Thor: The Dark World ☆☆☆☆

Ooooo boy. How to review this one without spoilers eh? I guess it depends if you read these to know if you should go see them, or to see if you agree with my analysis…or if its just me pontificating to myself.

I’ll try no spoilers.

****Advice note: stay until the very end of the credits. I did not and I missed out on what was probably a lovely scene****

With this second outing for the standalone Thor films we delve deeper into the history of Asgard and get to know Thor’s family a little better. We also get to see Thor and Jane reunited, while the hunt for a dark energy called the Aether brings Dark Elves into Asgard and a lot of death and destruction for both Asgardians and Londoners.

Jane and Darcy have come to the UK at the behest of Eric Selvig who has, well, suffered since having Loki control him and there are some choice scenes and almost constant lack of trousers. Jane has suffered in the two years since Thor had to destroy the Bifrost to save Earth and has all but given up on the science, choosing instead to wallow. Darcy, still an intern, has gotten herself an intern. Go Darcy.

Thor has spent his time away from Jane saving the Earth against his brother (with the Avengers) and repairing the Nine Realms, establishing peace across the systems while keeping an eye on Jane through Haimdell.

Then the worlds begin to, literally, collide and Jane inadvertently gets herself mixed up with the Aether, this dark energy source, and Thor has to take her to Asgard to keep her safe from the Christopher Eccleston led Dark Elves.

What ensues is a lot of action, some dark and tragic moments, welcome humour and a rather brilliant film.

Director Alan Taylor is said to have panicked about halfway through this film because he was concerned he wasn’t getting the tone right for the Marvel Universe, I’m guessing because his background in Game of Thrones (though epic) is dark and twisty without much lightness. In comes Joss Whedon for a few choice rewrites and guidance and voila, what a film we now have.

Taylor does a fantastic job directing this beast. His background in epic television certainly has helped getting the battle scenes and tense mood of the characters, whilst also lending an intimacy to the proceedings much the same way Joss Whedon did with The Avengers. Taylor had to balance two worlds of characters, Earth and Asgard, then cross these over as Thor comes to Earth and Jane goes up-world to a less-than-impressed Odin and a flirtacious and wonderful Loki.

It was like seeing old friends going to see this movie. Jane and Thor back together with their height difference, Darcy being Darcy, Eric being so much more than he was allowed in the first movie. Loki being – well Loki. Hiddleston has a riot for sure.

However what I really loved was getting to see Frigga and Odin more, especially Frigga and her interactions with both Loki and Jane. Rene Russo is a simply gorgeous mother of Thor and adoptive mother of quite possibly a psychopath. Anthony Hopkins got to be an angry King of Asgard, a worried father and loving husband.

Zachary Levi makes a great replacement Fandral. Funnily enough he was supposed to play the character in the first movie but couldn’t owing to television commitments (Chuck), and his replacement Josh Dallas had to duck out of the sequel owing to his commitment to Once Upon A Time. Personally I love consistency in films and characters but when the replacement is good enough (see Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard in Iron Man) then you can get over it. Zach Levi is fabulous so no complaints from this fan.

Eccleston is a completely dead-eyed, evil Elf with a malevolent nature and the acting chops to be the face of the Enemy.

So for fans of the genre, of Thor and his world this is a fantastic second installment and third outing for the ‘god’. It has action, humour, darkness, tragedy and a real human element amoing the magic and space ships. There is also a rather magnificent cameo from one of the Avengers….

It is a definite recommend to see on the Big Screen.

 

***As for the credits, though not as fabulous as Iron Man Three’s, there are two stings (one of which I missed and am now really sad) but the first sting is a clue to the next film in Marvel Phase 2 – Guardians of the Galaxy. So probably good to plan to stay until the screen goes black.***