; along with THE SIMPSONS long-time Executive Producer Don Payne. Even GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) screenwriter Nicole Perlman was used, and is acknowledged as a “script doctor” for the film.

With so many writers involved, THOR could have been Marvel’s equivalent of a camel, but Branagh’s innate dramatic sensibilities infuse his actors with energy and everyone treats the material with the right level of respect and seriousness. The result is a better-than-expected science fiction adventure that has a good mix of character development and action.

The weakest element of THOR is the character himself, whose emerging sense of obligation to his world straitjackets his ability to be his own man.

It’s a difficult assignment for Chris Hemsworth and he only partially succeeds in creating a convincing performance. In some parts of the film, his line delivery is a little off, as he works to find an accent that represents Thor’s voice. There’s no such problem for either Anthony Hopkins as Odin or Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Hiddleston’s work in THOR has won him a fan-base around the world and his ability to curl up some of the most ridiculously grandiose dialogue ever written for a character and spit it out convincingly is a testament to the Englishman’s skill as an actor.

Natalie Portman is solid as Thor’s human love interest Jane Foster and both Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings work really well as Foster’s scientist colleagues Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis.

What’s most impressive about THOR is the rest of the cast. Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo and Ray Stevenson all appear as various Asgardians and help the film transcend the idea that there’s a lot of people running around in silly costumes. Clark Gregg also turns up as Phil Coulson as the connection to S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers initiative (outlined by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in IRON MAN 2) is explored further during the film’s second half.

​To help deliver THOR to the screen, Kenneth Branagh brought in a number of his regular collaborators. Haris Zambarloukos was the film’s director of photography. Zambarloukos had worked as the cinematographer on Branagh’s 2007 SLEUTH with Michael Caine and Jude Law.

Frequent acting and musical Branagh collaborator Patrick Doyle also came on board THOR to provide the music. Doyle had worked with Branagh as far back as the director’s breakthrough, critically acclaimed film HENRY V back in 1989 and composed music for such diverse feature films as DONNIE BRASCO (1997), BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY(2001), HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (2005) and RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011). In keeping with the story’s basis in Nordic mythology, Doyle took inspiration from the work of German composer Richard Wagner whose four Der Ring des Nibelungen musical operas were heavily influenced by the subject matter. 

In addition, Bo Welch, one of Tim Burton’s regular collaborators, handled production design duties, helping to create the “epic” feel of Asgard in keeping with its status as a home to the Gods of the universe!

THOR (2011) USEFUL LINKS

Thor (film) - Wikipedia
​Thor (2011) - IMDb
​Thor (2011) - Rotten Tomatoes

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