thor

If I had known Kenneth Branagh directed this film, I would have expressed interest sooner. (Branagh directed the Sleuth remake, which I loved.) I’ve never read the Thor comic books. I think he’ll bore me the way Wolverine bores me, all anger and muscle and big pronouncements. (No offense to fans.) “How dare you threaten the son of Odin with such a puny weapon!” Thor screams in the film, and promptly gets tasered. Thor is simple (three acts: hubris/fall – realization – victory), maybe even too simple for some, but there are highlights: Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Tom Hiddleston as Loki (very very good), lines like “We have Xena, Jackie Chan, and Robin Hood”, and that (surprisingly) effective exchange between Thor and Loki on Earth. I thought it was a fun ride.