Thor

I would give everything in the world for a trip to Asgard. What the camera (and special effects) showcase in conjunction with the epic soundtrack surpasses everything I have seen in a long time, and each shot showing me a piece of Thor's homeland almost moves me with its grandeur. Kenneth Branagh ultimately succeeded in everything he touched. The actors are all fantastic (Tom Hiddleston unexpectedly shines), the dramatic storyline doesn't give you a moment of rest, the action is flawless, and the romantic subtext is more than just subtext. In short, this is a captivating comic book adaptation that confidently presents a treacherous subject in a Marvel light, and it intensifies your anticipation for The Avengers to an almost breathless maximum. (04/05/2011)

It could have been dull weirdness with a bunch of polished mannequins, but thanks to Kenneth Branagh's pedantic guidance, it became a wonderful fairy tale with mythological proportions, a great degree of noble irony and, above all, the excellent Chris Hemsworth (who devoted at least as much effort to acting as he did to his first-class musculature) and, as always, the irresistible glossator Stellan Skarsgård. It is spoiled a bit by the equally fragile Portman and some stupid flubs in the script (maybe even in the Czech translation) as well as the slightly wooden tricks, but Fenriz doesn’t care about any of that... fans of hyper-effective blockbuster modernity may not be enticed, but for lovers of honest epics with a nice design and a magical atmosphere, Thor's Mjolnir should slap them on the head quite nicely. That’s the right frequency, Kenneth! (20/04/2011)

After embarrassing trailers and 3D conversion, I avoided watching Thor in the movie theater. Now, in retrospect, I feel that was a mistake because Branagh has delivered a terrific comic book movie that bucks the fashionable trend of machine psychoanalyses of the heroic mind, and instead has a sympathetic man land on Earth who tackles everything with a disarming combination of unearthly naivety and muscularity. The characters are as flat as ever, but the actors are excellent, it moves along nicely, and it's full of humor (or Asgard) and proper pomposity. A sequel, please! (29/08/2011)

A beautiful fairy tale that manages to illustrate both worlds (based on Thor's realm). I was a little bothered that Thor knew everything. On the other hand, there have been plenty of aliens amazed at cars and so on. I laughed at the scene where Thor walks into the Pet Center and says: "Give me a horse." The film certainly has more positives than negatives, but I'm still a little short of a full count. The 3D was completely unnecessary. (06/05/2011)

Branagh is a tremendous guy; he knows full well that not even a popcorn relax movie can be purely action for action’s sake, but that it needs emotions through (almost Shakespeare-like) destiny, (almost Shakespeare-like) tongue-in-cheek humor (the above applies only to the original, undubbed version - dubbing can easily bury any attempt at humor) and also some acting talent in the cast... Simply everything necessary to make sure that this wouldn’t turn into an effective “American-style" brainwasher, but into a regular, although still popcorn movie with all the trimmings. And not only does Thor manage this throughout, but the relaxed impression remains with you even after you leave the movie theatre, which is unusual today. You could not get more out of the naive comic book story (which hijacks Norse myths and legends) that it’s based on. The only thing that isn’t clear to me with respect to future plans is why the last fall didn’t take place with the opposite guard? (27/04/2011)