Thor: The Dark World (Film Review)

Thor: The Dark World has been getting a lot of mix reviews by critics and reviewers.  After seeing the film I can understand where all the negativity is coming from, as the plot is convoluted and the CGI sub-par.  However the film does contain strong aspects to it, such as good characters and interesting battle settings; but the best aspect about this action/adventure superhero film is…its comedy.  Thor: The Dark World is a really funny movie, whether intentional or not, and was able to win my like over for the most part because of this.

Happening directly after The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World shows Loki being brought back to Asgard to be imprisoned for his war crimes while Thor travels the Nine Realms sorting out conflicts and trying to bring peace.  While this is happening Jane Foster (while trying to find a way to communicate with Thor) accidentally stumbles upon a magic portal and merges with the dark weapon known as the Aether; reawakening the last of an evil race known as the Dark Elves who seek to use the Aether to destroy the universe!  It’s now up to Thor to save Jane from becoming consumed while also stopping the Dark Elves’ evil plans…and he’s going to need some help (I bet you’ll NEVER guess who it could possib..it’s Loki…).

Using the Norse mythology for Thor: The Dark World’s plot ideas is both a blessing and a curse.  While cool in theory, the makers have to remember that a good majority of viewers have no former knowledge of both the actual and superhero mythos (myself included).  So when you throw us into a story that starts with plot points like “The Dark Elves will use the Aether to converge with the 9 Realms, destroying all light.” my reaction is, “…alright then, makes sense to me!”  Seriously, the plot comes across as confusing and convoluted; I STILL don’t understand how the Aether can destroy the universe?  It barely harmed Thor when he was struck by it; and then he walked into a huge tornado like version and it look liked the equivalent of a strong wind blowing him backwards.  Yet it will somehow destroy all life and light as we know it.

Certain scenes are also flat out rushed.  For example an important character to Thor dies yet due to so little screen time it feels rather unimportant and lacking of emotion.  In fact the film itself seems to feel this way, as the funeral scene is not only rushed, but then directly followed by a silly scene of comedy at a mental hospital.  While this character’s death plays an important role in character motivation, it becomes largely forgotten as time passes on throughout the film.  They played the death as a “if the audience really didn't care for that minor character then the film characters need only to feel/show the bare minimal of emotion before moving on to the more significant plot points” scenario (if that even exists). 

The overall action ranged from cool to dull.  The too-quick for comfort editing and just on par CGI definitely has something to do with my lack of enthusiasm (at least they got rid of that annoying shaky cam).  However while the 1st and 2nd acts lack any great action, the final fight scene more than made up for them.  What could have been a generic final battle between Thor and the all too common one note villain, was made highly creative and enjoyable thanks to the addition of physic altering dimensional portals (which apparently are a thing in this universe).  Everything goes haywire during the battle; cars lose their gravity, portals transport the fighters to different parts of Earth, giant beasts are transported from their worlds to Earth to join the fray, and Thor’s hammer cannot seem to catch a break when trying to catch up with him!  Not only is this battle entertaining, but it has some great comical moments, like when Thor gets transported away from the battle and has to take a subway train back to the conflict.

The large slew of characters brought both good and bad acting to the film.  I personally found Anthony Hopkins as Odin to be a bore; saying his lines way too fast and with no real emotion (like he just wanted to get out of there).  For the most part however the majority of cast and crew are likable and enjoyable.  Chris Harmsworth did a decent job playing the title character once again and Natalie Portman got a couple funny jokes here and there (though she really didn't get enough screen time to make much of an impression).  All the side characters were also a nice treat to have, being generally likable and funny; though like Portman they all got little screen time for development and were more plot point characters that anything else (I did find Idris Elba as the all-seeing Heimdall to be a real badass in this film, destroying an entire enemy ship single handily).

The entire crew was completely outshined however by Tom Hiddleson as Loki who after appearing in two major marvel films has taken over the spotlight as the fan favorite.  There definitely is something about Loki that just has this awesome villain quality to him; his character can change from being hilarious and cynically funny to dangerous and diabolical to emotional and conflicted in just a couple scenes without it feeling forced or unnatural.  Not to forget he gets some of the best scenes of comedy in the film (like this absolutely hilarious scene where Loki uses his disguising powers to make a great surprise cameo that just made my day).

The best quality about Thor: The Dark World however is that it’s a funny, funny film.  Marvel is well known for having a good mixture of comedy in their films and this was no exception; in fact it might just be the funniest film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which says a lot when you consider that the Ironman film series is included there.)  Following the first film, Thor: The Dark World uses the whole fish out of water routine once again…and it’s still just as funny as last time.  Every time I see Thor (with his metal armor, large red cape, and giant hammer) appear in rainy, trench coat wearing London, I crack up a little.  Later scenes have Thor go over to Dr. Selvig’s house and hang up his hammer on the coat rack; and of course there’s that whole subway riding scene which just made my life a little jollier after seeing.

And then of course there’s that wonderful rival brother chemistry between Thor and Loki where there constant bickering creates some all too funny content (adding to the fact that Thor’s a Norse god and Loki a somewhat insane demon lord makes it even ten times better).  And that’s only the half of it as the majority of the side cast get at least 1-2 good jokes here and there all throughout the film (including a funny Stan Lee cameo, generic craziness from doctor Selvig, and Thor’s friends constantly threatening Loki one after the other).

To me, Thor: The Dark World’s entire plot felt bogus from the start; being used as a device to create the cool action scenes and funny comedy.  The Aether just seemed like a semi-McGuffin to get the plot rolling and considering how quickly it was both introduced and found by Foster (yeah, nice job hiding it) I’m suspecting this to be true.  However it wasn't the plot (nor the action surprisingly) that made me like Thor: The Dark World.  It was ultimately the comedy and characters that won me over; creating a likeably enjoyable world despite plot being too convoluted and action lacking too much.  If you see this film, I suggest trying to ignore the stupidity and enjoy the comedy; as it will most likely determine whether or not this film can ultimately appeal.