Thor: The Dark World review

A Marvel movie is something I haven’t reviewed in a while. Since Captain America: The Winter Soldier is coming out on the 4th, this Friday, I thought I should go over the previous phase 2 Avengers installment before its release. I do plan on seeing Captain America on its release date, so expect a review either the day of, or the day after it comes out.

The movie gives us exposition on Thor’s new enemy, Malekith, a dark elf from the Dark World, who has a serious fetish for darkness. He’s after something called the Aether, an evil liquidy thingy composed of darkness and energy….. of DARKNESS! Strange thing how everything evil comes from something dark. Like nothing bad comes out of cuddle puppy land.

Anyway, between the movies, Thor has been keeping the 9 realms in order, and his girlfriend, Jane, has been trying to find him using some weird portal sciencey stuff. She ends up getting the Aether stuck inside her when she goes through a convergence portal. When she gets out, Thor takes her to Asgard to find out what’s wrong with her. A few exposition scenes later, the Dark Elves of darkness arrive and start looking for the Aether. Not even Idris Elba’s amazingness could stop them.

After some good action sequences and a few plot conveniences, Thor and Malekith have their last fight in England, making a mess of the place. The cliffhanger at the end is obviously going to play a big part in the later installments. The after credits scene is all sorts of weird. From what I’ve researched, the guy who takes the Aether is known as the Collector. I think he may have a role in the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The characters were quite memorable, and the actors did a great job in their roles. Especially Loki, he’s a riot. Princess Amidala did alright. Kat Dennings and that Kirk guy were just the comedy. They’re not bad, they are funny. It’s just that they bring down the tone. It’s something about these Avengers phase 2 movies where they’re trying to be a bit more humorous, which I have absolutely no problem with! I love to laugh. Not every movie needs to be a deep, philosophical mind blower. I like to sit back and have fun a lot. But in this movie, the humor doesn’t mix with the more serious parts really well. The transitions between the moods could have been a lot smoother. A good example would be about midway through the film, when the funeral scene happens. Everyone is sad at the losses, but then the scene cuts directly to a comedic moment with Stan Lee’s cameo. What does it want the audience to feel? Sad, then start abruptly laughing? True, Stan Lee’s cameos are always funny, but they could have put it somewhere else in the film.

The CG was also fantastic. I thought that Asgard looked different than it did in the first Thor. It looks bigger. I also liked the CG on the guy that stuck an evil elf stone in a knife wound and turned him into a brute. Whatever he was, he looked real. Not like some other movies where you can tell something’s CG, but with this guy, I was having a hard time deciding if he was actually something in front of the camera or not. 

As for the action, I thought it was good. That last fight with Malekith, where ice monsters, cars, and elves are falling through wormholes was pretty cool. At one point, I was wondering where the heck SHIELD was this whole time, just like I did in Iron Man 3. 

In the end, this film is just filler until the next Avengers movie. I felt like we didn’t need this one, but it’s nice to watch and have fun. The whole twist with Loki at the end will probably be of importance later.

FINAL RATING: 42 / 50

STORY: 4 / 5

ACTING: 4 / 5

CHARACTERS: 4 / 5

CG: 5 / 5

ACTION: 5 / 5

SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5

TONE: 3 / 5

ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5

REWATCH VALUE: 4 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 4 / 5