Review of Thor: The Dark World (2013) by Preston L — 09 Feb 2015

In the recent years of movies Marvel Studios have come up with an, admittedly at first, risky play to bring their characters together and link them in a never ending web of characters (That ironically does not include Spider-man). Since the release of Iron Man in 2008 they have produced blockbuster after blockbuster with unparalleled success. Each film is bigger than the last and the culmination of that effort in last years Avengers proved that the model was working and since it has continued to work by allowing the solo characters to have their own unique but ultimately connected stories.

Thor: The Dark World is the latest entry in this collective and plays beautifully in its use of story telling, relationships, visual design, and gripping performances. Before I plunge into this review further I will say that there ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!!! So unless you have either seen the movie, do not plan to see the movie, or do not care about the movie being ruined for you, do NOT read ahead. That being said, let us dive in.

The Dark World picks up two years after the original Thor and very shortly after the Avengers. Thor has returned from Earth with his traitorous brother Loki in tow to stand trial for his crimes. Meanwhile on Earth, Thor's mortal love interest, Jane Foster is searching for strange phenomena to, hopefully, find the God of Thunder again and be reunited. In doing so she stumbles upon the Aether, and ancient powerful force, much like Phase One's the Tesseract. This substance was created by a race of Dark Elves thousands of years earlier and upon its discovery awakens the Elves who, lead by their vicious leader Malekith, who wishes to plunge the universe into darkness and bring it back under elvish rule, seek out the Aether and lead themselves on an all out assault on Asgard. This forces Thor to hide Jane, who has bonded with the Aether, in order to stop Malekith, by allying himself with the only person who knows the secret ways out of Asgard, Loki. In a series of twists and turns, Malekith gains the power and Thor is forced to face the power of the Aether, with a little help form the technology of Dr. Erik Selvig. Bringing peace to the nine realms and capturing the Aether and securing it, with a mysterious new character, the collector.

Overall the story was great for me. Thor, being one of the comics I am not as familiar with, is full of stories I have never seen or heard before. That being said the first Thor was lacking in a number of ways for me. I found it to have a good moral structure but ultimately be somewhat forgettable and led Thor to be one of the least exciting movies in Marvel's Phase One. This was a whole different animal. With the characters introduced and world now familiar to us, Thor: The Dark World plunges right in with the action and doesn't hold back. I found the story of the Dark Elves to be new and interesting, even if they were all very much the same, except for Maliketh and Kurse. The twists and turns of the story are so interesting that I was instantly pulled in and spent nearly and hour and half before I realized I was watching a film, that rarely happens for me anymore as someone who studies the films I watch. The film takes the characters far beyond where they stood in the first film and even in the avengers and makes us see deeper into them and what motivates them. And it takes many of the supporting characters and shows us what they are all about, beyond just the volatile daddy issues that crept all over the original. Who ever expected to see moments of action featuring Frigga and Heimdall. I could watch this again and still find new moments it felt so big and magnificent yet so simple and easy to follow. That would be the best summation I could give. Big enough to make you feel like you could see much more the second time you watched it but not so big that you feel confused or like you are missing things. To this I applaud the writing staff and director Alan Taylor who took what Kenneth Branagh gave him and expanded upon it beautifully while staying true to the work that we have seen in the previous films featuring the characters.

Best Moment: Loki manipulating both Thor and Malekith on the Dark World driving both the story we are witnessing as well as setting up potential sequels.

The characters of the Thor universe are fantastic and interesting and that is in part due to Marvel Studios continuous spot on casting. Chris Hemsworth gives a life and charisma that keep you interested in Thor no matter what he is doing or how much of a dick he is being. He drives the story and is an interesting and dynamic character who possesses an ability to be both godlike and human over the entire film. Hemsworth's evolution as Thor has been impressive over the course of the Marvel films and he shows that he can truly carry the franchise in this film. I'm excited to see where it goes in the future. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster brings a much stronger and more interesting performance than the previous film. Her chemistry with Hemsworth stands out and you can feel the energy between them. In addition her work as a scientist is absolutely believable and she brings a much more interesting and dynamic performance. Tom Hiddleston comes back with the sort of charisma and energy I have come to expect from every performance he brings. Loki becomes a force that drives the plot and creates a number of interesting twists and turns that keep the audience guessing. He tows the line between being a loyal and trustworthy companion and the backstabbing trickster bastard that we have come to know and love. In addition to the leads there are standout performances from all of the supporting characters and some new moments that were missing from the first film. Iris Elba, Rene Russo, and Kat Dennings all stand out by giving us much more interesting takes on Heimdall, Frigga, and Darcy respectively. I was especially impressed with Russo, who's performance in the original Thor was unmemorable and she showed a much more powerful and confident Asgardian Queen in this one. In addition newcomers to the franchise, Christopher Eccleston and Adwake Akinnouve-Agbaje, give performances that show both charm and menace. Eccleston as Malekith is a smart, strong, and dangerous antagonist who plays well into the themes of birthright that persist throughout the film and show a darker side (no pun intended) of the Asgardian universe. Akinnouve-Agbaje as Kurse gives us a viciousness that comes on almost lacking all humanity except for brutal rationale for how to eliminate his opponents in battle. Overall each and every actor delivered a much stronger performance than the previous installment and brings new and interesting dynamics to the world and story of Thor.

Standout Performance: Tom Hiddleston. His performance as the tickster god Loki is always interesting and in this one he plays much more as a master manipulator while still remaining true to many of his loyalties and keeping everyone, both onscreen and in the audience, guessing what he will do next. I've always been a big fan of Hiddleston and I feel that this is among his best performances to date and I cannot wait to see what he brings to future installments of the franchise.

The design of the film brings elements together of both science fiction and fantasy into a beautiful harmony that makes the idea of other universes believable within our own as well. The themes of the films in the Marvel universe are very consistant, technology in Iron Man, politics in Captain America, and in Thor they add elements of birthright and other fantasy ideas and meld them beautifully with our desire to search the universe and add science. The sci-fantasy element of the universe expands with a combination of swords and sorcery and science fiction that I have not seen before and I found the whole thing both inviting and believable. It was an element that I found to be distant in the first film combined together to make a much more believable reality in this new film. The design team brought new elements and it was exciting to see a much larger universe including featured soldiers of Asgard, the Dark Elves, and a number of other realms within the nine realms. I believe it made the film one that I had no problem getting immersed in and get lost in for the duration of the film, because the world was so big and complete.

Overall I found Thor: The Dark World to be a fantastic film and one of the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. I believe that, unlike Iron Man, this film expands nicely on the elements of the first one, rather than taking them and adding many unnecessary elements; the cameos were clever, and the ideas come across beautifully, overall a success.

Best Random Moment: Chris Evans cameo as Loki shapeshifted into Captain America. It's little moments like this that keep the Marvel Universe fresh and fun while reminding us of the connections that the films have with each other.