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By Horacio Garcia

A conflict that threatens to destroy the world, a stormy father-son relationship, a jealous brother and of course a hot scientist whom predictably falls for the hero are the ingredients in this new step of the long and profitable road to The Avengers. Thor is here.

Even for the always well financed Marvel superhero movies, the star studded cast is unusually good, with Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins and Renee Russo compensating for the new faces in town, specially  Chris Hemsworth who plays the main character and is coming straight from Australian television (soap operas, if you can believe it).

This stellar cast can be attributed to director Kenneth Branagh's fame as an accomplished film artist whom in the last 25 years has tackled everything from "Hamlet" to "Frankenstein". Natalie Portman confessed in an interview that she took another role in another big fantasy production just because "having Kenneth Branagh directing was too weird. Anthony Hopkins said: "It’s a superhero movie but with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in", so you go figure.

Having recognized the weight of the stars let's acknowledge what really works with Thor: Chris Hemsworth is Thor. The man just got the looks of a Norse God. It is said that he worked out the irons so hard that he didn't fit in the Thor outfit that had been costume-made some weeks before they started shooting.

Truth is, not only Chris is perfect in the role (he acts like a Viking during the first half of the movie and it comes perfectly natural for this guy…) but the rest of the cast is also great, specially Anthony Hopkins as Odin -Thor’s almighty father- and Tom Hiddelston as Loki -Odin’s adopted son and Thor’s nemesis.

Special mention to Clark Gregg, who's agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is becoming sort of a classic in the series. Gregg is an excellent comedian and manages to make light even of scripts as crappy as Ironman 2.

Something worth notice is that the movie’s damsels are not in distress. Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings play two scientists investigating the strange phenomenon of Thor's falling down to Earth and the other female characters are powerful goddesses. No kidnapped girl to be saved here. Marvel female characters tend to be very strong and (sometimes) very dangerous: remember Jean Grey/Phoenix of the X Men.

The movie has great effects with the IMAX and 3D helping a lot to convey the otherworldly landscapes of Asgard, the Home of the Gods. They took a great pain in reproducing the scenario of the graphic novels so if you have an IMAX near you, I strongly recommend it. The only thing arguably weak is the fact that Thor's earthly adventures last only a couple of days, then he is called back to Asgard, but not to worry: he’ll be back.

There is as usual a surprise Nick Fury scene at the very end of the final credits so you have a good pretext to stay till the end and listen to the last song.

Tags Anthony Hopkins, Chris Hensworth, Kenneth Branagh, Natalie Portman, The Avengers, thor, Thor Movie