Thor: The Dark World - Spoiler-ish free review

[FatherXmas]

Remember the first Thor movie?  Remember the amount of humor in it?  Well take that and multiply that by 10.  I mean it's not a comedy, there is some very serious and sad moments as well as hammer time but there is a lot of humorous dialog and gags. 

Kate Deming's Darcy's part has been expanded a lot.  And the 9th Doctor being subtitled often as the evil dark elf Malekith is alright.

The movie is surprisingly short.  Under two hours including the credits.  And yes, the extra scene after the fancy end credits is ... interesting.  Had to look up the party involved.  And the extra scene after the end credit roll is both schmaltzy and funny.

On one level it's a chick flick with the topless Thor slow pan and the star-crossed lovers.  On another hand it's a marvel action movie.  And on the gripping hand it's a light hearted comedy punctuated with set piece destruction and violence.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the movie.  It hit all the check boxes.  Stan cameo, check.  Avenger cameo, check.  Somewhat newer Marvel page flip opening credits, check.  I think it's better than the first Thor.

Other tidbits.

Check out Chuck as Fandral.  And is Hogun actually smiling?

Edit: fixed Doctor number.

[JaguarX]

It was good

[Cinnder]

it's not a comedy

That was the problem: it tried to be.  But it wasn't.  Selvig's character was at the top of a long list of adolescent embarrassments.

Also, it was a classic example of the sfx running the film instead of plot or character.

Very, very disappointed.  For the first time I felt they were coasting on the wave of the success of the Marvel films.

On the bright side, at least it should once and for all put to rest the question of whether the standard method of inter-zone travel in CoH was appropriate for superheroes. :-)

[Kaos Arcanna]

I liked it well enough, but I wasn't disappointed I saw it at matinee price.

[Eoraptor]

my first blush review

Thor: The Dark World (spoiler-free)

Well, it was definitely a better movie than Man of Steel or Ironman 3, my other spandex movies this year.

That said, there are also places it could have been better. For a movie called "The Dark World" we spend surprisingly little time on what the dark world is, or who the race is that inhabits it. Which is a real bummer since it serves as a set piece for a few pivotal exchanges.

Much more time is spent on Thor, Loki, and the familial bonds that bind, or unbind, them. On this point Alan Taylor is definitely trying to match the Shakespearean feel of Kenneth Brannagh's first Thor movie.  Mostly he succeeds, but honestly, I could have done with a lot less Loki after two movies already centering on him. Sorry that I'm not a squealing Hiddleston fangirl, but I'm not. He's a great actor and its a complex character, but let's move on already.

And then the Earth Girls are Easy cast. Kat Dennings chews up the scenery, playing the one character she is able to play. Honestly, from a writing standpoint I wonder why she is here. In the first movie her character was there because she was the only person who would take the job, a job she was wholly unsuited for, which made sense to that story. This time around she is still unsuited, but her employers should have access to far better talent and resources, so she seems only to be along for comic relief and no point which actually serves the story. Her continued presence is not ever satisfactorily addressed, or even lantern-hung. She's not even a very good gal pal to Jane.

Speaking of Jane, Natalie Portman, Empress of the Geeks has a good first act, but spends most of the rest  of the movie in a coma and serving nothing more than a vehicle for the film's bugaboo. a waste of a great character and actor spending most of the film reacting instead of acting, Not sure if this is a result of the change in directors for Thor 2 or a result of just plain bad scripting.

I really don't care for Stellan Skarsgård's turn as Eric Selvig. It's played largely for comedy reliefe after his previously serious turns in the role during Thor and Avengers. A missed opportunity to investigate his reactions to his role in the battle for New York from a franchise which typically prides itself on its interconnectedness and self-awareness.

Flip it around, and Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, and Renee Russo hit it out of the park. They very effectively sell the gravitas of the Asgaardians (and I'm sorry, big SG1 forever ruined that race name for me :P) who feel somehow obligated to be the overseers for the 9 realms of the universe. Here the director manages to recapture the first Thor quite well, with great turns for Odin and Thor and Heimdall.

Sadly, the rest of Thor's merry band of brothers receives short shrift, including a huge hanging plot thread for poor Sif, who seems like she is going to be pivitol to the flick, and then just... isn't. a lot of meaningful glances punctuate scenes in the flick, with zero pay-off.

Now that's a lot of critical comments, but I am a critical kind of guy To be honest, I enjoyed myself and the movie a lot, and for the most part it did not painfully snap my suspenders of disbeleife the ways that the moody Man of Steele and the disney'fied Ironman 3 did. I did not come away thinking I would swear off the Marvel movie-verse or that I had been robbed of my eight dollars (though I still feel robbed of $4.50 for my soda)

I just wish that more effort had been put into a few scripting points that did stand out on reflection.

::edited:: my second blush review is that this was probably intended to be 140 minutes of movie, and Disney told them to cut it down to under two hours to get that coveted family demographic in. Hence the lack of Sif's story and having natalie portman in the movie but not actually doing a lot of things, and the lack of explanation on just who the dark elves are beyond "elves who hate light"

[Eoraptor]

Did learn this.. Jamie Alexander "Sif" was severely injured during filming, and could not complete a lot of her scenes http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173687-how-bad-was-jaimie-alexanders-injury-on-the-thor-2-set this explains why Sif's seemingly important rivalry with Jane just falls off a cliff, never to be heard from again.

[fdbryant3]

I liked it well enough, but I wasn't disappointed I saw it at matinee price.

There isn't a movie good enough to make me disappointed I saw it at matinee prices.  I wouldn't of been disappointed though if I saw it full price though.  I loved it.  Especially the City of Heroes reference (okay, it probably wasn't a reference but COH was the first thing me and my friends thought of when we saw it). I'll leave it up to y'all to figure what I'm talking about.

Loki got the best lines and was the most fun.  Chris Hemsworth I think really got into the role of Thor moreso than he has before.  The action was awesome.

I didn't really care for Zach Levi as Fandral - I think it was something with the hair.  Sadly Cary Elwes is to old for the role.  The other thing that kinda bothered me is the mix of sci-fi/fantasy society with the Asgardians/Dark Elves.  Not sure why but it just didn't work for me. 

Overall though the movie was fun and in a rarity a better than its predecessor (although maybe that isn't so rare for superhero movies since typically the first movie has to be an origin story)

[fdbryant3]

Did learn this.. Jamie Alexander "Sif" was severely injured during filming, and could not complete a lot of her scenes http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173687-how-bad-was-jaimie-alexanders-injury-on-the-thor-2-set this explains why Sif's seemingly important rivalry with Jane just falls off a cliff, never to be heard from again.

Probably also explains why we didn't see her holding off the guards.

[Tenzhi]

I enjoyed the movie more than the first.  The humourous bits mostly worked for me and the action was good.  Loki was well done.  And the Warriors Three really got to shine, methinks.

And the 10th Doctor being subtitled often as the evil dark elf Malekith is alright.

Shouldn't it be the 9th?

[Heroette]

I haven't seen the movie but I know its Christopher Eccletson as the bad guy so yes, its the 9th Doctor.

[Kaos Arcanna]

Well, given what's going on in Doctor Who now you can probably also call him the 10th Doctor. :D

[Heroette]

Isn't John Hurt doctor 11.5? 

[Tenzhi]

Isn't John Hurt doctor 11.5?

11.5 (or was it 12.5?) should be/was the Valeyard.  It could be that Hurt will be another version of that.  It could be that he'll be an aged 8th Doctor, or a Doctor 8.5.  In any case, it's too early to start calling Eccleston number 10.

[FatherXmas]

I haven't seen the movie but I know its Christopher Eccletson as the bad guy so yes, its the 9th Doctor.

Yep, silly me.  Should have remembered "fall of the 11th" refers to Smith.

[FatherXmas]

Isn't John Hurt doctor 11.5?

Since the previews show the time war that means before the 9th so 8.5?

[Heroette]

I love how the "Thor" posting turned into a "Doctor Who" one.  There is never enough talk about Doctor Who.

[Pengy]

By Raselon's eye!

[Nos482]

You might like this Guardian story:
Thor 2: Chinese cinema accidentally uses faked Thor and Loki cuddle poster
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=static.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FFilm%2FPix%2Fpictures%2F2013%2F11%2F7%2F1383819501860%2FThor-The-Dark-World---the-001.jpg

;D