'Thor: The Dark World' - Movie Review

You don't go the full humility. It's character development 101. Don't do it. Don't write it. Don't even entertain the thought of making Thor Asgard's Captain America. Heck, Loki makes fun of the overly righteous Captain in this new installment from the Marvel franchise.

   

So, in case you haven't heard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is back. And as the trailer frustratingly told us, so is Loki (Tom Hiddleston). In the first film - and in The Avengers - I had reservations about the character of Loki. Annoying. Tantrum prone. Elitist. It was like he was torn straight from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. 

However, come this second act Loki is delightful. His character has emerged, he no longer has to display fake virtue and now it is his brother-from-another-mother (Thor) who needs a face lift. A little bit of Hemsworth's recent portrayal of James Hunt is needed in the character of Thor. 

At the outset, the golden eye patch wearing Asgard king, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), gives us a history lesson. The king walks us through Norse mythology, telling us how the nine realms were created, and how the Asgardians stopped the Dark Elves from bringing eternal darkness. This is when I remind you of that famous Churchill quote: "History is written by the victors". 

The Dark Elves are out of hibernation and back for vengeance, hence "The Dark World". And now they are in search of the all-powerful "aether", a dark substance which is destructively powerful. There's always something in a Marvel movie that has the potential to destroy everything. This makes the plot predictable, generic and we have that "I swear I've seen this before" itch throughout. 

Yet, while the plot and character development is clearly Marvel material (sound the Comedic Relief alarm for Kate Dennings and Chris O'Dowd!), visually we have a stunning film. Setting a lot of the action in 'realms' other than earth works a treat, as director Alan Taylor (Game Of Thrones guru) shows off his skill in the Asgard scenes. There are ships that look to one up those from Star Trek and Star Wars, Odin's glorious palace that reminds us of the stunning mountain palaces in Tolkien's series, and a touching mass funeral scene which brings class and beauty to the film. Apart from that, though, there's just your usual world defying fights and explosions. Although, the writers (Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely) tried to throw a few intergalactic, time and space jumping curveballs into the mix at the end. It was clunky in parts, but it also fit the ferocious pace of the film. 

Hemsworth puts on the charisma he is so well known for as Thor. And the fact that the writers waited an hour to bring Thor and Loki together was genius. During the first hour we are waiting for this to come to fruition, and all the while entertained by the exploits that lead up to the brothers teaming up. And whose choice was it to give Loki all the best lines? Fantastic. However, Loki's version of Mission Impossible's latex face masking gets just a little tiring. 

The Dark Elves are quite a letdown. The leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) is never developed, or even interesting. We know his purpose and get the feeling that the writers got lazy early on. We shouldn’t be that surprised, though, seeing as Marvel baddies very rarely make the Hall-of-Fame. For example, Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull, Mickey Rourke’s clichéd throwback in Iron-Man 2 (Ivan Vanko), and who can forget Tim Roth’s aggro-freak Emil Blonsky? 

 

One goes to Thor to see out of this world action (it's the Marvel element) and enough charisma and fish-out-of-water jokes to be able to fill two hours of footage. The women are usually ordinary, Natalie Portman plays a love sick scientist, and while she gets more on-screen time in this one, she doesn’t look like she really wants to be there. However, Rene Russo, on the other hand, has a flurry of action and intrigue. But one of the stand outs has to be Idris Elba, who plays the unemotional Asgardian guard, Heimdall, terrifically. For a bloke who is meant to be practically invisible, he's got a memorable presence. 

Thor: The Dark World will entertain those who like Marvel films. It ticks all the Marvel boxes, but does little more. There's no Chris Nolan to deepen matters, and there's certainly no thought provoking script. Watch it for what it is, enjoy the fish-out-of-water jokes and you'll be right at home with the hunky hammer.

5/10