UK RELEASE DATE - 27th April 2011.

Thor blimey! A comic book movie that doesn’t feel totally landlocked by its Marvel roots, and actually comes across feeling like a freshly minted origin story. As played by Australian newcomer Chris Hemsworth, Thor wins audience empathy with his fine balance between gleeful ‘sturm and drang’ and send-up swagger, nifty delivery of the campy dialogue, plus he looks great in the Norse gear swinging his powerful hammer. While many might think director Kenneth Branagh would have gone for Shakespearean gravitas more than full-throttle action adventure, the complete opposite is the case. Sure, Anthony Hopkins out-luvvies the rest of the cast by sheer force of his personality as Odin. But the emphasis here is on Bo (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) Welch’s super production design – imagine those Eurovision Song Contest sets on acid! - and lushly rococo visual effects all wrapped up in a bombastic Patrick Doyle score for a cut above the usual popcorn epic spectacular.

Cast out of Asgard by an annoyed Odin for not understanding that “A wise king never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it”, Thor crash lands on Earth in front of scientist Jane (Natalie Portman). Taking him back to her New Mexico desert town base, Thor hurls mugs of coffee to the floor, goes into the local pet shop asking to buy a horse and pisses everyone off by insisting he is the God of Thunder. Without his powers though no one believes him so he must get his mystical hammer back because up in Valhalla all hell is rising. Odin is on his sick bed, Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddlestone) seems to be in league with the enemy Frost Giants, and blind Rainbow Bridge guardian Heimdall (Idris Elba) has been frozen to the inactive spot. The enchanted hammer is under the watchful eye of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, who gets THE AVENGERS nods in) and so much death and destruction must occur before the mighty Thor can fulfil his destiny on Asgard.

Zipping backwards and forwards between Earth/Midgard, Asgard and the Frost Giants’ uninviting Jotunheim, monsters rampage, iron giant robots breathe fire, Loki flounces about in horned helmets you normally would see outside a Sex Shop  – it succinctly captures all that’s good about the superhero myth and the legendary Viking at its centre. The complex relationship between Thor and Loki is especially well observed, although Rene Russo as their mother Frigga has to be the most thankless role. Stellan Skarsgard doesn’t have much to do either as Professor Andrews, Jane’s partner in astrophysics, although you are advised to stay to the last of the end credits to see his finest moment. If I had a hammer I’d hammer out a warning not to miss this quite charming comic strip tease that Branagh has put together with winning zest and just the right amount of self-aware jest. It’s infectiously engaging, fantastic fun and kicks the summer blockbuster season off with a major bang.

Alan Jones.

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