Not as much fun as Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh's take on Marvel's God of Thunder is nevertheless an electrically charged superhero romp while being less of an extended Avengers advertisement than Iron Man 2. Chris Hemsworth shows he can carry a film as the arrogant, hammer-wielding warrior from the mystical realm of Asgard, which — though chintzy in a Vegas sort of way — evokes Walt Simonson's illustrations from his run on the comic during the '80s. Our hero, long-haired like any good rebellious youth, is banished by his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), to the undiscovered country of Earth after recklessly reigniting an ancient war. Exiled, Thor is mistaken for a musclebound drifter by scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and love blooms, alongside the war that soon spills into the New Mexico desert. Branagh may be the real hero here, bringing more than a few Shakespearean flourishes to a mythos that's rife with them.
