Thor The Dark World-review

After being such a fan of the first Thor movie and The Avengers it was hard not to have very high expectations for this movie. While visually interesting and action packed, it seems to be fairly unoriginal and struggles to be humorous- which is not appropriate.  It is at least entertaining for the most part. It comes off like an obvious attempt at a cash grab from Marvel instead of anything necessary to bridge the gap before the next Avenger’s film.

In Asgard, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, is imprisoned for his crimes from the events from The Avengers. Thor, played by Christ Hemsworth, is fighting off enemies in the Nine Realms.  Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, has been trying to find Thor for the past two years.  Jane becomes infected with a powerful primordial force called Aether that Dark Elves are attempting to get back for a world conquest plan.

Thor The Dark World feels familiar in a lot of ways.  The actors feel like they are going through motions and don’t seem to try anything new.  The villains look like space-faring versions of Hellboy II: The Golden Army’s Elves. There are scenes that seem to be taken right out of the Animatrix.   Kat Dennings’ character, Darcy, is painfully unfunny. Every time she was on screen I felt like yelling. “Who invited you?” The brotherly back-and-forth between Loki and Thor is welcome to see again but is sadly few and far between.

The movie is fairly predictable and adds nothing to the Marvel universe; it’s just a colorful filler-movie.  Though the action is somewhat fun, the story between those scenes isn’t enough to drive this film forward. They try to create tension between Jane and Sif but it doesn’t go anywhere. Plus, there is never an explanation as to how exactly Loki takes the throne of Asgard.  It seems like he’d have to contend with Odin and pretty much the entire army of Asgard that knows he is a criminal.  Why didn’t we see that?

It also makes very little sense that these movies should even exist after the making of The Avengers.  For example, why do these heroes not have the assistance from other heroes on their team? If a group of alien Dark Elves attacked earth I am sure S.H.E.I.L.D would be first to show up with some help for Thor.  These solo movies just become more obvious as an attempt to milk the series for more money.

As a whole, Thor The Dark World is not terrible.  It is visually appealing and a fun action film that is worth a rental at the very least.  However, seeing it in theaters is not necessary.  Thor The Dark World will not be winning any awards or be deeply connected to the next Avenger’s film.  If anything it is more connected to Guardians of the Galaxy.  It is a fine movie but pales in comparison to the first film, which was such a smarter hero story.