Almighty Thor (4 Stars)

Some of you might have heard that there were two films made about Thor, the God of Thunder, in 2011. One was a big budget film about the Marvel superhero that cost $150 million. The other was a made for television film, first shown on America's Syfy channel, that cost a staggering $200,000. Which was the best? I can already hear you shrieking "The Marvel film". I agree, but the difference in quality isn't as big as you might think. A review in the Guardian actually found the low budget Thor film better.

The question is, what are we comparing? Is it even fair to compare two films when one of them had a budget 750 times as big as the other? Watching "Almighty Thor" today I had to ask myself how it could possibly look so good on such a small budget. The special effects are magnificent. The cinematography is perfect. The acting is first class.

It's a modern phenomenon that low budget films look good. Digital cameras give high quality for a cheap price. Aspiring cinematographers, fresh from film school, cut their teeth on small budget films while they're hoping to get a break and work for the big studios. On the other hand, I have to point out that the director is Christopher Ray. He's one of the world's biggest experts at making good films on a tight budget.

As for the acting, I'd like to concentrate on the lead actor, Cody Deal. After playing a few minor roles he auditioned for the role of Thor in the Marvel film. He was turned down in favour of Chris Hemsworth. Shortly afterwards he was given the role of Thor in this film. After seeing him today I wonder if the correct casting choice was made by Marvel. Cody is an excellent actor who could have carried the role for Marvel Studios for years to come.

The other actors are reasonable, although none stand out as much as Cody. Richard Grieco is a competent actor as Loki, but he doesn't portray the sheer maliciousness of Tom Hiddleston. Kevin Nash looks better than Anthony Hopkins as Odin, but he's only a wrestler, so we can't expect too much of him.

The film begins with a battle between Loki and Odin. Loki wants to destroy Yggdrasil, the tree of life, in order to bring about Ragnarok. The only weapon capable of destroying Yggdrasil is a hammer that belongs to Odin. Loki kills Odin, but as he dies Odin casts the hammer into a vortex where his son Thor can find it. Thor, as hot-headed as always, wants to battle Loki immediately, but he meets a Valkyrie called Jarnsaxa, who tells him that he can't defeat Loki without the hammer. Together Thor and Jarnsaxa flee to Los Angeles, closely pursued by Loki.

Doesn't Cody Deal look perfect as a blond-haired Norse God? I'm hoping to see a lot of him in the future. He's recently appeared in two films made by Dean McKendrick, "Deadly Pickup" and "Cosmic Calendar Girls". They're not bad films, but I'm sure he has much bigger roles ahead of him.

The actress who plays Jarnsaxa looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen her before. Thanks to IMDB I know the answer. She's Patricia Velasquez, who played Anck Su Namun in "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". I haven't seen her since then because she's been concentrating on a career in television series. It's good to see her again.

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