Thor: The Dark World
Rated PG-13 (Destruction, language)
Written by Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Don Payne and Robert Rodat (story), Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby (comic and characters)
Directed by Alan Taylor
*** out of ****
Let's get a couple of things out of the way. Chris Hemsworth is a handsome man. I've had a crush on Natalie Portman for years. And, Kat Dennings should give me a call sometime.
I will be the first to admit that I really didn't care to see this movie. Thor was never one of my heroes. I read "Captain America". Not "Iron Man", not "Hulk", not even "Avengers", classic or west coast. I went to this movie, much like I went to the first "Thor", simply because Marvel Studios is doing something that I admire. They are working on what could be the biggest epic series in film history. Much like you don't need to read EVERY comic in the Marvel Universe (which one is an even bigger question), you don't need to watch EVERY movie (or TV series, for that matter) to enjoy the big picture.
I had, not high hopes, but certainly higher expectations for the first "Thor" movie. Why wouldn't I? It was directed by Kenneth Branagh. If anyone should know how to deal with larger-than-life characters, he should.
And, it fell short.
I don't know exactly what went wrong, but the movie felt "small". Maybe it was because we needed to be introduced to the characters. Maybe the story sucked. I don't know.
That's been fixed here, though. Wow.
It's important to remember that, in the Marvel Universe, the Asgardians are not truly gods. They aren't humans, they live far longer than us, but can die. They don't have magic. Instead, they obey one of Clarke's Laws: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
And, by Odin, they got that right. So, so right.
The Dark Elves waged war against Asgard millennia ago. They lost, but Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) wants revenge. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has been imprisoned by Odin (Anthony Hopkins) for being an ass. Thor (Hemsworth) has been putting down revolts across the Realms (different planes of reality, because shut up, that's why). Jane (Portman) and her "team" of scientists have been picking up strange gravimetric readings that indicate something is going to happen. The bad guys show up, things explode, Thor and Loki have to team up, and the rest just writes itself.
This installment just felt so much bigger and better in every way. I fell in love with the design of the worlds. Asgard looked carved and sculpted. Art deco done by Vikings. The Dark Elves had ships and weapons that looked extruded, like lava coming up underwater. Primal. Rough. The worlds looked lived-in, and felt right.
The characters were more developed. Yes, this is the third movie for Thor and Loki, but it seems like the writers are finally figuring out how to write the characters. I'm sure that this is at least partly due to Joss Whedon shepherding the movie universe.
I honestly can't think of anything that I didn't like about this movie. True, it didn't advance the metastory much (as far as I know), but, as a stand-alone movie, it far outshines the first.
