Yes, another superhero movie. No, I still haven't watched Sunshine.
So, Thor was pretty good. I mean, after watching Captain America, everything is going to look weak, but Thor: The Dark World had some shining moments.
1) Visuals
This movie was a visual feast. The colors were astounding and the shots of space were breathtaking. Heimdall (Asgard's gate keeper) and his golden eyes were my favorite. The whole Bifrost bridge was gorgeous too. Although less noticeable, there were slightly moving pictures in the book Odin opened in one of the beginning scenes. The symbols seemed to be almost holographic, which was a very subtle, but nice effect. The costumes, the spaceships, Odin's temple, Asgard's scenery, everything was very on point and mesmerizing. In my opinion, the graphics and quality of CGI were the strongest elements of this movie.
2) Characters
One of the reasons I was so interested in seeing this movie was because of one of the new characters in it. Malekith, the Dark Elf, played by Christopher Eccleston. It wasn't so much the character as it was the actor that I wanted to see. I love Eccleston as the 9th Doctor, but as Malekith, I was a little unimpressed. Not that it was Eccleston's fault, I just think Malekith wasn't written scary enough. The stakes weren't high enough for me. By the end of the movie, when all 9 realms were about to be taken over by darkness, I wasn't worried at all.
Of course all the old familiar faces we know and love are back as well; Thor, Jane, Loki, etc. But one thing that made itself apparent in this movie that hadn't in the past, was the complete lack of chemistry. Jane and Thor weren't together too much in the first movie, but in the second, the awkwardness came out. They were not compatible in my opinion. It wasn't necessarily the characters themselves, but Chris Helmsworth and Natalie Portman. They have no chemistry. I don't think Portman is the best actress to play that role either. She seemed out of place in that role.
The introduction of the new intern was a great comic relief though. The chemistry between Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Ian (Johnathan Howard) is so light-hearted and fun.
And of course, the crowd favorite, misunderstood, trickster Loki lived up to his name as always.
3) Story
Overall, the story was a bit confusing to me. But that may be just because all of Norse mythology is confusing to me. The introduction of the Dark Elves in the beginning and the random war on one of the realms that Thor fought in were all confusing. Not to mention the multiple plot holes. How did the Bifrost get fixed? In the first movie, it was destroyed, preventing Thor from ever seeing Jane again. Yet, he still gets to her, and the Bifrost is fixed without explanation. Getting past the fact he was able to return to earth, could he at least do it in style?! I mean, c'mon, she turns around and he's just standing there! Where's the lighting? The fireworks? And when Jane asked why Thor didn't come back, he said it was because he was busy defending the 9 realms, not because the Bifrost was broken. It's like they decided that the end of that movie never happened. And what about when Jane happens to find the Ether? Locked in the deepest part of the 9 realms, intended for no one to fine and she just walks into it? Too convenient.
When the Dark Elves invaded Asgard, it seemed they got in way too easily. At first I wondered why they got past Heimdall, but later I think they mentioned something about how he was blind to their attacks... If that was the case, they should have made it a little more evident.
And what's with the Asgardians sucking at fighting? Are their only good warriors Thor and his gang? Because the Dark Elves kicked there butts way too fast.
I'm ragging on this movie a lot, but there were some really good part to it too.
The not one, but two twists with Loki were very well done. Both of them I didn't see coming, which is rare because I'm normally good at calling all the twists.
The weapons in this movie were sick too. Black hole bombs? I was freaking out when I saw the first one go off and suck three Asgardians away.
The greatest plot device they had, however, was definitely the portals at the end. The way the were able to fight through multiple dimensions and seeing objects from different realms pop into other realms was very entertaining.
Also, the juxtaposition of the fantastic versus the mundane was a big aspect of this movie that really improved it. The audience was constantly flash back and froth from earth to Asgard and back again. Every visit to earth seemed to get more and more banal as the movie went on, where as the opposite happened whist in Asgard. The final scene of Jane and her team on earth was of them sitting and eating breakfast, like life was back to normal.
If you didn't stay past the end credits, you may have missed out on a major event to the movie; one that I thought deserved to have screen time. Jane and the team are finished eating their cereal when Jane hears thunder. She runs out to the roof to see Thor has returned to her once again, and they are reunited. I don't know about you, but I think the audience would've liked to know that they got their happily ever after and Thor didn't leave Jane waiting again for 2 years. It was a tricky scene that even I didn't expect because it was the second scene to come after the credits. Very tricky, Taylor, very tricky.
Overall rating: 6.8/10
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