Put simply, wow! This film was absolutely spectacular. Everything about this film works, the acting, the music, the directing, cinematography, absolutely everything. Chris Hemsworth played Thor to perfection and reminded me so much of the original comic book character. He was so believable as the God of Thunder and throughout his story the audience feel all of the ups and all of the downs that he feels. Natalie Portman again showed again that she is a great actress and can play a variety of characters and plays her character of Jane Foster excellently. The introduction and detail put into Asgard is unbelievable. It looks so real and feels to the audience like this is a place where Gods would live. I would abslutely recommend this film and in a year that superhero films have been released only a few months apart this definitely tops the list to me. A perfect look at another Avengers character.

With the technology of modern day cinema presenting the perfect opportunity to create Comic Book movies that aren't completely cheesy and visually awful, it's almost hard to keep up with the high number of releases. We've certainly come a long way from BAM! and POW!, and now the genre is actually quite highly respected. That's not to say it's going to be a guaranteed home run every time - see Green Lantern, for example - but more often than not these days we are given a decent few hours of entertainment with every superhero. Whether it be Christopher Nolan's Batman series, or the soon-to-be-rebooted Spider-Man, there's a world full of familiar faces that are known in popular culture and appeal not only to 'geeks' but to anyone who enjoys an exciting action-packed film. Even the more modern pieces like Kick Ass are managing to find their own success amongst the well established brands.

With regular success comes a higher ambition, and Marvel Studios are at the head of pushing the comic genre to new heights. Back in 2008, they released Iron Man (starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow) to critical acclaim. This was the initial step to building up a group of popular characters to form The Avengers to release in 2012. Over the last few years we've seen Captain America, an Iron Man sequel (featuring Scarlett Johansson), and this particular release - Thor.

Thrown around as an idea for many years, Thor finally got rolling after its predecessors such as X-Men started to build a more solid reputation for adaptations. Fresh off an appearance in the Star Trek reboot, Chris Hemsworth was cast as the title character by director Kenneth Branagh. Combined with Anthony Hopkins (as Thor's father), Branagh's presence gave Thor an authenticity that ANY movie would be lucky to have, let alone a comic book movie. Tom Hiddleston, well versed in theatre and numerous TV shows, benefitted from a previous link to Branagh to obtain his role as the brother Loki (although he originally auditioned for the part of Thor!). Having Natalie Portman in the cast was a stroke of genius, fresh off an Oscar win for Best Actress for Black Swan. Filling out the supporting cast with recognisable names such as Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba and Rene Russo made the movie one of the most star-studded comic book adaptations in history.

Thor itself has always been a steady and recognisable performer for Marvel, even if it was never viewed on the level of some of the other stories. It has a passionate fanbase, making it a key point to stick well to the source material and do it well. Fans of the comic book will know the characters well - not only Thor and his family, but Heimdall (who guards the bridge from Asgard to Earth) and the Warriors Three (Thor's closest supporters), as well as Laufey and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. The tone of the movie is both dramatic and comedic in a perfect balance. The idea of a Norse God on Earth is, of course, ludicrous and treated as such when he is initially banished from his home. Yet this works very well in context, with Portman playing off Hemsworth fantastically as the human Jane Foster curious about what lies beyond the stars. The script does well to tell an origin story without getting too in depth, keeping the audience interested with action set-pieces mixed in amongst some strong drama and funny moments. It's a credit to the writers and also Branagh that they manage to do so much in a single film.

The visuals of Asgard (the realm of Odin and his sons) are stunning, showing a real classic style yet somewhat futuristic and magical at the same time. Anything that happens off Earth has an epic feel to it, with a Godly undertone that is delivered with Hopkins' every word. His speeches can be felt inside and there's just something so genuine about his performance that many other films miss. It is as if he performs on stage, yet is surrounded by the stars and the sky. The Australian Hemsworth does well with an accent, giving Thor a grandeur befitting of a Norse God, and alongside Loki create a Cain And Abel-esque relationship that plays out across time and Space. Everyone across the board plays their character well, and creates a believable world that we want to see more of.

The aforementioned visuals translate very well to the home Blu-ray release. It's not quite as epic as it was on the big screen, but all the details in Asgard and on the various costumes are clear to see, and the effort is very rewarding to our eyes. It both looks and feels like a comic book movie like it should, as the artistic detail on the page is done justice on screen. The sound is as loud as one would expect from Asgard, and from Hopkins in particular. Some of his shouting will have your room shaking! Thor is both an aural and visual experience that perhaps even outdoes its source material for epicness. There is a 3D release available but I'm not convinced it adds much more. It certainly doesn't take anything away by watching it in 2D. As for the special features, I recommend listening to the fascinating commentary by Kenneth Branagh, but all the other bog-standard trailers etc are worth a look too.

Bringing it back to The Avengers, there's a scene with a less-familiar but equally important member (without spoiling it), and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) appears again as he did in the Iron Man movies. In a post-credits cameo, Samuel L.Jackson (in one of his numerous Marvel appearances) appears as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the man trusted with bringing the various parts of The Avengers together. And don't forget to look out for Stan Lee as usual! The important thing is that, while there is a link to The Avengers, we are never made to feel like Thor exists simply to set up a future film. It stands alone very well, and could quite easily exist as a self-contained story. This is something that Iron Man 2 didn't do quite as well as it should have, and probably why it wasn't as well received as the original.

Thor is by far the best film in this set of Avengers movies, and quite close to the best comic book adaptation I've seen - alongside Nolan's Batman series, and X-Men First Class. I cannot recommend this highly enough.