"Thor" Movie Trailer Review

"Thor"

Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Nick Hanover

Comicdom may have been slightly put off at first by the announcement that Kenneth Branagh, best known for his Shakespeare adaptations and role in generic action nonsense like "Wild Wild West," but if the new trailer is anything to go by, it looks as though Marvel clearly made the right choice. Stan Lee always liked to fill Thor appearances in comics with insufferable attempts at Shakespearean dialogue (never mind the fact that Thor was, uh, a Norse god...) but in Branagh's hands that high-falutin' fanciness just might work.

Clearly, a large part of how well Branagh pulls that off is down to his cast, but with his choices how can he go wrong? Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Thor's earthly love interest Jane Foster and the spectacular young British actor Tom Hiddleston as Thor's evil half-brother Loki--all excellent picks. Add in the perfectly cast newcomer Chris Hemsworth (previously seen as George Kirk in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot) as Thor and you're well on your way to success. There might have been that nonsense about the white supremacists boycotting the film because of Idris Elba's turn as Heimdall...but who exactly cares whether white supremacists are showing up on opening day? Maybe it's just me but I'm under the assumption that if you're a white supremacist you're a) an idiot and b) likely dirt poor and living in West Virginia to support your Burt Reynolds-raping hobbies.

Branagh and company appear to have done an excellent job sticking to the source material, particularly in the choice to work from a story by long-standing "Thor" writer J. Michael Straczynski, who has arguably done more than anyone else to bring Thor in the 21st century. Depicting Thor as a brash, egomaniacal warrior who may or may not have jump started Ragnarok, the "Twilight of the Gods," JMS' story has Thor exiled to Earth as punishment. At first dismissive of Earth and its people, Thor in time comes to accept his surroundings and care for the Midgardians he once loathed. Aiding in this, of course, is the love of a human woman, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

Marvel has gone to great lengths to connect their films since they gained control over the film rights to their properties (outside of the "X-Men," "Fantastic Four" and "Spider-Man" franchises that are owned by outside entities). Likewise, Marvel's recent partnership with Disney has given them more power than ever before and the teasers for Thor and the upcoming "Captain America" film that were sprinkled throughout the "Iron Man" films have helped raise this property's profile. The new trailer's revelation of the Destroyer as one of the film's villains and more scenes depicting the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency headed by Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury offer a lot of promise for Marvel's new plans as well. Given its hybridization of "Lord of the Rings"-style fantasy and super heroics, Thor might just be Marvel's biggest hit yet.

Watch the trailer below. What are your thoughts?