It isn't a great sign when you come out of a movie like Thor and the thing you liked best was the comic relief moments. The latest Marvel film is mediocre yet entertaining. It offers absolutely nothing new in terms of plot or character, and the action scenes almost seem more perfunctory than exciting. The film most certainly plays it safe and doesn't try to break any new ground but I'm not sure you can blame them; after all, this is a movie about a god-like hero and half of it takes place on another planet. I'm not sure this film could have gone for edgy or a more intricate plot and still explained all of the background and rules of the Asgard and the nine realms.

Still, while it may be understandable why the film needed to have a basic plot and simple characters, you can't just dismiss the problem of the film having a textbook, screenwriting 101 plot and one dimensional characters. Also, because the script had to establish so much in terms of backstory, the actual hurdles that the characters had to face weren't really developed. Whereas other films would try to set up an achilles heel that the heroes must find in order to overcome the unbeatable forces that stand in their way, this film's fights have nothing more than brute force.

As I was leaving the movie, I was trying to figure out whether I would really put Thor at #1, over Fast Five. But then I realized that despite the fact that half the movie took place in space, had a sword in the stone-like element with a magic hammer, and had Frost Giants and rainbow bridges, "Thor" was still more believable than the latest Fast and the Furious movie.

But what's probably the biggest story is that Thor is kind of a forgettable movie that won't be the smash hit that Iron Man was yet the villain in the film is somewhat confirmed as the villain in The Avengers. It seems like a risk to have the tentpole movie be based around a villain from a movie that not everyone will have seen but, then again, most of the Avenger-related films so far have had forgettable villains so maybe they'll be able to overcome the weaker villain by focusing on the inter-personal conflicts within the Avengers.

But back to "Thor", from what I've heard, the 3D isn't much in the film and I definitely wouldn't recommend dropping more money on an average film but if you have nothing better to do this weekend, "Thor" isn't the worst way of spending a couple of hours. There are a ton of better ways to spend your time but, sadly, I haven't found any better at the local multiplex so far this year.

Oh, and if you want to see Monster Paws' Isaac Kappy with his thespian hat on, he has a great little cameo in Thor as a pet shop clerk.