Almer S. Tigelaar

A Little Bit of Everything

Thor: The Dark World

2011’s Thor was a welcome addition to the superhero movie genre. Some characters from that first movie, Thor and Loki, also appeared in The Avengers: a decent superhero ensemble flick in its own right. Now there is this follow up movie which focuses solely on Thor again.

Drawing inspiration from the original Marvel comic, Thor: The Dark World starts with an elaborate back-story concerning evil elves, the alignment of the nine realms and the aether substance. The evil dark elf Malekith wants to obtain the aether, which looks like a floating liquid, so that he can dominate the nine realms. On earth, Jane (Natalie Portman) discovers weird gravitational and portal effects near an abandoned warehouse. We learn that this is linked to the alignment of the nine realms. Predictably she shifts into an other realm and contracts the evil aether substance. This sets in motion the film’s main conflict. Thor takes Jane to his home world, Asgard, in order to rid her from the aether. Malekith then attacks Asgard to obtain the aether.

Though nicely depicted, the opening narrative seems contrived and a bit too serious for the superhero genre. The filmmakers stylistically allude to Lord of the Rings, but it never quite gets there. What The Dark World does get right, similar to the first installment, is the depiction of Thor’s world: Asgard. Not in the least because of Loki: Thor’s evil brother, who also brings some, much needed, lightness to the film. Though imprisoned, he is summoned to assist Thor in his quest to stop Malekith.

Though Thor is an entertaining movie with plenty of action, it feels more tired then the first Thor film. There is an odd imbalance between comic relief and overtly dark overtones. For superhero fans there are better movies than this one, perhaps The Dark World is a recommendation only for die hard Thor fans.

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Official Site | IMDB | Wikipedia

Copyright © 2013 Marvel Entertainment
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