Thor is a character first hinted at the end of Iron Man two where during the after credits scene we cut to Agent Phil Coulson finding Thor's hammer in the middle of the desert.

We open with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster and her scientific colleagues Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis played by Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings. The scientists appear to be chasing a storm and end up hitting a bearded man with their car. This man later is revealed as Thor.

We then cut to Anthony Hopkins narrating as Odin introducing the threat of a race known as the Frost Giants. Odin and his army defeat the Frost Giants leaving them powerless. Anthony Hopkins is a seasoned actor and an inspired choice. The casting in this movie with the exception of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is the best yet. 

We cut to a young Thor and Loki, brothers being lectured by their father Odin in the qualities required by a king. A point which goes on to define Loki's motivations in this movie and the entire MCU so far. Bringing us forward to the movie's present day where Odin is about to present Thor with the Kings throne, a scene in which you immediately see Loki's resentment towards his brother. The ceremony is cut short however by the Frost Giants attempting to steal an artifact being kept safe in an Asgardian facility. Here we see Thors aggression surface as he explains to Odin his ambition to 'teach the Frost Giants' a lesson. Loki provokes Thor here clearly in an attempt to push Thor in to a decision to defy his father. Thor convinces his team of warriors to travel to Yodenheim and confront the Frost Giants. Ultimately this leads to a battle between the Frost Giants and Thor's team of warriors that is cut short by Odin. Odin, left angry at Thor's defiance strips the titular character of his powers and banishes him to Earth. Cut back to Earth and we now discover that the man hit by Jane Foster was the god of thunder himself, now a mere mortal.

The battle scenes are fantastic and it is entertaining seeing Thor and his companions throwing in one liners and kicking some Frost Giant ass. Thor is portrayed for the most part of this movie as a spoilt brat with a serious chip on his shoulder which gives credability to the end of the movie. Kenneth Branagh as director would not have been everyone's first choice, at the time he was not exactly synonymous with the action adventure genre. However, this movies credability lies in the introduction to the characters and how they react in the given situations, by the end of the movie we are convinced that he was the best man for the job. In retrospect it should have been obvious as Branagh has always used Shakespearean drama and archaic language in his storytelling. While the writers are responsible for developing the story, the way in which Branagh delivers in presenting them makes the film one of the most entertaining and certainly most amusing of the MCU franchise not to mention every bit as visually appealing as the Iron Man movies. This movie really is on par with Iron Man having set the bar very high for the comic book movie genre.  

The movie is very much Thor's and shows his journey from boyhood to manhood. Having lived a life of power and privilege the most interesting aspect of this film is Thor's fish out of water story and his powerlessness as a mortal being where he truly learns the value of his powers.

There is more of SHIELD in this movie than any other so far and we are introduced to Hawkeye in a cameo where interestingly, he has Thor in his crosshairs. When Thor was announced it was hard to see how they could connect this movie to the wider MCU universe being established but the clever writing with Thor's banishment from Asgard really does set up much of the forthcoming movies. Without this movie I am convinced the MCU would not be as strong a franchise as it has become.