Asgard residents travel to Jotunheim to confront sworn enemies the Frost Giants in the next piece in Marvel's crossover universe puzzle, Thor.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tries, and fails, to talk his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) out of a rash decision in Thor.

Thor (breakout star Chris Hemsworth) realizes his father was sending him a message when he fails to pull the sword from the stone, so to speak, in Thor.

Marvel takes another step toward the ultimate superhero franchise movie. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

The "tent pole" has become something of a buzzword in Hollywood over the last few years. Maybe it's because franchise has become a dirty word, conjuring ideas of conveyor belt entertainment that is interchangeable with the next product (and it is product). Where once the tent pole was simply the solid cornerstone of a television network's daily programming or a studio's season (hence the summer tent pole), it's now subtly mixed in with the franchise property.

Ideally a good tent pole franchise will have a built-in audience with the potential to cultivate a wider viewership. It's why Lionsgate picked young adult literary sensation The Hunger Games to offset the conclusion of the Saw films. Superheroes work because it taps the nerd herd and women who enjoy watching attractive men in very tight outfits. Then Marvel Entertainment came along and truly rethought the whole concept of the tent pole franchise. After selling some of Marvel's best known comic book properties and co-producing with others to varying degrees of success (X-Men, Fantastic Four, Blade, Hulk), the kids at Marvel Studios refinanced and reorganized into the burgeoning behemoth they were-until they were purchased by (gulp) Disney in 2009.

The beauty for Marvel - and rival DC Comics - is that they already have the ultimate franchise picture just waiting to be produced. DC and Warner are in production on Christopher Nolan's last Batman film, yet another Superman reboot by Zack Snyder, and The Green Lantern is set for release in June - three characters who form the basis of the Justice League. A JL film has been proposed and dropped (once because of the writers' strike in '08) a half dozen times in the last decade, and in March, Warner's president told the Los Angeles Times he expected to see a JL film in 2013.

But Marvel is a step ahead of everyone. Joss Whedon's all-star The Avengers starts shooting in May and is scheduled for release in summer 2012. In the lead up to that momentous occasion, Marvel has been laying the groundwork for what is sure to be the geek magnum opus. The base of this particular pole came back in 2008 when Marvel dusted off one of its less known and vaguely outdated properties, Iron Man. The laughter could be heard everywhere. "What are they thinking?" we wondered. "A dude in a rocket-powered suit?" we asked. "Robert Downey, Jr.?" The laughter was silenced to the tune of US$600 million in global box office.

Shortly thereafter came The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger is slated for July. But for now we have the next piece of the puzzle: Thor.

Like Iron Man, Thor is an old, silly property that looks out of place in the superhero canon. A Norse god whose weapon of choice is a hammer that resembles a slapstick comedy prop? True, it looks pretty goofy, but Marvel has kicked off the season with a perfect piece of summer entertainment.

A great deal of credit needs to go to director Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Sleuth), who brings his defining Shakespearean touch to the fanboy arena. It's because of Branagh there's more focus on Thor and his earthly pursuits over an excess of running around and blowing things up (but that's there too), as well as a modicum of dramatic interplay between fathers and sons (how Hamlet-y). Branagh seems to be having a good time with the material, never taking it too seriously but injecting as much gravitas as the story will bear.

When heir to the throne of Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth, whose brother Liam will star in The Hunger Games) defies his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and breaks the uneasy peace with the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, Odin banishes him and his magic hammer to Earth to learn humility and diplomacy. The hammer gets stuck in the New Mexico desert (there's a bit of Arthurian legend at play too) and quickly falls under the purview of property-crossing espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. A trio of scientists eventually lend Thor a hand in recovering the hammer, saving the state and making him a better man. Along the way there's some dastardly sibling rivalry with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and some budding romance with astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

The story moves at lightning pace, making Thor's transformation abrupt and the romance paper thin, but it doesn't really matter. After an initial blast of (admittedly rich) CGI that illustrates Asgard and Jotunheim, Thor settles down into an amusing fish-out-of-water adventure with more than its share of humorous moments. As Thor, Hemsworth conveys just the right mix of roguish charm masking a fundamentally decent soul, reminiscent of Chris Pine's turn as Captain Kirk in Star Trek. He and Branagh find endless gags in the contrast of his regal disposition with small town USA.

Thor has other strengths hidden beneath its noisy surface. Hiddleston finds a way to shade Loki's trickster nature quite deliciously in the time he has, Hopkins manages not to devour the scenery for a change, and Colm Feore almost steals the show from underneath pounds of latex as Frost Giant King Laufey. There are some lovely Iron Man in-jokes, novel casting in Swede Stellan Skarsgrd, and cameos by two Avengers that bind the universes together.

Thor isn't perfect: Portman duplicates her performance in Black Swan, just with less crying, all breathy high-pitched nervousness and toothy grins; Branagh has a bit too much affection for off-kilter angles; Kat Dennings as a research assistant is there simply for unnecessary comic relief; and a roster of cinema vets as Thor's godly friends are painfully underused. But the film knows its place in the Marvel world as well as its role as summer entertainment. In the way Iron Man, RoboCop (in 1987), and Speed (1994) surprised summer audiences by defiantly making their seemingly goofy high concepts work, Thor may pull off the same stunt this year. And it should leave viewers with one all-important thought: I can't wait for The Avengers.

And whatever you do stay through the closing credits.

Thor opened in Hong Kong on Thursday.

(HK Edition 04/30/2011 page4)