If I could start this review off with a sigh, I would. Not a sigh of relief, nor of fatigue, but a sigh of disappointment.
However I can’t, and I’ll just start by saying that I can’t talk about “Thor: The Dark World” without a thousand confounding, logic-resistant questions bursting out of me. So this review will cover a handful of those questions.
Here’s the plot: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) must team up with his conniving brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to defeat the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) before Malekith can unleash Aether and cloak the universe in darkness.
Why do Marvel sequels seem so incredibly subpar to their original counterpart? I understand that with sequels, there are usually going to be diminishing returns, but not to the extent of this superhero franchise.
The original “Iron Man” back in the summer of 2008 kicked off this cowl-and-cape renaissance with an incredibly strong first installment but the second installment was just bland. Don’t even get me started on the debacle of the third one, and how it came about that both Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley took part.
The same issues have happened with the “Thor” films. “Thor” was my second favorite of the Marvel movies (to “Iron Man”), and this second film fails to live up to the first one.
Can someone please just get rid of Loki already? I know the Tumblr faithful will rain hellfire down upon me for even remotely suggesting anything against Hiddleston, but I was tired of Loki from the beginning. My main gripe with Loki in the original “Thor” was that he never felt like a threatening villain.
Then Joss Whedon, the director of “The Avengers” and all-around Marvel messiah, trotted him back out as the villain for “The Avengers,” where he was promptly, and unceremoniously smashed by Hulk. Now he’s back in “Dark World.” This time he’s not the main villain, but he’s still up to his old antics of trickery and betrayal. Maybe Hiddleston’s too handsome to be threatening.
Why do spaceships hate major Earth cities this year? They’ve been falling out of the sky like it’s their job. In “Star Trek Into Darkness,” a mammoth of a space ship lands on Earth, hits a large body of water, and then proceeds to tear up San Francisco. In “Dark World,” a mammoth of a space ship lands on Earth, hits a large body of water, and then proceeds to tear up London. There’s one set piece in “Dark World” that is worth mentioning, and that is the finale, where Norse gods and Dark Elves and ice creatures and fighter jets and a hope for salvaging this movie randomly shift worlds via arbitrarily placed invisible portals. It’s fun to watch, but there’s no sense to any of it.
How does Alan Taylor, the guy who directed the pilot episode of “Mad Men” as well as multiple episode of “Game of Thrones,” direct something like this? I know directing for film is entirely different than directing for TV, but I can’t say the transition was very smooth.
Why does everybody try to be so gosh darn funny? Everyone, from the leading heroes of Asgard to the most minor characters on Earth, crack so many jokes that they begin to drag the movie down. This is a comic book movie, so humor’s expected. However, when major dramatic plot events happen and within minutes it’s being made light of, it’s hard to take anything seriously.
At least the new “Captain America” movie looks good.
Grade: C-
Follow Alex Guyton @TDWildcatFilm
