Thor In Review *SPOILERS*

      So I saw Thor about a week ago and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I by no means thought it was going to be a train wreck, however I thought the idea of Thor of the Marvel variety wouldn't translate as well to an audience as say the previous two Iron Man's did. Suffice to say I was mistaken. It's appeal seemed to lie somewhere between Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. It had the action, writing, and directing of the Iron Man films and had the sort of simplicity that The Incredible Hulk did in that it didn't get completely bogged down in origin set up. If Iron Man was a large Birthday Cake and The Incredible Hulk a cookie than that would place Thor somewhere in the realm of being a cupcake. Yes I just used a baking metaphor to compare 3 Comic book movies. What of it?

        There were a few decisions the filmmakers made that I didn't quite understand. Now I don't pretend to be an expert of the canon on Marvel Comic's Thor but I do have a fair rudimentary knowledge of his setup. One thing I did not get was they chose to make Loki (Thor's brother/half brother in some circles) and abandoned Frost Giant baby. I know it was supposed to be a way to further push Loki in becoming truly evil, essentially distancing him from his family even further. But why a Frost Giant? In the film version the Frost Giants in this imagining aren't entirely GIANT as the word would suggest. They're maybe 10 to 15 feet tall. Granted that's not tiny but when I think Giant I think of something several stories tall. Anyhow Loki is about the size of a normal human/Asguardian. "Oh. Well he was the runt of his litter." Oh well how did they make his skin not navy blue? "Um....cuz Odin just loved him damn so much....." Way to cut corners. Although I don't quite get how that mechanic works it certainly yielded some believable results. Loki's final decision in the film hinged on him feeling like he was never really a son to Odin. And you could see the pain in his eyes and the resoluteness in his face.

They never really explained what the Odin Sleep is for that matter either. Now I don't know too much about it but the character of Odin in some iterations must go into a deep sleep in order to...well I guess it varies. Sometimes it's to ensure he stays immortal. Sometimes it somehow ensures that Asguard will be protected....because that's how that works I guess. Anyhow, it's never really explained why in the film version he goes into this mystical sleep. More or less it's just for plot convenience.

Overall it was a well executed film. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston all did great jobs.  I'll definitely be buying this on DVD when it comes out.

-Marchy

PS-Oh and the teaser at the and of the credits. Loki's still alive (shocker) and he's manipulating Natalie's protective father figure....big woop.