Thor: The Dark World

2013’s Thor: The Dark World, directed by Alan Taylor.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Jaimie Alexander, Josh Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, and Stellan Skarsgard.

What is it about?

Set after the events of The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World returns the Norse based demi god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) back to the Kindgom of Asgard, located in the 9 realms. After his earth based shenanigans, Thor’s (adopted) brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), is imprisoned for his crimes. With the 9 realms about to experience a rare event called the convergence, random portals begin to pop up all around the universe. Thor’s squeeze, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), falls through one of the portals, and is infected with a powerful symbiotic substance called The Aether. In pursuit of the Aether, is Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who will destroy the 9 realms if he were to obtain the Aether. After an attack on his planet leaves him with few options, Thor releases Loki, in the hopes of teaming up to save Jane Foster and the 9 realms from destruction. Will Thor and his group be successful in their quest- and can Loki be trusted?

Why is it worth seeing?

Thor: The Dark World is the 2^nd film in Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Marvel’s run at (film based) world domination. We get to know well established characters better, and return to the cosmos jumping mythology of Thor, who certainly gets around. Unfortunately, Dark World also returns to the original’s transgressions of a Green Screen oriented Uncanny Valley, and possesses a lightness that makes it tough to forge an impression.

Right smack dab in the middle of the film runs amok the character of Malekith, portrayed by a massively over qualified Christopher Eccleston. Similar to the efforts of Colm Feore in the past installment, he exists to wear coloured contact lenses and growl in elvish. Other than being a blast from the past, it’s not clear why he has an axe to grind- even if he doesn’t have the axe. Instead, he prefers to shoot CGI vapour, which feels fitting- light and inconsequential. His presence only illuminates how much more interesting things are when the trickster Loki is the main opponent- which only The Avengers seems to get.

While Asgard isn’t much of a place, it’s absolutely 3 dimensional when compared to Svartalfheim (huh?). It’s this installment’s version of Jotunheim- the last film’s no man’s land. Do creatures, like, live there? Surely it has more purpose than a dimly lit battleground- it seems like a place to get photographs of you and your ex-partner getting divorced?

After being lazily written out of the MCU’s last film, Portman returns and despite not having super powers, does more than sit on the side lines and wail in distress. Indeed, the supporting earth based characters all seem to have more vitality, wit, and humour than the main event characters from comic based Oz. There’s no wizard to conjure some pathos here, or maybe you don’t need one if the secret to the humour with the Valhalla fearing crowd is forgetting your pants.

While it’s fun to watch Thor and Loki continue to feud, the earth scenes have more authenticity to them than the previous film, and the interstellar journey’s transportation continue to bathe us in loud bursts of rainbow colour, one wishes that the film’s effect on the viewer was similar to the crop circles left behind by the inter-dimensional teleportation- able to leave an impression.

 

Rating:

3/5

Trailer: Click Here.