Of all the movie genres out there, the one I have the hardest time getting into are musicals. On an intellectual level, their appeal is obvious, combining song and dance and creating something that, when it works, can be sheer exuberance.
But they just don’t work for me.
Similarly, there are films I’ve seen that I’ve enjoyed quite a bit yet after the fact couldn’t help but feel that as good as they were, I have a hard time going out there and unhesitatingly recommending them to others.
Which brings us to last year’s Thor: The Dark World. A sequel to (duh) 2011’s Thor, a film I quite enjoyed (though many others felt was a weaker Marvel Comics Movie event), Thor: The Dark World features more of the same and if you liked the original film but were underwhelmed by the spectacle (it was a lower budget film) might get your fill of spectacle here.
Chris Hemsworth returns as the God of Thunder and Natalie Portman reprises her role of Jane Alexander, Thor’s Earthly love interest. Also returning are Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo as Thor’s parents Odin and Frigga and, of course, Tom Hiddleston in the cult favorite role of Loki, half-brother of Thor and resident scheming villain.
The plot this time around focuses on “Dark Elves” who have access to some kind of very powerful weapon known as Aether. It is capable of destroying the entire universe and, in the past, they tried to do just that but were defeated at the hands of Odin’s father and his army. Anyway, in the “present” Loki is imprisoned for what he did in The Avengers while Jane Alexander somehow gets teleported to where the Aether was hidden all those years before (this is one of the film’s biggest plot contrivances and, if looked at in any logical way, makes absolutely no sense). She accidentally merges with the gloppy weapon which in turn resurrects the Dark Elves. They pursue Jane all the way to Asgard, the home of the Norse Gods, while Thor tries to keep her safe.
After a tragedy hits very close to home and with the fate of the universe in the balance, can the unlikely teaming of Thor and Loki save the universe from the return of the Dark Elves?
As I said before, if you liked the first Thor film chances are you’ll enjoy the second, although this film overall isn’t, in my opinion, quite as good. Luckily, what I found most enjoyable about that first film was replicated well in the second, and that is the way Chris Hemsworth’s Thor reacts/interacts with “our” world. Whenever the story shifts to Earth and we get to see Thor among us lowly humans, I couldn’t help but smile. If nothing else, Chris Hemsworth has an incredible ability to mine gold from these interactions (check out what he does with his hammer upon entering Jane’s apartment or get a big laugh -the biggest one of the film- from something as simple as seeking directions).
What’s not quite as good, unfortunately, is a lot of the rest. The scenes in Asgard are grand but, to me, not terribly involving. The villain(s) are pretty flat and underwritten. They’re bad and want to do bad things…aaaannnnd…that’s about all there is to them.
Of more concern is the romance between Thor and Jane, which worked in the original film but this time around felt unlikely, if not forced. As much as I find Natalie Portman to be a very, very good actress, her work here was off. It’s like this time around she never had a good handle on her character and as a result whatever “spark” there was between her character and Thor’s is virtually non-existent here. In fact, there was a far stronger romantic spark present in the one (one!) brief scene between Jamie Alexander’s Sif and Thor, where they talk privately and it is obvious Sif longs for the God of Thunder. The spark was so intense and their chemistry so much better that as a viewer I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly Thor saw in this Jane Alexander person.
Despite all this, Thor: The Dark World is nonetheless a perfectly good, if not great, superhero film. The flaws are there but none of them are fatal. The movie delivers a fun experience and is rarely dull.
Which brings us back to this whole “musical” thing I was talking about before. As much as I may like the original film and feel the sequel is certainly worthy, there’s something about the character of Thor and the whole Norse mythology thing that has never appealed to me all that much. It’s a real baffling thing as I’m a great fan of the comic book works of Jack Kirby (who created the Thor character along with Stan Lee) and absolutely love his pseudo-sequel to the whole Norse Gods concept in The New Gods.
Yet the character of Thor, Loki, and his “universe” within the Marvel Universe just never did all that much for me.
Still, the film is certainly worth a look.