CAST: CHRIS HEMSWORTH, TOM HIDDLESTON, NATALIE PORTMAN, ANTHONY HOPKINS, CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON, RENE RUSSO, STELLAN SKARSGARD, KAT DENNINGS, IDRIS ELBA, JAMIE ALEXANDER, ZACAHARY LEVI, RAY STEVENSON, TADANOBU ASANO
DIRECTOR: ALAN TAYLOR
SUMMARY: After his failed attempt to invade Earth, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is punished for his crimes. As the God of Mischief languishes in jail, his brother Thor (Hemsworth) cleans up his mess across the Nine Realms. Meanwhile, Jane Forster (Natalie Portman) tries to move on from the God of Thunder’s continuing absence. Just as things are getting normal, Foster stumbled upon a strange occurrence in London where an unknown energy possessed her. This brought back Thor once more to Earth. To understand the energy possessing her, he brought her to Asgard much to the chagrin of his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). The findings, however, cannot be ignored: the mortal is the newest vessel of the all-powerful Aether. In the beginning of the universe, a race of elves led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) tried to revert the realms into darkness using the Aether. Odin’s father thwarted his plans and hid the Aether in a safe place. Malekith and his followers bid their time until Foster’s accidental discovery. Now that the Aether is calling its former master, the leader of the Dark Elves will stop at nothing to get his hands on it and destroy Asgard in the process. It is up to Thor to prevent the impending distraction of his beloved home. In order to succeed, the God of Thunder has to trust himself, his friends and his alliance with Loki.
- Hot on the heels of the billion movie machine called Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World unleashes the power of the hammer once more to a world still infatuated with superheroes. (I see no signs of fatigue.) Marvel has done the impossible, a blockbuster record of colossal proportions never before seen in movie history. Compared to recent superhero films, however, the Thor sequel is chipper and chirpier – despite the “dark” in the title. CHRIS HEMSWORTH returns as a more assured, more confident God of Thunder. NATALIE PORTMAN delivers serious slapping actions. KAT DENNINGS and STELLAN SKARSGARD shine in bigger roles. (I still chuckle whenever I remember “mew-mew”.) The over-all tone is SURPRISINGLY LIGHT, an atmosphere I approve. It is a bold choice, a brave decision to avoid the morose and morbid trend of recent superhero movies. The filmmakers are quite dauntless in their preference that jokes are inserted in the middle of serious action, and it works most of the time.
- Director ALAN TAYLOR weaves his Game of Thrones enchantment to Asgard. The palace is grimier and grittier compared to the immaculate and impeccable appearance in the first Thor film. And braids. Even Thor sported one. Too much braids. Nonetheless, I can tolerate excessive hair art but not excessive computer manipulated images and special effects. Ugh. It is quite over-the-top that I experienced the dreaded special effects fatigation. In the first Thor installment, the best scenes are set on Earth. But in this sequel, even the Earth scenes were overdone with computer whiz and effects bang. Ugh. The Iron Man series worked because of the charismatic performance of one Mr. Robert Downey Jr. The Avengers succeeded because despite the incredible collection of superheroes, it is their bicker-and-banter moments that carried the film to entertainment loftiness. Thor could do the same because it possesses a character with equal amounts of charm and pluck to bolster its entertainment value. More on him later.
- Poor Malekith. Poor CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON. Covered in white hair and make-up and speaking in Elvish, the central baddie of the Thor sequel is one of the more forgettable superhero villains in recent times. It is not Eccleston’s fault; he is a brilliant actor. Villains, I believe still need to retain a certain semblance of humanity in order to elicit affection from the audience. If people cannot relate with them, he’ll never be effective. Villains should either scares the sh*t out of or seduce us to adhere to their demented cause. Malekith was not able to do either because, again, he was hidden in make-up. It is hard to see his emotions and therefore, harder for us to connect to his ideals. Further, the development of Malekith is rather weak. In some instances, Algrim or the Kurse upstaged his master. He projected menace better than Malekith. Now, in superhero films, the villain should not, ideally, overshadow the hero. We should be rooting for the superhero because after all, he is all about saving Earth. However, once in a while, a special kind of movie miscreant comes along like The Joker in The Dark Knight – a murderous lunatic of the first order. Or a leather and metal clad, adopted son of a god who desires nothing more than a throne.
- Ta-da, this brings us to TOM HIDDLESTON. In the first installment of Thor, I pointed out the scene-stealing performance of the British actor as a high point of the movie. A curious thing happened after, the planet noticed his pained and nuanced performance and soon enough, he is battling the greatest collection of superheroes in the Big Apple. Never has a villain, at least in the Marvel Universe, elicited such outpouring of affection and excitement from the audience. In the same manner RDJ is Iron Man and Iron Man is RDJ, Hiddleston in Loki and Loki is Hiddleston. The actor and the character are inseparable. Hiddleston incorporated his prodigious knowledge of Shakespearean drama and created a complex and complicated tortured character. That Loki has the funniest (a cameo of another superhero) and most painful ( broken and bloodied in a glass cell) scenes in the film are a testament to his complexities. It is also a clear indication of Hiddleston’s increasing reach and appeal to the fanbase. Or filmgoers in general. (Is it any wonder, the best scenes of Thor is when he is with Loki or when he is taking a page from his adopted brother’s trickster book?) If Heath Ledger’s The Joker, set the baneful bar for DC cinematic anti-heroes, Hiddleston did the same for Marvel. AND HAVE YOU SEEN VIDEOS OF TOM HIDDLESTON SINGING, DANCING OR SPEAKING FRENCH?! TOM HIDDLESTON IS THE PERFECT HUMAN BEING. I LOVE YOU TOM HIDDLESTON.
- Thor: The Dark World, though darker than its predecessors deviates from the recent spate grim of superhero movies. The film crackles with jokes and one-liners, a welcome respite from a soul-searching Superman and a post-traumatic stress disorder suffering Iron Man. Some people consider the light tone of Thor as its weakness, in my book, it is its strength. What bogged down the film though is its massive use of computer graphic images. The God of Mischief is the true star of the film. He lit up scenes and breathed life to a mediocre plot. It is plain to see that Tom Hiddleston stole the thunder from Thor.
RATING: B+
NOTES:
- I will not discuss the delicious ending nor the end credit surprises because the Internet does not need another one. Check the Empire podcast episode; it’s one of the better sources of information on the aforementioned subject matters, out there.
- Is the statement, I LOVE YOU TOM HIDDLESTON, relevant in reviewing the movie? No. But it is just a case of CONSISTENCY. I wrote short reviews for his other films, WAR HORSE and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (check here) and I shamelessly fangirled over him. Watching both films on the same day is a huge mistake. The ovaries froze the moment he appeared as F. Scott Fitzgerald. And as he marched onscreen in full uniform as Captain Nicholls, the ovarian explosion commenced. These characters made me an official Hiddlestoner and Loki cemented the madness.
