Thor the dark World review!
Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Fabio with an extra large mallet? No, it’s Thor God of Thunder! Here’s my review of Thor : The Dark World. Asgard’s #1 son returns with his blonde conditioned hair and his 6 pack abs and he’s ready to flatten some Dark Elves with his mighty Mjolnir (that’s his enchanted hammer).
The film starts with Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor’s father, narrating the origin of the Dark Elves and the other 8 Realms. It’s a rather convoluted plot, so here’s all you really need to know : Thousands of years ago, The Dark Elves, lead by the evil Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), harnessed a substance called The Aether, a crimson liquid like energy of immeasurable power. The Dark Elves sought to destroy all the other realms, but Bor, Thor’s grandfather and his army of Asgardians, defeated the Elves and stored the Aether into safe keeping. Malekith fled and hid into his starship and fell into a sort of deep hibernation, waiting for the Aether to one day resurface. You with me so far?
Fast forward thousands of years later on Earth, where scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) accidentally unleashes the Aether and somehow absorbs it (I hate it when that happens). Malekith awakens and this causes chaos on Asgard, which forces Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to partner up with his evil half brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) for his crimes in New York City (if you haven’t seen The Avengers movie yet, you suck). With the help of his Asgardian comrades Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (he’s been replace by actor Zachary Levi), Heimdall (Idris Elba), his Earth friends and his not so trust worthy brother, Thor must wage a war on The Dark Elves or else the very fabric of reality for the Nine Realms will be lost forever.
With the first Thor movie, it was more of fish out of water story, where as in this sequel, the focus is more about Asgard and its impact on the other realms, including Midgard (Earth). This sequel also has a significant amount of action, as Thor with his mighty hammer smashes the ground, rock monsters and a shit load of Dark Elf faces. It would’ve been nice to get a little more background or development on characters like Lady Sif, Volstagg, Hogun & Fandral, but its fun to watch them fight the baddies and high five each other.
There’s also a lot more humour this time around, with jokes about Thor`s hammer, Loki’s cosplay, the embarrassing naked predicaments of professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), the arguments between Jane and Thor, the kind only a mortal and an immortal could have and the recurring Stan Lee appearance that are present in all Marvel movies. The actors have a lot of fun with there roles, Hopkins as Odin, starts speeches very quietly and quickly changes to shouting. Elba’s Heimdall has a little bit more screen time this time around and Hemsworth wears Thor like a comfortable shoe, he IS Thor. All the actors shine with their roles, but the one that shines the brightest is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Here’s a villain everyone loves to hate, Hiddleston plays Loki like second nature. Remove Thor and slap a Loki on the title and I’d probably still watch the movie.
There 3 weaknesses of the film are Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Malekith. Dennings annoying character serves absolutely no other purpose than comic relief, but with all the humour thrown into this sequel, her role is unnecessary. With every super hero movie you need a villain who’s just as larger than life than its protagonist and Malekith doesn`t quite cut it. Christopher Eccleston`s a fine actor, hell he was the Doctor in Doctor Who, but Malekith is bland, boring and doesn’t say much, unless it’s in Dark Elvish, then he has plenty to say. Thank goodness Loki`s around. The 3rd weakness isn’t a weakness, but more nitpicking because I’m such a comic geek. I don’t remember seeing star ships in Thor comics, but with these Thor movies, Marvel Studios have merged the Norse mythology with high tech-ery. It’s just something I’ll have to get used to.
I miss the Shakespearean dialogue that director Kenneth Branagh brought to the first Thor, but with director Alan Taylor’s experience with directing episodes of Game of Throne, he brings a medieval flair to the world of the Nine Realms and does a fine job doing so.
Just under 2 hours, Thor the Dark World is one hell of a sequel and well worth your hard earned cash. Like always, stay after the mid credits for a taste of what’s to come and if you don’t have to urgently pee, then stay after the end credits for an amusing little scene. Or you can go straight home and eventually see those scenes online.
The film starts with Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor’s father, narrating the origin of the Dark Elves and the other 8 Realms. It’s a rather convoluted plot, so here’s all you really need to know : Thousands of years ago, The Dark Elves, lead by the evil Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), harnessed a substance called The Aether, a crimson liquid like energy of immeasurable power. The Dark Elves sought to destroy all the other realms, but Bor, Thor’s grandfather and his army of Asgardians, defeated the Elves and stored the Aether into safe keeping. Malekith fled and hid into his starship and fell into a sort of deep hibernation, waiting for the Aether to one day resurface. You with me so far?
Fast forward thousands of years later on Earth, where scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) accidentally unleashes the Aether and somehow absorbs it (I hate it when that happens). Malekith awakens and this causes chaos on Asgard, which forces Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to partner up with his evil half brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) for his crimes in New York City (if you haven’t seen The Avengers movie yet, you suck). With the help of his Asgardian comrades Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (he’s been replace by actor Zachary Levi), Heimdall (Idris Elba), his Earth friends and his not so trust worthy brother, Thor must wage a war on The Dark Elves or else the very fabric of reality for the Nine Realms will be lost forever.
With the first Thor movie, it was more of fish out of water story, where as in this sequel, the focus is more about Asgard and its impact on the other realms, including Midgard (Earth). This sequel also has a significant amount of action, as Thor with his mighty hammer smashes the ground, rock monsters and a shit load of Dark Elf faces. It would’ve been nice to get a little more background or development on characters like Lady Sif, Volstagg, Hogun & Fandral, but its fun to watch them fight the baddies and high five each other.
There’s also a lot more humour this time around, with jokes about Thor`s hammer, Loki’s cosplay, the embarrassing naked predicaments of professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), the arguments between Jane and Thor, the kind only a mortal and an immortal could have and the recurring Stan Lee appearance that are present in all Marvel movies. The actors have a lot of fun with there roles, Hopkins as Odin, starts speeches very quietly and quickly changes to shouting. Elba’s Heimdall has a little bit more screen time this time around and Hemsworth wears Thor like a comfortable shoe, he IS Thor. All the actors shine with their roles, but the one that shines the brightest is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Here’s a villain everyone loves to hate, Hiddleston plays Loki like second nature. Remove Thor and slap a Loki on the title and I’d probably still watch the movie.
There 3 weaknesses of the film are Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Malekith. Dennings annoying character serves absolutely no other purpose than comic relief, but with all the humour thrown into this sequel, her role is unnecessary. With every super hero movie you need a villain who’s just as larger than life than its protagonist and Malekith doesn`t quite cut it. Christopher Eccleston`s a fine actor, hell he was the Doctor in Doctor Who, but Malekith is bland, boring and doesn’t say much, unless it’s in Dark Elvish, then he has plenty to say. Thank goodness Loki`s around. The 3rd weakness isn’t a weakness, but more nitpicking because I’m such a comic geek. I don’t remember seeing star ships in Thor comics, but with these Thor movies, Marvel Studios have merged the Norse mythology with high tech-ery. It’s just something I’ll have to get used to.
I miss the Shakespearean dialogue that director Kenneth Branagh brought to the first Thor, but with director Alan Taylor’s experience with directing episodes of Game of Throne, he brings a medieval flair to the world of the Nine Realms and does a fine job doing so.
Just under 2 hours, Thor the Dark World is one hell of a sequel and well worth your hard earned cash. Like always, stay after the mid credits for a taste of what’s to come and if you don’t have to urgently pee, then stay after the end credits for an amusing little scene. Or you can go straight home and eventually see those scenes online.
The only thing that I found dragging was sadly Natalie Portman's portrayl of Jane. I love Jane as a character, but Portman just couldn't bring life into a character I normally look up to. High standards? Maybe. But still a good movie overall, definitely.