So, I finally got around to watching Thor (yes, in 3-D).

Seems an odd choice for director Kenneth Branagh except that there are some good actors in epic situations.

I think the film picks up speed considerably when Thor gets the hammer back (now don’t accuse me of a spoiler – everyone knows that’s going to happen), and I like the chemistry between Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth.

Worth noting, though, is that I’m thinking more about the preview trailer I saw for Captain America (due in theaters in late July), which had a better look to me than Thor, than I am about the movie I actually saw.

One thing about Thor has given me pause, and it’s not really about the movie directly but about context.

Timing really is everything.  A troubling aspect of Thor for me visually (in addition to the fact that I think some of the other realms look a bit cheesy) is all of the tornado imagery on the ground in New Mexico.

Had I seen the film before recent tornadoes, especially in Joplin, Missouri, I might not have juxtaposed images of the effects on the screen with news clips of actual destruction and despair.

Some people go to popcorn movies to escape.  It takes a really, really good movie to make me shut down the competing narratives inside my head.

That’s not a bad thing…it’s just the way I am…and Thor wasn’t strong enough to push aside everything else in my cluttered brain.