*****WARNING!!*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS*****

I believe it's specifically in all caps.

With the legendary hammer Mjolnir at his side, the Mighty Thor smashes his way into movie theaters with an alright flick that could have used more time to flesh out its characters and narrative. It was a good movie, no doubt, and fun to watch; but I wasn’t blown-away or truly immersed in the adventure like I was hoping. THOR tells a nice story, has a lot of fun characters, has a lot of fun in general and definitely didn’t let me down.

It could have just been more.

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Thor as a comic book character. He’s just never interested me. The concept is cool, that these myths of legend are real, and in a world of superheroes, they become superheroes as well. I’ve just never cared about Thor. So I didn’t have any fan-love going in to see this movie. Just excitement about the upcoming Avengers, and Marvel-love in general. I absolutely loved both Iron Man films, so I was hoping for more of the same.

THOR sticks very close to the comics, with Thor and the gang almost lifted directly from the page. They even recreated Loki’s giant horned helmet. While this is a good thing, I rarely complain about changes made from comics to movies; especially if they’re just cosmetic. So if you’re a stickler for that sort of thing, worry not. THOR is righteous.

Quick story recap: Thor and Loki are the sons of Odin in Asgard, a mythical kingdom where magick and science are the same thing. Thor is set to inherit the throne, but he’s arrogant and starts a war with Asgard’s ancient enemies, the Frost Giants. An angry Odin strips Thor of his godly power – and mighty hammer – and casts him down to Earth to learn humility. With the help of a hottie scientist, Thor learns to appreciate other people and gets his power back in time to stop Loki from taking the throne and stabbing Odin in the back.

First the good: THOR is a fun film. All of the actors are great, and all of the characters are a lot of fun. The standouts are definitely the leads: Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, the love interest. I read online somewhere that this movie gives us a nice glimpse at how much fun Natalie Portman can have in a movie when she’s not stifled by George Lucas and the crappy dialogue of the Star Wars prequels. I’d have to agree. She had spunk and personality, and was very very cute.

Likewise, I’m told, Hemsworth was a dreamboat to all the ladies in the audience. Kudos to him. As Iron Man proved, you’ve got to have a competent leading man, and I think he did the job well. Thor commanded the screen.  Hemsworth was arrogant and cocky as Thor, and I believed the transition into a more caring person – though it came about much too quickly. It feels like Thor learned his lesson over the course of a weekend. But Hemsworth does such a good job as Thor that he pulls it off. He definitely enjoys his time on Earth, and the friendship of Jane and the others. Thor is definitely a friendly guy.

Women love him, men want to be him.

All of the characters are a lot of fun in the movie. Loki is a pretty good villain, though he doesn’t stand out as particularly great. The actor does a fine job, and there are a few twists. But he wasn’t nearly as mischievous or evil as I would have liked. Anthony Hopkins is great as Odin, very kingly. He even looks rather badass in the Odin at War scenes. Heimdell was probably the coolest character in the movie; he was a blast. A real surprise there.

Both Thor and Jane Foster each have a supporting cast of friends, and all are fun. Though I think Darcy and the professor are a lot more fun than Sif and the Warriors Three. Seeing the previews of Darcy’s wittiness, I was worried she’d be just uneeded comic relief. But they used her well. It’s important that both main characters get a supporting cast because it helps to flesh them out as real people. Thor isn’t just price of Asgard, he and his pals also hang out and go on adventures and drink. Though here’s a good place to start nit-picking.

The movie is too short. There is a lot of ground to cover, but the film is constrained by a less than 2-hour time limit. There isn’t enough time to flesh everything out as much as it deserves. The Warriors Three are a fine example of this. We meet them, they each sort of get a line or two about their personality, but little more than that. We don’t get to spend much time with them as people; they’re window dressing. The crucial scene when they rejoin Thor on Earth doesn’t have the impact it should because we don’t know them or their relationship to Thor well enough.

And they sort of rush through the nature of the gods and Asgard in the beginning. I was worried that people might not understand, but one must have faith that movie-going audiences will get it. I’m grateful that they had Anthony Hopkins read out the exposition rather than forcing people to read text. I’ve  come to hate opening scrolls, except in Star Wars…maybe.

SHIELD suffered from the speed as well. Agent Coulson is cool in the Iron Man films, but he doesn’t get nearly as much screen time in Thor. He’s very much the straight man, but not with the skill and quirkiness he has in the other movies. And Thor choosing to join his side in his last scene is, likewise, rushed. Hawkeye was a waste as well, just a quick cameo that amounted to very little; not even much of a tease for Avengers. Who’s going to remember him from this film? No one!

Though there was one fun cameo: the Eye of Agamotto!

Teasing a Dr. Strange film.

The only parts of the movie that I simply didn’t like were the endings. That’s not to say they weren’t good endings for this movie, in fact they were. Thor is victorious, and they are appropriately epic. My problems with the ending are that they don’t line up with the Avengers. Like the end of Iron Man 2, where Fury tells Tony that he’s not suitable for the Avengers, this movie ends in a way that’s going to add an extra,  unnecessary step to the start of the Avengers. How does Thor get back to Earth? This movie would have been exactly the same had it ended with Thor getting the girl, is what I’m saying.

And the teaser at the end of the credits was a complete waste. Nobody cares about the macguffin they introduce, even if it will appear in Captain America and/or the Avengers. Nobody cares about it right now. It’s just a macguffin. And that the macguffin is introduced using that professor character is just stupid. Beyond this one movie, that professor shouldn’t matter. Not even with the Loki tease. Considering the other post-credit teases and how much fun they were, this one teases nothing. Considering Captain America is coming out in two months, and the Avengers in one year, so much more could and should have happened at the end of the credits.

How awesome would it have been to have Thor meet Iron Man? A 3-minute scene were the two have some interaction, or Thor recruited into the Avengers Initiative (like the end of Iron Man 1) would have been brilliant! But they wasted it!

It was the perfect opportunity to get us fans salivating for what was to come. Or they could have properly teased the Thor sequel with a glimpse of…

Beta Ray Bill!