So far, Thor's two appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been firm favourites, both earning a 9/10 rating for both Thor and Marvel's Avengers Assemble. And with Iron Man 3 making a good start for the next phase of films, it only seems likely that sequel Thor: The Dark World would be a rounding success in my books. But with a troubled production schedule thanks to a director replacement, recasts and rewrites in bask in the success of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, things aren't quite as good as it could have been.
With Thor (Chris Hemsworth) undoing all the wrongs caused throughout the Nine Realms by Loki's (Hiddleston) schemes in the first film, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has given up hope of her hero returning as promised, moving to London and dating new people. But when she and Darcy (Kat Dennings) find a series of portals in an abandoned factory, she's lead to a strange weapon known as the Aether which infects her and reawakens an ancient race known as the Dark Elves, lead by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and Algrim/Kurse (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). Thor brings Jane with him to Asgard to try and halt this infection, only to bring the Dark Elves to Asgard and cause a travesty. But with the help of Loki - imprisoned for his crimes against the Nine Realms - can Thor save both Jane and the Nine Realms?
Story-wise, it's a fine tale. Nothing too confusing and with no major twists and turns - much like the first film. But because the film goes out of its way to feature more of Loki than Malekith, thus making the actual subject and catalyst for the tale to be sidetracked for New York references and increased humour - not working quite as well as previous Marvel films but still having plenty to laugh at.
In the first film, Hemsworth had clear control over the film and was top of the class. For the sequel, brother Loki takes over as the best actor in the pack. Whilst some of his scenes do stand out and causes pauses in the story - additional scenes with him were added three months before its scheduled release - there's no denying he is a stand-out character actor. He's just superb in the role and really sells the dual trickery he undergoes. But that's not to say Hemsworth does a bad job. If anything, it's an improvement on his work in Avengers. But at times he does come across as a little bored, and he finds it hard to carry those smaller scenes. Natalie Portman is repeating her success from the first film, although now more reluctantly as she's kept in the film for contracting reasons (hence why she may not be appearing in Age of Ultron next week), and Anthony Hopkins as Odin is more of the same from last time. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three still have very little to do despite their slightly expanded role (except for Hogun, who is left behind in the first ten minutes and has a cameo near the end). On team bad guy, Eccleston is giving his all with the Elvish langauge and maniacal ploys, but is badly underused to make way for Loki, while Akinnuoye-Agbaje is mostly mute and plays more of a towering henchman if anything. Team Earth is as enjoyable as ever though, with Kat Dennings having her own mini-arc revolving her own intern (Jonathan Howard) and Stellen Skarsgård having a blast as a mad Selvig following the effects had on him from the Tesseract and Loki the previous year.
Thor: The Dark World is a dark mark on Marvel's roster. What with its rushed production - as evident in the film's pacing, writing and costumes (which look very plastic) - it doesn't show off the best of what Marvel has. But it's not a bad film, thanks to some great performances and some great direction from Game of Thrones alum Alan Taylor. It's a fun film with heart, but still a weak second attempt for the God of Thunder. 7/10.
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