Hammer of the Gods (2009 film)


Hammer of the Gods is a 2009 made-for-TV film, starring Zachery Ty Bryan, directed by Todor "Toshko" Chapkanov and produced by Jeffery Beach and Phillip J. Roth for the Syfy channel. It tells the story of the thunder god Thor, after he defeated the Midgard Serpent and died, then was reincarnated into a mortal man. Thor, along with his two brothers and friends travel to a mysterious island at Midgard's edge, seeking glory and fame. Upon arriving they encounter strange creatures and they start searching the island for answers. Meanwhile, Thor keeps seeing visions of a mighty warrior and a big hammer and Freyja tells him that his visions are clues. So they start searching for the hammer.

Plot

In the opening, a narrator tells us, "...It was unmistakable. A wolf rising its stem and stern. Its sailed dripped blood red. These things served but one purpose, to strike fear and terror into the hearts of any who came across them..." A group of Vikings aboard a ship are headed for the ends of the Earth, which turns out to be a mysterious island. The narrator continues "...Each stroke, each painful breath, they believed it brought them ever closer to the ends of the Earth. But onward they pushed, for the ends of the Earth they sought. Glory, Honor. These things awaited them there. But so did something else..."
Freyja, says it is "Lingfei". Thor believes it to be a place to build a new kingdom for themselves. Then he corrects himself, saying that it would be the kingdom of his brother, Baldur. But Baldur suggests giving it to their elder brother, Ulfrich, joking about the island's weather suiting his temper. Upon arrival, Thor has a feeling of deja vu. Sif asks if he is alright. He replies that it was a strange feeling, as if he had been there before. Freyja suggests that he has memories of his past life. Thor replies that if he lived before, then he had died as well. He says he would not make that mistake twice. Thor and Aegir go out scouting, but soon a werewolf grabs Aegir and carries him off. Thor makes it back after escaping two other werewolves by climbing up a tree. The Vikings rally and go looking for Aegir. Instead, they find a village. Inside are starving people who have been walled into a house for months, surviving by eating grubs from the dirt. They explain that they arrived in the same manner as the Vikings but were attacked and trapped by the werewolves. Baldur decides to leave some men to guard the village as they continue looking for Aegir. Thor has a vision of a great warrior with a mighty hammer, fighting a giant sea serpent. Freyja informs him that he saw the Hammer of the Gods. Back at the village, the guards are attacked and killed by werewolves. As the group cross a wooden bridge, Freyja sees a vision of Baldur sacrificing his life. The group hears screaming, and Baldur orders everyone back to the village. They arrive to find their men were gone. Baldur decides to return to the ship to fetch the rest of the crew.
Thor has another vision: this time, the warrior holds the hammer to the heavens, and lightning strikes the hammer, filling it with power. Seeing this, Thor feels the lightning himself. Freyja tells him his visions are clues to finding the hammer and that it is at the top of the mountain on the island. When they reach the shore, their guards are gone, and the ship has disappeared, so the Vikings are trapped. They return to the village for the night, but the villagers there are also missing. The Vikings set up fort and wait for night. The werewolves arrive and they do battle. The Vikings do well, killing several werewolves to only one Viking loss. Thor cuts off a werewolf's head. The werewolves retreat and carry off their dead, except for the head, which Thor sticks on a pick. The werewolf head soon reverts to a human head, and the Vikings realise what their enemies are. Freyja finds an urn inside the house, she sees something in it that scares her. She goes to show Baldur, but Thor shows her the head in human form. Freyja gasps, dropping the urn into pieces. She asks in fear, "What in Odin's name?" Then Thor says he was hoping for some insights into that. Inside a house, Thor, Baldur, Ulfrich, Freyja, and Sif discuss about the head. Ulfrich refuses to believe it's sorcery. But Baldur says it is. Thor recognizes the head, it was one of the villagers. Meaning the werewolves walked amongst the villagers. Sif agrees with him, even though she is disgusted at the sight of the cut-off head. Baldur orders Hermoid to take the head out of the room. Freyja tells Thor that it is much worse than he could imagine. Baldur realizes she meant the urn. He asks her why it was so special. She says it had an inscription on the inside. Ulfrich asks what it said. Freyja tells everyone the inscription said, "Beware the Sons of Loki." Thor asks her, "The god?" Baldur says, "The trickster!" Freyja replies, "The same." Sif asks her what it means. She says that Loki had two sons, "Jörmungandr the Midgard Serpent", and "Fenris the Wolf".
Inside a cave, a werewolf reverts to human form, a woman, revealed to be Hel, the woman from the village. She reports to Fenris, who orders her to bring Thor and kill everyone else. She interrogates two prisoners, using a werewolf named Skull to torture them. Back at the village, Ulfrich is angered over an imagined affair between Thor and Sif. Ulfrich challenges Thor to a duel. Baldur stops it, but Ulfrich leaves. Later, Hel confronts Ulfrich and invites him to join the werewolves, and kisses him. The Vikings head to the mountain to search for the hammer, but are met by Ulfrich and two werewolves. Words are exchanged, and Ulfrich fights Baldur as the rest are told to run. Ulfrich slashes Baldur in the back, but Baldur then runs, reaching the bridge they had seen before. As the werewolves follow him onto the bridge, Baldur stops in the middle and severs the ropes of the bridge. The bridge falls and Baldur and the werewolves fall into the ravine.
Thor and Ulfrich exchange threatening gestures. Ulfrich sneers and then heads away, back to the werewolf base. That night, an old man falls out of a tree. The Vikings run to find the man, Vali, who tells them a similar story to the one the villagers had told. A suspicious Thor cuts off one of Vali's fingers. It does not grow back, so he concludes that Vali is not a werewolf. They ask him how he survived for so long, and he tells them that he hasn't left the protection of the tree for months. Thor orders the Vikings move on. Vali asks if they're leaving, but Thor says, "Not until we kill everything on this entire island!" Realising their real intention, Vali says they plan to retrieve "Mjölnir". Thor asks how Vali knows of it, and Vali tells them the story of the Hammer of the Gods. The hammer fell from the heavens, a mighty gift from Odin himself. Its power was so great, that only one mortal man could wield it. Thor believed it to be Baldur, but Vali told them the champion's name had been lost through the ages. He says that the champion already wielded it once, and that it was written he will return and wield it again. Thor believes that Baldur would return. Vali asks to finish. He tells them that Loki had two sons. Sif says they already know about Jörmungandr and Fenris. But Vali asks her if they knew Jörmungandr was felled on that very island by the great champion. He struck down upon him with the hammer. But not before the great serpent had bit him; so he was victorious, but at a terrible cost; his life. Vali then said that Odin was pleased though, so it was prophesied this champion would one day return, and reclaim his place amongst the gods. Thor then collapses in pain from another vision, seeing that he is the one chosen to wield the hammer, Mjölnir. Thereupon, Thor plans to get the hammer, kill Fenris, and find their ship to leave.
Arriving at the werewolf base, they see their ship near the hideout. Thor sends Hermoid and Heimdall to secure it for departure, while the rest sneak in the back door. Ulfrich is waiting for them, and he and Thor fight as Sif, Freyja and Vali sneak inside. Ulfrich boasts about the power he now has. Thor thrusts his sword through Ulfrich's chest, but Ulfrich simply laughs, and begins to morph into a werewolf. Ulfrich throws Thor's sword up into a tree. Thor jumps, grabs his sword, and slices Ulfrich in two in one movement. Inside, Sif, Freyja, and Vali kill the captured and mortally wounded Viking, Aegir, to free him from his own pain, and are then confronted by Hel. She says Vali is also after the Hammer, but he disappears. Sif and Freyja do battle with Hel. Thor arrives, but is told to go after the hammer, which he does. Thor finds Fenris, who tells him he had waited a long time for Thor's return. He calls Thor, "Son of Odin", implying Odin is Thor's father. Thor asks Fenris why he keeps the hammer close. Fenris replies that it is because Thor's lust for the hammer draws him to it. Thor says he'll need it back now, and Fenris tauntingly tells him to try to take it. They fight. Meanwhile, Hel kills Freyja; then Sif kills Hel. Sif promises the dead Freyja they will meet again, on the plains of Asgard. Sif goes to aid Thor; she distracts Fenris, allowing Thor time to grab the Mjölnir, with which he hammers Fenris's head. With Fenris dead, Thor and Sif briefly embrace and leave.
They exit and find werewolves waiting for them. Thor confronts them, and slams Mjölnir onto the ground: a thunderous shockwave kills all the werewolves. Thor and Sif embrace again. Vali appears, and asks if he could hold the hammer. Thor asks him how he would guarantee Vali wouldn't use it against him. Vali stated that only Thor could wield it. Thor says, "I'll think about it," and they all laugh. They go down to the ship. Hermoid and Heimdall are alive; Thor shows them Mjölnir, and they yell with joy. As Thor, Sif, Vali, Hermoid and Heimdall sail back home, the narrator tells us, "So, they sailed away from Midgard's edge, each lost in their own silent contemplation. Though they'd won the day, they left more on that Isle than they'd taken."

Cast