Film review Thor (12A)
The mighty, proud and arrogant ‘god of thunder’ disobeys his father’s command not to stir up strife with an old enemy, the frost giants. As a result, he is stripped of his power, thrown out of Asgard onto Earth and his hammer, Mjollnir, is encased so tightly in a meteorite that ‘only he who is worthy can wield it’.
Crash-landing in a desert on modern-day earth, the now-human Thor must undergo a moral transformation, learning to help others, to show repentance and to discern what is right and wrong.
Only then can his power be restored, his hammer returned to his supernatural grip and his place as heir to the throne of Asgard resumed.
The modern spinning of the tale, directed by Kenneth Brannagh, bears much resemblance to the original saga of the Norse gods, although a love-interest with a cosmological scientist, played by Natalie Portman, gets in the way of the Viking legend somewhat.
However, the over-arching storyline and the flawed and fiery characters are true to legend — and some parallels with Scripture come out strongly in the film.
In the original saga, spun in the northern darkness long before the name of Christ was known to the Germanic tribes, Thor is sent by his father on a quest to save Earth from evil forces.
Thor the Thunderer (with remarkable similarity to the idol Baal) rides on the clouds in a chariot and ‘protects’ humankind. His greatest enemy is Jormungand, the fiery serpent (a character left out of the film).
But here the similarities end. Thor is, like all the deities of Norse legend, full of flaws — while our real Saviour, Jesus Christ, is perfect in all his character. Thor is disobedient to his father Odin; Jesus was ‘obedient, even unto death’.
While the idea of a supernatural hero saving earth from a powerful demon is a common theme in all ancient legends — and many modern films — there is only one true hero for the human race. If only the world would pay as much attention to him, as they do to the fantasy characters they pay millions to watch in 3-D!
Simoney Girard
