Movie Review: Thor

This afternoon my wife and I dropped our son off with his grandmother and went to watch Thor, the latest of the Marvel Comics movies leading up to the Avengers movie (in case you haven't heard--and if you're reading this blog you likely have heard--this is linked to the Iron Man movies, the Hulk, and the upcoming Captain America movie).

First off, we saw it in 2D.  I can guess that in a few places, like when characters are riding the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost, the 3D experience might have been cool, but I've gotten tired of the gimmick, so has my wife, and we decided to save the 10,000 won (roughly $10) extra it would have cost for 3D.  And it didn't hurt the experience, IMO. 

The story was interesting, although I was surprised that so much of the real action took place in Asgard rather than on Earth.  Don't want to spoil anything, but most of the real meat of the movie was stuff off Earth.  Maybe I'm jaded, but they could have made this a completely (or nearly so) sci-fantasy flick if they weren't looking to tie it into the Avengers.  In a way, though, that's a good thing.  Thor is its own movie, rather than just another tie in. 

There was some good acting in the movie, and the effects were well done, too.  Some good action scenes, and some comedy, and no big obvious plot holes.  The plot was fairly simple (not linear, but not overly complex), and overall it worked.  It's not quite as 'rock n roll' as the Iron Man movies, but then this is Thor, not Tony Stark we're talking about. 

I never read the Thor comics when I was a comics reader, but watching the movie has made me want to get a hold of some.  The sci-fantasy realms of Yggdrasil (Asgard, Jotunheim being the only two in the movie) seem like good grist for RPGs.

I give Thor a thumbs up.  If you're a comic book fan, you'll likely enjoy it...unless having black and Japanese actors play Asgardians annoys you.  If you're like that, I doubt anything I say will change your mind.