Blu-ray Review: THOR (2011)

Thor is a brash young man. He lives in Asgard, one of the two heirs to his father Odin's throne. He and his brother Loki were raised by Odin (Anthony Hopkins at his scene chewing best) in a time where a truce is in place between the Frost Giants and Asgard (after Odin claimed the weapon the Frost Giants used to almost destroy the humans on Earth). After three frost giants try to take back the weapon, Thor takes his warrior friends and Loki to the Frost Giant world to seek answers only to result in Odin banishing Thor to Earth for his actions. Thor is stripped of his powers and will only reclaim the power of Mjoliner (his hammer) if he does something that makes him worthy of wielding it again.

An astrophysicist (Natalie Portman) discovers Thor when he is sent to Earth and wants answer about the wormhole he went through. Thor only wants his hammer back which SHIELD have in their possession. Meanwhile Loki schemes to take over Odin's throne after he discovers the truth about himself. The question that remains is will Thor get his power back to stop Loki.

THOR is an enjoyable film. The characters of Thor, Odin, and the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge are standouts in the film along with some other characters being somewhat interesting. The production design and special effects are amazing. The two things THOR fall short of are in the character development department for several of teh characters (even though teh arcs for Thor and Loki dveelop at a good pace) and the script (which it seems ASYLUM Entertainment's THE ALMIGHTY THOR has a somewhat better overall story in parts compared to THOR except I'm not going to touch upon the giant jackals). Loki comes off as a weak villain. Earth scenes come off as pointless even though they keep the movie somehow as you wait for Thor to make his way back to Asgard. THOR is mainly like a set-up film for THE AVENGERS since Thor will be back in that film and the scene after the credits hints at what may happen. It is the weakest of the Marvel Universe films.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Feature audio commentary by director Kenneth Branagh

MARVEL ONE-SHOT: THE CONSULTANT- a prequel of sorts that ties in the ending of THE INCREDIBLE HULK with THE AVENGERS. Slightly amusing, but you can skip it and not miss anything.

Featurettes:

FROM ASGARD TO EARTH- the production design and costume design of THOR including the special effects that went into the Rainbow Bridge. They reveal they first thought of having Thor banished to Viking era Earth before settling on a small town in New Mexico during present day.

OUR FEARLESS LEADER- a featurette about the director of the film

ASSEMBLING THE TROUPE- the cast of THOR

HAMMER TIME- designing and creating the hammer of THOR in addition to seeing production and rehearsal footage of Chris Hemsworth using the hammer in action.

CREATING LAUFEY- the visuals that went into creating LAUFEY, King of the Frost Giants

MUSIC OF THE GODS- the music score of THOR

A CONVERSATION- Co-Producer Craig Kyle talks with Stan Lee as comics writer/ screenwriter/ BABYLON 5 creator JMS looks. Stan Lee asks questions about the look of the film and makes comments on the script. He thinks this movie will stand above the other Marvel films. I think other Marvel films this year like CAPTAIN AMERICA and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS were better than THOR.

ROAD TO THE AVENGERS- a featurette on the THE AVNGERS film and I wish they rather had included THE AVENGERS teaser trailer shown at the end of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.

8 deleted scenes and three extended scenes with optional audio commentary. Kenneth Branagh reveals what they were trying to do with each scene and sometimes says why the bits were cut. Some of the deleted scenes would slow down the pacing while others would have gave a little extra depth to the film.

Also included are the teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer, and a trailer for an animated AVENGERS film. The DVD is included in the combo pack and it has a digital copy on it too.

FINAL ANALYSIS: THOR is an entertaining superhero drama which could have been better. The extras are very informative and the deleted scenes are the best extra on the Blu-ray.

this review is (c)9-26-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com