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Thor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Anthony Hopkins
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Written by: Ashley Miller, and Zack Stentz

     If the warriors from the Capital One commercials had their own movie, this would be it.  The difference, "Thor" has cooler warriors.
     Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), the king of Asgard, a kingdom in space that's one of the 9 realms.  Their biggest enemy is the Frost Giants from the planet Yodenheim, a neigboring realm.  War is looming between the two realms and Earth is going to be caught in the middle because of Thor's banishment from the kingdom after defying Odin when he tells Thor and his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), not to go to Yodenheim.  They go to Yodenheim on the day that Thor is supposed to become king of Asgard, but instead of becoming king, he gets banished to Earth, forced to live with the mortals.  Once on Earth, Thor meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), a team of researchers who find Thor after landing on Earth.  He must assimilate with the mortals and protect them from the evil Frost Giants, and from the people in Asgard who do not want Thor to return from exile.  Will he be able to protect Earth and the true honor of Asgard?
     Let's just say that this is probably the best superhero movie within the last few years.  The acting is excellent.  All the actors deliver strong performances.  Chris Hemsworth makes Thor seem totally out of place on Earth, thinking that he's a god, even without his mighty hammer given to him by Odin.  Anthony Hopkins makes Odin seem like the most epic king of any kingdom that's not Earth.  He makes the role seem quite honorable.  However, one of my favorite performances is from Idris Elba, who plays Heimdall, the gate keeper of Asgard.  He does only what he is told and lets in only those allowed in to Asgard.  The acting is quite commendable.
     The story isn't hard to follow, but I don't like how it starts just shortly after the beginning of the story. It takes a good ten minutes to get back to where the movie started once all the introductions begin, such as the back story about the Frost Giants of Yodenheim, and how Odin and the Asgardians conquered them.  It's a pretty short storyline and one that's easy to follow.  The visual effects are also rather interesting.  Asgard resembles what other movies like "Clash of the Titans" (2010) portray Mt. Olympus as, a kingdom of the gods.
      So, I'm ready to see Thor return in "The Avengers" next year.  It's going to be awesome.  If you choose to see "Thor", which I highly recommend, make sure to stay through the credits.  I won't spoil it for you, but you just have to see the credits.  Overall, this is one of my favorite superhero films, especially of the last few years.  It has a good story that doesn't even really affect Earth all that much.  It's not even about earth, rather about defending Asgard from Yodenheim, and Earth just gets caught in the middle.  I like that it's a slightly different type of superhero movie.
I'm giving "Thor" an A.

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