Movie Review: Thor: The Dark World

Review: Thor: The Dark World

With the 2013 premier of the third installment of the Iron Man franchise Marvel Studios and Disney officially launched “Phase 2” of their superhero-based cultural domination. True to a classic trilogy form Iron Man 3 introduced a darker, more desperate tone to the Marvel cinematic universe: heroes will be tested to their breaking points, enemies will be more ruthless and resourceful, and sacrifices will be greater. Thor: The Dark World, the latest superhero-saves-the-world flick to roll off Marvel’s assembly line, is a movie that is more than willing to adhere to the doom and gloom formula of Phase 2 though it suffers from want of a cleaner execution.

But don’t worry: Thor’s return to the silver screen has enough thunder and lightning to mask the cracks in its Asgardian armor. The Dark World is the story of the ancient, long-thought dead past returning to exact cruel vengeance on the present. Introduced and narrated by Odin (Anthony Hopkins), the movie opens with the cataclysmic battle between Asgard’s armies and the Dark Elves, a wicked race led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), whose desire is to use the Aether to plunge the universe and its realms into eternal darkness. What really works for the movie is this first sequence. Unfortunately, the opening effects and action sweep the rest of the movie along a bit too quickly, at times losing the characters in the shuffle.

Before I had even realized it the movie was already three-quarters of the way through, which left me one quarter to not only piece together the fragments and incomplete thoughts I had already seen but also process the inevitable ending. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) had been briefly characterized as a man now struggling to become the ruler he was born to be while suffering from heartsickness for the mortal Jane Foster (Natalie Portman); Loki (Tom Hiddleston) emerges as a Lucifer-figure, unable to acknowledge his crimes through his pride; Jane Foster is attempting to move on with her post-New Mexico life with no measureable amount of success; Darcy’s (Kat Dennings) quick wit thankfully hasn’t gone anywhere while Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) has all but lost his mind; and Heimdall (Idris Elba) is still as badass and neglected as he was in Thor. These myriad character fragments all fall within the noise and flash of numerous stunning action sequences as Thor and Company fight to unite the Nine Realms and defend Asgard from the return of Malekith and his legion of Dark Elves.

To be perfectly honest all those character fragments do next to nothing for the movie as a whole. The characters are introduced but aren’t taken anywhere emotionally or psychologically from there. Thor has already proved his willingness to sacrifice his life to defeat evil, so why will his doing it again be impressive? Loki’s pride and deception have already caused enough death, so why will it matter this time? Jane’s infatuated schoolgirl act has already reached its romantic potential, so how will it still be endearing this go around? Sadly, little is given in the way of an answer to these questions.

Don’t get me wrong, as a fan of superhero movies I thought Thor: The Dark World was an engaging and action-packed movie. Compared to its prequel The Dark World is a more intense and visually stunning movie. But don’t go traveling through the Nine Realms expecting to see much in the way of character depth and growth. Hopefully the God of Thunder will learn that there is more to a perfect storm than just thunder and lightning.

Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10