What They Say:
Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While Marvel had plenty of good success when it came to the Iron Man films, there was a lot of trepidation about what it could pull off when it started on Thor and Captain America, and for good reason, since they’re very different characters. The first Thor film surprised me with what it did and the minor tweaks it made to accommodate what it needed in order to make it clear the characters aren’t gods but just different races that interacted with humanity and had taken on roles as protectors of the various realms. Under Kenneth Branagh’s hand and with a great cast, we got a feature that made it all very accessible and launched the character to participate well with The Avengers and we also got the use of Loki, who has become a really big fan favorite because of what Tom Hiddleston brought to the character.
Coming off of The Avengers, it’s certainly not expected that Thor: The Dark World will do what Iron Man 3 did for a number of reasons. This film is fairly straightforward in a lot of ways and honestly, to some degree, the plot is not something to go terribly deep into because it is so straightforward. We’re given the background at the start about the Dark Elves that existed before there was light in the universe and then their lengthy fight with other races who came as the universe changed. That culminated in a battle where their leader, Malekith, attempted to use a power source called Aether to defeat the father of Odin who he was battle against, but it went poorly, the Aether in its liquid metal form was hidden away and the Dark Elves were thought to be destroyed. The film works easily in this regard because the Aether is discovered accidentally, the dormant Dark Elves come to get it and it’s up to Asgard to put everything right again. And you know that’s going to be Thor’s job.
The story for the film is one that works quite well, though it does have to deal with some back story early on, but it does it in a way that for me was reminiscent of the first Lord of the Rings film where it covers that necessary material. It’s not clunky, but it works through a couple of different scenes and locales before things start to come together because there’s a decent sized cast to work here. Which is something that the director, Alan Taylor, can do very well considering his background working on Game of Thrones. And that background really makes a huge difference here. We get to spend time in a lot of different realms in this film and each of them has their own take, but what really got to me was Asgard. Under Branagh, we had a very appealing, majestic and magical looking Asgard that was huge and full of life. All of that is here once again, but with a lot more depth to it as we see the cast walking through areas we hadn’t been before and it feels very, very lived in. It’s not grimy or gritty, but there’s a sense of realness to it that permeates the Asgardian locations that really got to me.
One thing we learn with this film is that it takes place about two years after The Avengers and Thor has been quite busy cleaning up Loki’s mess and the damage across the realms. That reveal comes when he finally makes his way back to Earth after Heimdal tells him that Jane has apparently disappeared and he gets there just as she comes back, albeit all problematic because she’s infused with the Aether. That reveal is interesting since it gives us a large period of time between The Avengers and the follow-up films as Captain America: The Winter Soldier is roughly set ahead the same time as well. And that allows for things to have happened in between, but not such radical events that it feels like everything is overwhelming with how much, how fast. Jane is quite a lot of fun to watch with all of this as she really has a few frustrations to take out on Thor, but we also get a far better feeling about the feelings the two of them have each other. That wasn’t done in a huge way in the first film, but the foundations were there and each of them left an impact on each other. That’s moved forward quite well here.
Relationships of all kinds are key here to this film with what really binds it together. We have the extinction of the universe at hand as the larger story that pushes events forward, and it does dominate, but there’s so much more. Odin is making it clear to Thor that he best ignore Jane because of her short life span and that he needs to get in gear to become the king, and that Sif is his ideal for this and he needs to get serious there. Sif herself is being patient but realizes that his heart won’t be there right now. When Jane is in Asgard for awhile, it’s great to see how Sif is continually sizing her up but not making it into a fight. Even Darcy finds a little romance this time around as she starts something up with the intern that she hires. And we also get some excellent material from Frigga, who deals with the men in her life and has a great first introduction with Jane that simply makes you grin.
Naturally, the biggest relationship that’s dealt with here is that of Thor and Loki. Loki’s being in prison has a whole host of issues associated with it and the only family that’s visited him in all this time has been his mother. That builds up the resentment of course, but the larger events force him into to working with Thor in order to deal with the Dark Elves as they do need each other. That in itself early on has one of the best sequences where they walk along and Loki uses his tricks to change their appearances multiple times. That had the whole theater laughing and was one of the best things ever. The brothers here are fantastic to watch as their relationship is very standard in a lot of ways but it’s the execution and nuance that works. Loki has real reasons for feeling angry and betrayed, but it’s how he handles it and what he does that puts him on the wrong path. Thor has simply gone beyond caring to a good degree here as well, which makes sense since he spent the past two years cleaning up his mess across all the realms. There’s a lot of lightness to their relationship, even Thor gets in a few quips and looks along the way, but the depth of the relationship is what resonates for people as Loki is the kind of “villain” who is flawed, nuanced and accessible where people can read so much of themselves into it.
Truly Spoiler & Geeky Material:
I haven’t been to a 3D film since summer 2011 when I wrote them off in theaters unless they were filmed in 3D primarily like Avatar. But Marvel got me to pony up for a 3D showing here with a five minute tease of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. What the scene does is essentially take the trailer and expand it. Half of it is taking the action sequence in the elevator from it and showing us the whole thing, which works fantastically well and has a very different flow from the trailer we’ve seen. The other half of the preview uses a lot of the trailer with some minor expansions. It’s definitely worth seeing and the main feature works the 3D very well without being overdone or gimmicky. We also get two post-credits scenes, though the noteworthy one is the first one that was directed by James Gunn to serve as a connection to Guardians of the Galaxy. Yes, there is a tonal difference from the main feature, but that’s not surprising and I certainly didn’t mind and nobody else in my group even really noticed it. What it does is set up well where things are going because we finally have the first formal mention of the Infinity Stones in the films. Benicio del Toro looks great here in a 70’s space glam David Bowie kind of thing and it just gives me all the more hope for that film in that it will most assuredly find its own way, something that all of the Marvel films have really done. The large scale setup here really is fascinating to watch with what it’s doing and though many people write off the Marvel films for whatever reasons, they have to admit that building a larger, shared universe like this is no small feat and this “micro” studio is doing something nobody else has done to this level before. And what comics fans could only dream of.
In Summary:
Thor: The Dark World definitely does well by its characters and that infusion of humor, bonds, seriousness all works to allow the action to feel exciting and fun. We get a variety of sequences throughout the film, from flying fighting sequences to general fisticuffs and more. We get the scale of the film well handled but it’s also very personal in a lot of ways, ways that will leave Loki fans enthralled. But while he steals scenes, it’s still very much Thor’s movie and those scene steals work because the brothers impact each other so much. Thor is very central with this as it’s about his role as protector of the realms and future king, which deals with his father. It’s about his relationship with Jane and what he really wants out of life. And it’s about his relationship with his comrades, who get some great moments but leave you wish for a real rousing adventure for that group. And it’s about his relationship with his brother that has shaped his life. All of it comes together well to really make this a movie all about Thor, but it’s layered and nuanced, which makes for some great repeated viewings. Big in scale for action, heart and humor, Thor: The Dark World takes his previous two film appearances and grows and changes him wonderfully here.
Content Grade: A
