Thor: The Dark World Review | Superhero Sequel Makes Up For Middling First Half With Crackerjack Finale
Orlando Lens
Marvel has become a strong film brand based on many of the same principles of its comics: appealing visual, iconic characters, and a commitment to quality. The continuity of its film and television characters currently under the Marvel Sudios banner in largely based around the Avengers, though as more and more properties return to Marvel's control (Daredevil, for example, is recently back in the fold) the Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue to expand but will also continue to produce film experiences that feel very familiar. The five years since Iron Man kicked off the current run have seen somewhat diminishing returns--critically, not commercially--with the exception of the team-up spectacular The Avengers, the events of which directly precede Thor: The Dark World. This means that this new entry in the Thor franchise has a bit of a ceiling; fans know what to expect and have recently seen an almost impossibly high-water mark that the new film probably cannot reach. The Dark World struggles with those expectation for much of its first half, but once exposition gets out of the way after about 50 minutes, an impressive ending sequence and the usual top-notch work of Tom Hiddleston as Thor's villainous brother Loki is enough to make this Thor sequel a recommended film for a majority of cinema-goers and a must-see for comic book fans.
When we last left Thor (Chris Hemsworth), he had participated alongside the rest of the Avengers in the "Battle of New York" against an alien invasion and had returned Loki--the reason the aliens were able ot invage--to Asgard to be held in captivity. Unfortunately, that leaves him literally worlds away from the woman he fell in love with, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is back on Earth. He is, naturally, torn between his duties as the future King of Asgard and his feelings for Jane, but those conflicted feelings end up on his doorstep when Jane accidentally instills an ancient cosmic power known as "the Aether" inside her and becomes a target for main villain Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), a Dark Elf king from another dimension. The set up feels much less like a superhero film than it does sci-fi fantasy, with kingdoms and armies clashing for control of various realms. However, once the action shifts back to Earth (as it always does) after an uneasy alliance between Thor and Loki, Thor: The Dark World kicks into high gear for its final stretch. The plot is never anything special and is hindered by a paper-thin antagonist, but the goodwill from Avengers last long enough to let The Dark World get to the good stuff.
By Nicholas Ware
The best good stuff is the entire last action sequence, which takes place mainly in Westminster, England, but manages to becomes geographically complicated enough to support Thor, Malekith, a dark elf army, and four of Thor's human allies moving on separate but complementary paths in a really fun, kinetic extended battle. I was very lukewarm on Thor: The Dark World until this section of the movie, and was ready to call it the weakest Marvel Cinematic Universe film since The Incredible Hulk. Instead, it jumps Iron Man 3 and maybe even Captain America in my eyes, the latter of which I enjoyed quite a lot. Thor: The Dark World is inherently inessential; it puts a few parts in motion for future Avengers films (via the now-expected post-credits sequences) but manages to entertain and continues to establish Thor in new ways. In the original Thor film, our Norse god was a bit of a doof who used brawn because he had no brains. In The Avengers he learned how to rely on others and appreciate strategy. In The Dark World, the thunder god is a fully-grown man, weighing responsibility and desire and ultimately doing the right thing. It's a nice little arc--one that comics readers have seen repeated for decades--and feels natural thanks to deft direction and Hemsworth's natural charisma.
The main criticism of Thor: The Dark World is the same as Thor: it does so precious little with Natalie Portman. Portman is a tremendous actress, even as a child in The Professional and well into the last few years with her Oscar-winning performance in Black Swan. However, in both the Thor films and her Star Wars appearances, she gets lost in the CGI effects, broad character types, and the fact that sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book films often simply blatantly underwrite their female characters. While Gwenyth Paltrow has been able to overcome this in recent Iron Man films portraying Pepper Potts, there's really no other member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that can claim a truly compelling, well-written female character. Unfortunately, that's a criticism that likely won't be rectified any time soon; the Marvel franchise with the best women--the X-Men--still exists in a separate continuity. However, barring this--and the general malaise of sequel predictability--Thor: The Dark World is a highly entertaining, recommendable spectacle.
Thor: The Dark World is now playing at most local multiplexes in both 2D and 3D. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some suggestive content. Run time 1 hour 52 minutes.