Thunderous

And, of course, I went to see Thor today.

Wasn't quite sure what to expect, with Kenneth Branagh directing and both Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman slumming it in a Marvel superhero movie. On the upside, Marvel Studios have been doing an excellent job of adapting their comic book properties to the big screen, so how bad could it possibly be?

You know, it actually wasn't bad at all.

Leave aside, for a moment, the daft and overblown premise - the Norse Gods weren't gods at all, just aliens with "technology so advanced, it's indistinguishable from magic" (yes, Arthur Clarke is referenced), worshiped as gods because they saved the Norsefolk from Ice Giants (also aliens); Odin is lining up one of his sons to be his successor as king of Asgard: Thor is arrogant and warlike, Loki is a smaller, physically weaker but silver-tongued trickster, and things happen that lead to Thor being stripped of his powers and banished to Earth while Loki schemes to take over and destroy the Ice Giants once and for all to prove his worthiness to his father.

As these movies go, naturally it's just an introduction to the character... He grows as a person and ends the film as a better man... and, as they say at the end, Thor will return in The Avengers.

It's not as good as Iron Man because Thor just isn't as interesting and, frankly, a superhero based on Norse mythology is always going to look a bit hokey compared to the bigger names in Marvel's pantheon. As an action/adventure movie, however, it's pretty darned good. It remains reasonably consistent within itself, tells you all you need to know about the hero, and sets up coming events.

And, of course, being a Marvel Studios movie, they had a little teaser after the credits... And very ominous it was, too.

I saw it in mini-IMAX 3D and, to be honest, didn't see much reason for making it 3D. The effect added next to nothing to the movie in terms of immersion or spectacle and the smoke effects (of which there were many) just weren't convincing. 3D has only been common in the cinemas for a few months, and already I'm finding it passé.