The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 30 nominations
- Agent Sitwell
- (as Maximiliano Hernandez)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin) saw each other in full armor for the first time, Hopkins said, "God, there's no acting required here, is there?"
- Goofs(at around 51 mins) On a SHIELD monitor, "perimeter" is spelled "perimiter".
- Quotes
Loki: The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?
Odin: No. In the aftermath of the battle I went into the temple and I found a baby. Small for a Giant's offspring, abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son.
Loki: Laufey's son?
Odin: Yes.
Loki: Why? You were knee-deep in Jotun blood. Why would you take me?
Odin: You were an innocent child.
Loki: No. You took me for a purpose. What was it?... TELL ME!
Odin: I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day. Bring about an alliance, bring about permanent peace... through you.
Loki: What?
Odin: But those plans no longer matter.
Loki: So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me?
Odin: Why do you twist my words?
Loki: You could have told me what I was from the beginning! Why didn't you?
Odin: You're my son... I wanted only to protect you from the truth...
Loki: What, because I... I... I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?
Odin: [unwell] No! No!
Loki: You know, it all makes sense now, why you favored Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!
[an overcome Odin collapses]
Loki: Guards! Guards, please help!
- Crazy creditsSPOILER: There is a scene after the credits: Dr. Selvig meets with Nick Fury, who asks him to examine the Tesseract from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Loki appears in a reflection on the wall influencing Selvig to agree.
- Alternate versionsIn Nordic subtitles for this film, the name of Laufey has been changed to Leifur, since In Norse mythology (and thus, Nordic languages), the name Laufey is feminine and is the name of Loki's mother.
- ConnectionsEdited from Iron Man 2 (2010)
- SoundtracksI Can Help
Written by Billy Swan
Performed by Billy Swan
Courtesy of Columbia Nashville
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Liberally adapting portions of Thor comic book lore to fit in a more modern comic book film reality, Thor introduces us to a centuries old war between the Asgardians, beings that live for long periods of time and can travel through space from their home realm of Asgard to various other worlds, such as Earth, via the Bi-Frost bridge, and the conflict centric Frost Giants, whom the Asgardians conquered some time back. Odin (Anthony Hopkins), ruler of the Asgardians, is preparing to abdicate his throne to his son, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), but on the eve of Thor's inauguration, agents of the Frost Giants infiltrate Asgard and attempt to steal back a device that is the key to their power, which had been taken by Odin at the end of their long struggle. When Thor disagrees with his father's desire to not to retaliate in order to not disturb the peace that currently exists between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants, he takes matters into his own hands, traveling to the Frost Giant's realm with his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and compatriots Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and Fandral (Josh Dallas) in tow. When the encounter with the Frost Giants ends with tensions re-ignited between the two factions, Odin decides that his son is not prepared to lead his people, and exiles Thor, sans his powers, to Earth.
When he arrives on Earth, he is discovered by astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her associates Professor Selvig (Stellan Skarsgaard) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), who are convinced that he isn't a random homeless vagabond that they found in the middle of the desert. Thor must attempt to locate his power hammer, Mjolnir, from the government agents that have captured it, and attempt to reclaim his place in Asgard. However, he finds that, without his super-human abilities, and surrounded by humans, perhaps some of his previous attitudes were incorrect, especially when he connects romantically with Jane. Meanwhile, Loki, who turns out to have some ulterior motives, seizes control of Asgard following the collapse of Odin from strain, and begins to hatch a grand scheme involving the Frost Giants.
Thor, much like Iron Man before it, proves that, in the right hands, a comic tale that appears silly on the surface can have hidden depths when properly plumbed. Sure, Thor has elements that, on the face of it, may lead a bit to some audience snickers (Thor's ability to pick himself up and fly and defeat attackers with little effort are a bit cheesy at times), but the creatives behind Thor, including director Kenneth Branagh, manage to develop a story for Thor that deals with elements of tragedy, pathos, selflessness and, perhaps even more surprisingly, involving character development. Thor is more about the lead characters at its core, again akin to Iron Man, than some other comic book films and this draws the audience into its tale.
When it was first announced that Kenneth Branagh would be taking the reins of Thor as a director, it seemed something of an unusual fit for someone best known for his cinematic adaptations of the works of Shakespeare, but the final results of Thor bare out that Branagh was just the right man for the job. Considering the larger-than-life origins of the Thor comic, involving beings with the power and appearance of Gods and the various machinations of their story, the material fits fairly well with Branagh's body of work to a great extent. Especially strong is the development of Loki, who proves to be less of a traditional mustache twirling villain, and more of a misguided soul, trapped between revelations he makes about himself and his past and his respect in his father, making him more of a tragic figure than a black and white comic book antagonist.
Thor benefits from strong acting from its leads, Hemsworth and Hiddleston. Hemsworth embodies Thor, first as the brash, acting-before- thinking hero, and later as a man faced with the reality that some of his choices and attitudes were not becoming of a king. Hemsworth really makes you empathize with Thor, and gives you a reason to root for the character throughout the film. Hiddleston, working with the somewhat subdued (at first) Loki eventually transforms him from a seeming weak, malleable person into one who's penchant for vengeance and control is revealed in layers, peeling back one by one through the development of the narrative.
Thor isn't without its weak points, however. The romance between Thor and Jane Foster is practically and afterthought, rushed into the narrative at light speed and then not given any room to breathe or develop, it plays more as a requirement of adapting the comic story than something that works organically in the film. Portman is fine in the role, but the screenplay doesn't give enough to this relationship for it to be more than a bump in the road of the film's story.
Once again, Marvel has managed to take one of their lesser known heroes and make them the subject of an entertaining film version, with energy and depth that is a bit unexpected. May they keep on making comic book films of this caliber.
- rparham
- Jun 3, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Manhattan
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $150,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $181,030,624
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $65,723,338
- May 8, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $449,326,618
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1