Written by Ashley E. Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Protosevich, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby
Directed by Kenneth Branagh

For years, I did not know that J. Michael Straczynski was part of the writing team for Thor. It makes sense, as the story here has his usual balance of drama and comedy. The film never seems to take itself too seriously, which is one of the reasons I think it is so easy to suspend disbelief as much as I had to.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in their hair, a team of researchers is tracking anomalies in the sky. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is an astrophysicist who has been conducting this research. Her equipment picks up something, and as they travel towards the anomaly, something hits their vehicle.

The movie cuts to a depiction of Norwegian lore about Frost Giants and the great God Odin (Anthony Hopkins) coming to save them. After defeating the Frost Giants, he returned to Asgard and hasn’t been back to Earth. Odin is telling his two young sons about the battle and about the responsibility to keep peace in the universe.

Odin: A wise king never seeks out war. But he must always be ready for it.

In the present day, there is a ceremony on Asgard where the adult Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has his mythical hammer Mjölnir bestowed upon him. In the midst of the ceremony, the Frost Giants return to take back what was stolen from them by Odin all those years ago. They are thwarted by the guards who sacrifice themselves. Thor wants to exact retribution, but Odin states that they must find the breach in their security and maintain peace. Thor is angered, and his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) counsels him. Thor gathers his friends and decides to make a move on the Frost Giants since his father won’t. It does not go the way he planned.

Odin arrives and tries to be diplomatic, but the Frost Giant King is having none of it. Odin manages to escape with Thor, Loki, and the others before the King can attack. Odin and Thor argue once they’ve returned. Odin realizes Thor is not ready for the responsibilities that he will have to shoulder. He declares Thor unworthy and sends him into exile on Earth. He does send Mjölnir with him, but puts a spell on it so that only one who is worthy can wield it.

Thor crashes into Jane’s van. Or maybe Jane crashes into him. Either way, he starts behaving erratically, and Jane’s assistant, Darcy (Kat Dennings), tazes him. They take him to a local hospital. When he wakes up there, he attacks the staff at the hospital, so they sedate him.

Mjölnir has landed at the center of a crater on a farm outside of town. Its presence causes a sensation. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) arrives overlooking the site.

Jane shows what she has recorded to Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), who is working with her. They think they have captured the image of a wormhole and Thor in the middle of it. Unfortunately, he has already escaped the hospital by the time she returns for him. When they encounter him again, they have him go with them.

Back on Asgard, Loki confesses that he told the guard to get Odin. His friends (and Thor’s) are suspicious that Loki is a traitor. Loki confronts his father about what he learned when he was with the Frost Giants. He tells him the truth: that Loki was abandoned by King Laufey and left to die, so Odin took him. He was hoping that raising the offspring of a Frost Giant would bridge the two worlds. Odin collapses, and Loki calls for help.

While getting something to eat at a diner, some men come in and talk about what they’ve found out in the desert. Thor suspects it’s Mjölnir and goes off to retrieve it. Jane stops him, but Erik warns her off, having heard the legends as a child and thinking he is crazy. Before they can get back to their headquarters, SHIELD has arrived and cleaned out all of their equipment. Agent Coulson hands her a check, but she’s livid.

Nice tie-in to The Incredible Hulk.

With Odin in a coma and Thor banished to Earth, Loki sits on the throne of Asgard. He refuses to end Thor’s banishment.

Against Erik’s counsel, Jane takes Thor out to the crater. He battles his way through SHIELD agents to get to it. We are also introduced to Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as he’s watching Thor beat up men from above. When Thor tries to lift Mjölnir, he is unable to. Coulson was watching as well, hoping that he would see something different. They take Thor into custody. He is visited there by Loki, who tells him their father is dead and their mother blames Thor.

Erik meets with Agent Coulson to try to get Thor released. He tells a story about Thor really being Donald Blake, Jane’s ex-boyfriend. Coulson knows Erik is lying, but lets him go with Erik and sends someone to follow them. Erik talks to Thor and wants him away from Jane. The two get drunk together. Later, once they’ve put Erik to bed, Thor and Jane sit outside and connect.

Thor’s friends arrive, looking to bring him back and have Thor dethrone Loki. They tell Thor the truth: that his father still lives. Loki knows about their treachery and sends a creature after them to destroy everything. Thor sends his friends back to deal with Loki, promising that he has a plan to take care of everything. Instead, he sacrifices himself to protect them.

This is the theme of the film. Thor must grow into someone who will do what is best, and not always what he wants to do. He learns to do what will benefit the most people, rather than what he wants in the moment. He has to grow to be the person Odin knows he can be, but it takes a lot of tragedy to accomplish this, as well as some time on Earth.

There is so much good in Thor I almost don’t know where to start. If you’re not someone who can suspend disbelief even a little, you might struggle with the film. If you can do that, this is one of the best of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are lessons to be learned here, and the story couches those lessons in enough humor, action, and special effects that it doesn’t feel lame or preachy. It’s a typical coming-of-age film in a sense for Thor himself. He’s spent his entire life knowing he will sit on the throne of Asgard and takes for granted what that means: great power. As we all know, with great power comes great responsibility, but he hasn’t figured that part out yet.

There is a hint of jealousy on the part of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander). I think she loves Thor, but by the end of the film she knows he loves Jane and always will. There’s no overt building up of this. It’s the actors doing what they do best. Jaimie Alexander seems to convey this in the long looks she gives Thor and her facial expressions when she’s around him. Director Kenneth Branagh did a terrific job with the actors in this. I never would have picked him as the perfect director for a superhero film, but here we are.

If anything, that is the one drawback of the film. There are so many fantastic actors in the film that some feel underutilized. That is particularly the case with Rene Russo, who portrays Thor’s mother, Frigga. There is at least one deleted scene that builds up her role so much better. Idris Elba as Heimdall, guardian of the Bridge between the Realms. He does have several pivotal moments, but his role is treated almost like that of a special guest star.

Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, and Kat Dennings work so well together that it feels like they are researchers who have been together for some time. This is even though Kat Dennings’ Darcy is supposed to be a new intern with the group. Eric Selvig sees himself as something of a father figure for Jane, and he’s worried when Thor drops into their world. Jane spends a lot of time with him, and Erik knows she’s still smarting over the breakup with the unseen Donald Blake.

The ending perfectly sets up the next film in the series, The Avengers. The post-credits scene also ties into that film quite well. Erik Selvig meets with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Nick shows him the Tesseract. The audience can see Loki reflected behind Erik, but no one else can.

There were some incredible sets constructed for Thor as well as created with CGI. Asgard is stunning in its scope, and it was created with a mixture of physical sets and CGI. The costuming is also done very well and creates the perfect atmosphere throughout the film. On Earth, it’s pretty casual, but on Asgard, the people set the tone for the ceremony with their clothing. The warriors look like warriors who wear this type of clothing even though they seem to rarely do battle with anyone other than themselves. I also loved the look of the Frost Giants. The film was creative at every turn and seemed to hit the mark all the time.

The Stan Lee moment comes when he is the driver of a truck they use to try to pull Mjölnir out.

I’m pretty sure that Thor was where I initially picked up the MCU; I took my son to see it when it was in theaters, and then I fell in love with the MCU, even though I had never read the comics. Even all these years later, I think it’s one of the strongest of the early films and definitely worth your time if you haven’t seen it. Chronologically, it doesn’t add much or take away from watching it in this order. Even though some of the peripheral characters are part of the overall Marvel Universe, it works fine as a standalone too.

Blu-ray special features:

• Deletes Scenes
• From Asgard to Earth: The Making of Thor
• The God of Thunder
• Hammer Time
• Our Fearless Leader