Sunday, November 03, 2013

Thor: The Dark World

Year: 2013
Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Christopher Eccleston


Plot: An enemy older than the universe itself has returned to bring darkness to all the nine realms. What they need to accomplish that lies with Jane Foster, so Thor needs to protect her and take the fight to them. The only person who can help him do so however, is his mischievous brother Loki.


Review: Marvel has yet to miss a beat in churning out quality entertainment at the movies. This sequel to Thor is an awesome film, being fun and dramatic whenever it needs to be.

Director Alan Taylor, who has worked on Game Of Thrones, presents a story that explores Asgard and some of the other nine realms, with less time spent on Earth, which is surely a refreshing change. To that end, the visual effects and cinematography are top notch in realising these realms, from the beauty of Asgard to the dark deserts of Svartalfheim.

The story itself is pretty good, as it focuses on two of Thor's relationships. One is with his lady love, Jane Foster. The other is with Loki, whom he must rely on in facing Malekith, the new enemy of this film. While the former relationship is typical "where have you been" scenarios, the latter is the more fascinating one. The brothers' discontent with each other, which was explored in the first Thor and The Avengers is given some more time here.

Chris Hemsworth is still solid in his role as Thor, but as good as he is, Tom Hiddleston steals the show as Loki, who gets the best lines in the film. Natalie Portman is still a damsel in distress here as Jane Foster, but thankfully she isn't annoying at all. The other Asgardians get more screen time here than previously, with Rene Russo shining in her role as Thor's mother while the others such as Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba and Zachary Levi (replacing Josh Dallas) making a better impression of their characters.

There are some minor complaints, like the continuous appearance of Kat Dennings' annoying character Darcy, who still makes jokes and nothing else. The writers also turned Stellan Skarsgard's Erik Selvig into a walking joke, which just didn't fly with me (except for the part in connection with a certain cameo). Christopher Eccleston's Malekith is also rather two dimensional for a villain. Also, Sif's feelings for Thor is hinted at but not explored fully here (and considering how it was noticeably absent in the first film, it felt tacked on). Lastly, why didn't SHIELD make an appearance, since the climax of the film was pretty major?

Despite all that, Thor: The Dark World is a really fun movie, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. If you loved the first one, there's no reason why you shouldn't go see this. (4/5)

P.S.: Stay through all the end credits, there are two scenes to check out.

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