Thor

The Marvel Movie Machine continues apace with their latest attempt to dominate the summer movie market. Like Iron Man it pitches its idea around talent that we aren’t used to seeing in this context – in this case Kenneth Branagh – as a means of drawing in the crowds. Like Iron Man it is (at heart) silly, immensely enjoyable trash, but never pretends to be anything else.

Yes, there’s a streak of humour a mild wide running through it, yes come the end there’s a large fight that bears no relation to the rest of the plot and yes, Samuel L Jackson turns up post credits, but it’s all done with such commitment from everyone that it’s hard to complain about it. Apple seem to have replaced Audi, but in many way’s that’s far less intrusive. And it all looks fabulous – Asgard is a gleaming mix of fantasy & technology. More importantly whilst the Iron Man films relied on RDJ to carry the film, here the duties are far more evenly split and the motivations of all make a lot more sense (Loki actually having depth to his plan rather than a vague sense of reason).

Great fun, and you only need to turn your brain half off for once.