Thor: The Dark World
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Reviewed by Danielle Muir
[rating: 4/5]
Great Odin’s raven! It seems the team at Marvel have finally cracked the winning formula for entertainment. One part hulking muscle mass, one part charismatic villain, one part playful humour and one part memorable action scenes. Thor: The Dark World could have been a bloated catastrophe that in its attempt to up the carnage loses all other elements – instead we’re presented with a big ball of fun reminiscent of The Avengers. Well done.
This time the villain is Malekith, a dark elf with a series of begrudged minions – accidentally awoken by a fumbling, earthbound Jane (Portman) when she gets sucked into a rift and absorbs menacing energy source. Desiring to take the source and destroy Asgard, Thor hops on down to earth and scoops Jane up, venturing back to Asgard to protect his homeland and the woman he loves.
The beginning of the film comes dangerously close to the generic sequel I mentioned earlier, however it finds real charisma in its fantastic characters. The boys are back in town as Thor (unintentionally hilarious as always) is forced to ask the help of his smiling assassin brother Loki -which brings a real sense of ‘will he or won’t he’ tension to keep audiences on their toes. The humour is great – the now slightly insane Erik Selvig (Skarsgard) providing many chuckles, but the real comedic relief comes from the whip-smart Darcy Lewis (Dennings) – who just oozes dorky sass and wonderfully entertaining viewing.
Yes, everything is bigger in this sequel – the sweeping shots of Asgard, the carnage in London (well – compared to The Avengers it’s not really a blip on the radar), but thanks to a heavy emphasis on character relationships it doesn’t lose itself in its blockbuster status. The only qualms are that Jane’s smarts seems to get a bit jipped (I suppose what’s a hero without his damsel in distress) and that there is literally nothing Thor can’t fix with that gorgeous hair and that god damn hammer.
Also there’s one of the most hilarious and well-timed fight scenes in the Marvel series between Malekith and Thor – well done all involved.
