Comic Book Films Gets a New Hammer Hero

  It's the next in the The Avengers pre-story arc but this time Marvel have made a movie with a twist.  No radioactive spiders, super-technological armour or big, angry, men men with ripped shirts: it's a cross-dimensional god.

  Well, not really a god but a super-hero once worshiped as god and now flung to Earth as a punishment.  Thor flicks between our Earthly realm (with leading lady and Oscar-winning Natalie Portman) and the super-natural realm of Asgard where Norse mythology resides as we watch the story of how a powerful, hammer wielding alien came to be on Earth.

  Home and Away actor Chris Hemsworth plays Thor, the son of King Odin (Hannibal himself, Anthony Hopkins) and brother of the mischievous Loki (almost footballer, Tom Hiddlestone) in a surreal and beautiful Asgard.  You will get lost in Asgard as you ponder its beauty (how does the Sun and the stars share the same skyline?) and enjoy the complicated and comical relationships between its inhabitants.

  Although you know it's coming, when Thor is flung to Earth it is somewhat of a disappointment.  However, this is the crux of the film and where the most of the action is found as Thor, now powerless in comparison to his god-like abilities, tries to get back to Asgard whilst under attack from the villainous Frost-Giants.  His relationship with the intelligent Jane Forster (Portman) also becomes a big part of the film and it is the balance between the two architypes of a super-hero film, action and romance, that makes Thor enjoyable.

  But surely it's just another comic-book genre film?  Firstly, this is one like never before with an epic inter-dimensional storyline and visuals that were impossible just five years ago.  It is beautiful.  Ever needed a reason to get a film on BluRay over DVD?  This is it.  Also, it's the latest in a long line of Avengers teasers that excites me muchly!  Remember the extra scene after the Iron Man 2 credits?

  As a film in its own right, this is excellent entertainment for fans of the comic book genre or not but in it's overall relevance to next year's The Avengers, it is incredibly exciting.  I think it will be sitting in my collection in a bright blue box sometime soon...

ps. sorry this is so late, three weeks ago when I watched Thor I was in the middle of my final third year hand-ins so haven't had a chance to write since!