“Thor” (2011) is Great Fun

Thor 2011

Director Kenneth Branagh is a bit of an inspired choice to helm the sword and sorcery on a faraway planet comic book epic Thor (B), which pits Chris Hemsworth as the titular hero against bad boy brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) for keys to the kingdom ruled by Anthony Hopkins’ King Odin. As Thor’s earthbound love interest, Natalie Portman gets some nice sequences; but this is all about action and fantasy and virtual chess moves. The best bits are by Hiddleston as the delicious villain and Kat Dennings as comic relief. Branagh does a good job keeping viewers interested in the affairs on two planets and with some complicated subplots, and it’s largely a blissful bolt of action and fun.