Thor: The Dark World - Movie Review


Thor: The Dark World Review

The sight of Mjölnir has again grazed the big screens.  The Norse god of thunder is back with a vengeance.  Fans will be expecting action-packed scenes with its background set in either Asgard or Midgard (Earth).

But what’s this?  There’ll be alien-like intruders?  Resembling LOTR’s immaculate elves, these ones are called Dark Elves. These new set of villains bring with them an interesting addition to the previous two worlds/realms – the ‘Dark World.’
Thor: The Dark World featuring Thor, odin, loki, Malekith, sif and jane foster
Thor and Odin

Red is destruction

Replacing the prequel’s Tesseract is the Aether – another Infinity Stone.  If heroes and villains were to play tug-of-war, the winning prize will always be these stones.  However, it doesn’t necessarily make you get interested, even when the scenes show how destructive it can be, like reducing matter into nothing.
Aether got its real hype when it got Thor’s love interest, Dr. Jane Foster, infected.  In fact, when Jane released a bit of its purple-red streak against the police, turning a plain human into something god-like, the audience gets to give the new red substance some respect.  

Thor’s many issues

Thor is obviously having a handful of foes. There’s his stubborn father, Odin. The old king isn’t amused of Thor’s affection to a Midgardian or Earthling (ie, Jane).  In fact, the pattern of a son-and-father row is consistent, from the first film up to this one.  This particular conflict is conventional and predictable – it hardly incites anything but indifference.
And then there’s this romance that don’t seem to take a break from circumstance, worlds, and time.  Interestingly, the reunion was easy, not much but a slap from the woman of science. The only saving grace, particularly for those love-smitten folks, is Thor’s repeated ‘missing Jane’ scenes.
Thor’s biggest issue is, of course, the Dark Elf Malekith. He is after the Aether, after Jane, and after destroying the universe right at Greenwich. Visual-wise, Malekith looked like he meant business.  He lacked the laugh we often hear among villains; in fact, he’s quite expressionless!

The Verdict

Several movie critics have hinted at the prequel’s blasé plot.  For a hero and Marvel movie, the plot revolving around humility was just too light.  The sequel, Thor: The Dark World, attempted to undo the slight by putting on much external complexities.
In effect, the film achieved quite a heavy theme, which is apparent in the sequence of scenes.  If you fail to focus on one, you’re guaranteed to proceed head-scratching with the next scenes.
And while this won a higher Audience rating, 83% courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes, it failed critic’s expectations, with 65% against Thor’s 77% (2011). Indubitably, this sequel was saved by its effects. Who didn’t get bewitched with the portal-out, portal-in scenes? It was dizzying and cool!  Perhaps, there is really more to those caves than prehistoric scribbles.
How about the charming change of costumes, particularly Jane’s? Least but not the least is the combination of god-powers with that of the human’s humble science. Close your eyes against the plot or the way these folks handled the plot and you’d be fine with everything else.

About

Manuella Theissen is a comic and film buff. She considers herself expert in delineating the difference from colors to shades, and therefore, works as a graphic artist. She is also an advocate of informationtechnology for college students, as well as for primary and secondary school pupils.
photo credit: bangdoll@flickr via photopin cc




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