After a ten-year break from directing, Kenneth Branagh has scored big with international hit Thor. The movie retcons the history of Marvel’s Thor, key member of the eponymous team in 2012′s The Avengers. The action/superhero film stars Chris Hemsworth‘s abs*, and has been #1 for two weeks in a row here in the U.S.
As an early runner for this summer blockbuster season, Thor has set a high standard for the next few months. The movie was fun, energetic, visually arresting, and adequately epic in nature. It ran light on emotions, but there really wasn’t time enough for too much depth.
The purpose of this film was to set up the backstory for Thor, the character, so that audiences would understand, recognize, and automatically invest in the character when he appears in The Avengers.
Well, that was one of the purposes anyway. The other purpose was to make an obscene amount of money for everyone involved. Purpose fulfilled on that front. Continue reading
