Thor (soundtrack) director Kenneth Branagh's big-screen adaptation of Marvel Comic's iconic Norse superhero Thor with appropriate gravitas. The longtime Branagh collaborator ("Henry V", "Dead Again") sets the stage with "Chasing the Storm," a tense and surging unveiling of the main theme, which sounds a bit like a cross between the James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's "Batman Begins" cue and Zimmer's "CheValiers de Sangreal" theme from "The Da Vinci Code", and like Zimmer, Doyle knows how to whip a circular melody into a frenzy. Elsewhere, the lovely and appropriately stoic "Sons of Odin" is awash in traditional fantasy elements, while the epic
Thor: The Dark World Echoing other critics' sentiments, Frank Lovece of "Film Journal International" wrote, "Is it wrong that the best relationship in "Thor: The Dark World" is between the titular Norse-god superhero and his adoptive brother Loki? To take nothing away from Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, ... it's the complicated love-hate between Thor and the trickster god Loki that you can't turn your eyes from." Conversely, Tim Robey of "The Daily Telegraph" said, "It feels entirely made by committee—the definition of house style, without a personal stamp in sight." Leslie Felperin of "The Hollywood Reporter" said, "Although director Alan Taylor manages to get things