Review of Thor: The Dark World (2013) by Cris John F — 03 Jan 2015

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, and Christopher Eccleston.

Directed By: Alan Taylor.

Rated: PG-13.

An old enemy of Asgard returns and puts not only his home, but the woman Thor loves in danger. He is forced to team up with his brother Loki in order to save Jane, and all of reality, from being thrown into darkness.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of my favorite things to have made it's way into theaters in recent years. I love the huge, connected world and how a fantasy film, a spy drama, and World War II story, can all exist in separate movies, but still feel a part of the same big world. They have yet to disappoint me in an outing and it seems with the more success they have, the more I'm worried that there will be day of disappointment. But today is not that day. Thor has returned, still swinging his mighty hammer strong. Although it didn't capture my attention as much as the first, it's still a strong sequel that continues to build on Marvels ever growing world.

Chris Hemsworth is still great as the title character, Thor. He has changed and grown since the first film and The Avengers, and you can see it in his eyes and how the character acts. Chris carries it all well and is a great leading man. Tom Hiddleston's fan girls will be pleased to know that he hasn't lost any of his charm. Even after destroying most of New York and killing hundreds, Loki is still as suave as ever. He's more bitter and sarcastic now, but thankfully we aren't forced to try and forgive him and think he is a good person. He is still the trickster, and the movie doesn't forget that, which I'm grateful for. I was worried they would force him turning over a new leaf too much, but how it all plays out works perfectly for how the character is and of course is played wonderfully by Hiddleston. I love Christopher Eccleston after being introduced to him through Doctor Who, and he does a decent job with what he is given, but I think Malekith should have been flushed out a little bit more and I will touch more on that later. Everyone else did a great job as well, Kat Dennings returns as the lovable Darcy, Ray Stevenson and Zachary Levi have great fun as Fandral and Volstagg, Anthony Hopkins is of course fantastic as always (I love his opening narration, Disney needs to have narrate their next Nature film), and Idris Elba does the best he can to upstage everyone by being the coolest man in the movie.

The movie has a lot more of serious tone then the first one, but still manages to not lose it's sense of humor to help keep the movie fun. A couple times in the final fight, those moments didn't quite work, but they still didn't hurt the movie enough for me to hate them. As I said though, they did need to do.

More for the Dark Elves. They were born in darkness, but why are they so keen to turn everything back to darkness? Maybe their motivation is explained better in the comics, but its not really here. We are told that this is Malekith plan and that's that. Maybe I missed something, it's possible. I plan on seeing the movie again, so if I pick up on it, I will correct myself. They were good, creepy villains, I just needed to see more from them.

As far as the 3D is concerned (I saw it in RealD 3D, which I believe is the best 3D), I wouldn't say it's worth it. It doesn't add anything to the movie, so I would just stick with the 2D. Those meager handful of complaints did not stop me from enjoying the film though. There is a hilarious cameo (and not just from Stan Lee), some great drama, and an interesting enough story. If you have loved the last few Marvel movies, then I don't see why you won't love this one as well.

As always, stick around till the very end of the credits, because Marvel always has something extra at the end.

8 Reels Out Of 10.

"There is nothing more relaxing than knowing that the world is crazier than you are.".