Blu-ray Review: THOR - The God Of Thunder Hits Home!

STORY When I first saw Thor I had some problems with it, I enjoyed it but it wasn€™t fully there for me. It€™s now been almost five months since I last saw it and I€™ve been looking forward to giving it another go. The movie follows our title characterThor (Chris Hemsworth), the arrogant but powerful God of Thunder who is also the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) the King of Asgard. Thor€™s arrogance soon gets the best of him as his actions re-spark an ancient war between his people and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Odin banishes his son to Earth until he is considered worthy, during his time on with humans he befriends an astrophysicist called Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who helps him learn what it means to be a true hero and find a way to return home. All the while with Thor banished and no one to stop him, his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), seeks ultimate power and rule over Asgard. Five people are credited for writing the film (three for the screenplay and two for the story), this many names attached to one screenplay could have easily caused disaster and the phrase too many cooks in the kitchen springs to mind. Though one name that jumped off of the page instantly for me is comic book, TV and film writer J. Michael Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Superman, Babylon 5, World War Z). Anyone who€™s read his recent run on Thor will see how much his approach to characters and story beats has influenced the script for the better. The overall story has a high level of depth to what could have been a huge selection of one-note characters. The tale itself is one of the best from Marvel Studios to date, having men in metal suits and people transforming into irradiated monsters is one thing, bringing an extremely strong magical element into a universe so grounded in science could have been disaster, but here it just feels right. The film's approach to discussing the similarities between science and magic helps ease the audience into this entirely new situation and is then free to open up a whole new can of worms in front of us. One of the only problems I had with the story was the need to intertwine it so closely with the upcoming Avengers movie, the film becomes so close to turning into a feature length trailer. For all people undecided on these inclusions I direct you to the pointless Hawkeye scene at the SHIELD camp. A huge amount of directorial focus and detail is put into the world of Asgard which throughout works extremely well. It feels like a living, tactile world with real locations and real people. It feels all around more of an effective set piece than say, Oa in this years Green Lantern was, simply because it didn€™t rely too heavily on CGI for simple set dressing. Another small problem for me was by the time we reached Earth I felt slight underwhelmed (much like Thor does when he see€™s his new scenery, or was that the whole point of it?). I have a feeling director Kenneth Branagh struggled to find a way to make the New Mexico scenery as visually interesting as Asgard, so he felt a suitable substitute was to tilt the camera for a Dutch angle on countless shot while on earth, as if it will make the scene more edgy and exciting€ somehow. However it takes me out of almost every scene it€™s in. At times I felt like I was watching Battlefield Earth and at others I was wondering why I had a stiff neck. Chris Hemsworth€™s portrayal as Thor is extremely fun to watch. We see him develop from an over-eager child to a wise and mature adult, it feels believable and a strong character arc. Hemsworth proved over these two hours that he has the presence to carry a feature length film; he€™s fun, energetic and powerful. I can€™t wait to see what he brings to the table for The Avengers next year. Tom Hiddleston's performance as Loki is fantastic and pulls off the God of Mischief gracefully and subtly while staying extremely close to the source material. A good contrast is struck between the level of empathy we feel for him as we learn his origins and the level we begin despise his actions as an adult. Natalie Portman's character of Jane is something of a dilemma for me. She seems under developed at times and it doesn€™t feel believable when she suddenly falls in love with this strange hairy man she keeps hitting with her car. The warriors three are enjoyable supporting characters especially Ray Stevenson as Volstagg and Idris Elba as Heimdall? Superb. Through the second time watching this film, my enjoyment tripled and my immersion into the world the crew had created went up tenfold. Thor is extremely exciting, fun, action packed and something different from the Marvel Studios team as they venture into the magical realm. A must watch for any superhero blockbuster fan.

rating: 4

VIDEO At 1080p this film runs extremely well and with its wide spectrum of colour throughout Asgard it is truly a sight to behold. Highlights are the transport scenes from Asgard and Earth and the brawl between Thor and The Destroyer/Loki in the Third act. As good as the transfer for this film was I still noticed the odd moment of low resolution fabrics and textures during scenes and some CGI enemies stuck out on occasion.

rating: 4

SOUND Sound is presented in 7.1 and mixed fantastically throughout the film; sound effects are just as you imagine them to be. The thunder from Mjölnir crackles to a high quality and the sound of The Destroyer€™s attack is one of the best bits in the film €“ It€™s energy blast (however technological it may seem visually) is given one of the most organic, raw and powerful noises I could imagine a magical weapon to have, a true highlight of the film. The score by Patrick Doyle is also worth noting as one of the best produced for a Marvel Studios film.

rating: 4.5

EXTRAS Thor brings a mixed bag of extras to the table. Boasting 3½ hours of bonus features on the cover a majority of that time can be found on the audio commentary by director Kenneth Branagh. It is clear in the commentary that Branagh has done his research on the project and has a real passion for the world created in Jack Kirby€™s original art and Norse mythology as a whole. The Blu-ray also includes 7 featurettes which show various elements from the making of this film from designing the costumes to writing the score. The featurettes total up at 44 minutes in duration, they€™re what you would expect to see in a superhero Blu-ray/DVD but none the less enjoyable to watch. The set also includes a newly made €œMarvel One-Shot€ titled The Consultant. Starring Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) as they compare notes on all goings on in the Marvel Movie Universe. The short helps with a bit of spring-cleaning for the universes continuity by explaining character appearances and agendas in other films, such as whyRobert Downey, JR. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) showed up at the end of 2008€™s The Incredible Hulk. It€™s a fun little short that makes good use of stock footage from the Marvel Studios backlog and it makes me eager to see more. It€™s a shame it only clocks in at just over 4 minutes in length (30 seconds of that being credits).

There are 11 extended/deleted scenes, 24 minutes in length and all with unfinished special effects. It€™s a real shame to see some of these scenes not make the final cut, one especially being an extended introduction to the adult Thor & Loki before the opening ceremony. Each scene also includes optional commentary by Branagh. €œRoad To The Avengers€ is a short featurette at just over 3 minutes with snippet interviews from Avengers director Joss Wheedon and Marvel Studios President Of Production Kevin Feige however a majority of the short is focused on a montage from San Diego Comic Con 2010 where the cast for the upcoming film €œAssemble€ in front of a live audience. Fun but nothing hardcore fans haven€™t seen already. The Blu-ray set also includes a digital copy/DVD version of the film and a collection of trailers.

rating: 3

Overall

rating: 4

Thor is available to buy in the UK on the 26th of September.