 'Thor: The Dark World' follows in the footsteps of 'Iron Man 3' inasmuch as it is one of the MCU's weaker films, altogether. Although I will give this some credit for having some pretty funny moments, it's just not enough to save this from finding itself near the bottom of the proverbial MCU barrel. Of all the 'Thor' films, I would easily claim this chapter to be the most forgettable, even though it introduces us to our next Infinity Stone, gets the saga moving, and has audiences guessing what more was to come.
At this point, it can be noted that following the events of 'The Avengers,' the Tesseract (or "Space Stone") was brought to Asgard to be stored in Odin's (Anthony Hopkins) vault for safekeeping, whilst Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was imprisoned for his crimes on Earth. While away from Earth and the rest of the Avengers, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his Asgardian friends have become protectors of the Nine Realms of our universe. Meanwhile, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) tries to move forward from her relationship with Thor, as Thor can't always be on Earth for her. With that set up, the film opens with a backstory taking place ages ago. Odin's father, Bor (Tony Curran), clashes with Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), a Dark Elf, chasing after another potentially powerful weapon called the Aether (aka the "Reality Stone"), which Malekith could use to alter the universe into having eternal night, thus allowing the Dark Elves to thrive. Bor manages to safeguard the Aether within a stone column after defeating Malekith's forces, buried where it will "never be found" (which always means it'll be found). Malekith and several other dark elves manage to escape. On Earth, Jane and her intern and friend Darcy (Kat Dennings) discover an anomaly that, long story short, leads to the Aether, which, upon Jane discovering it, manages to conceal itself within her body. With Heimdall (Idris Elba), the all-seeing, all-hearing guardian of Asgard and the Bifrost Bridge no longer able to see Jane, Thor heads to the Earth Realm to find her and bring her to Asgard to be looked after. However, the presence of the Aether awakens Malekith, who still wishes to find and use the Aether to bring everlasting darkness to the universe. The whole thing feels like a plot straight out of 'Care Bears.' The anomaly in question has to do with the Convergence, which, according to Odin, is an extremely rare event in which the Nine Realms align, causing odd portals around the world. Jane stumbles into one of these portals, which leads to the location where the Aether was sealed away by Bor. It then conceals itself inside of her, acting as some sort of sentient parasite, requiring a host in order to defend itself. Thor is thrust into the role of her protective bodyguard, as the Aether cannot be removed from her, and it provides a target for a Dark Elf raid, led by Malekith. As I mentioned before, despite some gripes I have with this movie, it's not without its moments. I can appreciate the role Loki plays here, having recently unleashed chaos in the city of New York on Earth while still asking for the audience's sympathies. Somehow or another, I have to admit, he even gets it to some extent, and really starts shaping into the anti-hero type. However, I can't help but feel like this chapter of 'Thor' asks you to take it a touch too seriously, despite its sense of humour. It still feels a bit like what the early 2000s thought was awesome, but it's not quite at the fun level of 'Ragnarok' yet. When all is said and done, 'Dark World,' more than anything, seems to be meant to introduce us to the second known Infinity Stone in an attempt to get things rolling. I can also credit it for further developing Loki's character. But the rest of it feels like an old Saturday morning cartoon, complete with an over-the-top and, frankly, forgettable villain. It was around this point in the MCU that I began to wonder if things were a little too buried under the spectacle of 'The Avengers.' Luckily, however, 'Iron Man 3' and 'Thor: The Dark World' turned out to be mere hiccups in what was to come. 2/5 MID-CREDIT SCENE - Volstagg (Ray Stevenson) and Sif (Jaimie Alexander) deliver the Aether to The Collector (Benecio Del Toro) with the thought that having it so close to the Tesseract in Odin's vault could prove dangerous. The Collector is heard to say, "One down, five to go". The scene is a tease to events that may occur in 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. POST-CREDIT SCENE - Thor returns to Earth to see Jane, and they embrace with a kiss. Meanwhile, it's shown that a creature that emerged through a portal in the film's climactic scene is still running around London, England.
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 Following the release of 'Iron Man 2', it seemed abundantly clear that 'The Avengers' was definitely a project that would one day come to light. However, one upcoming title that put me at unease was 'Thor'. Being that this was a comic book character who was, in essence, a God, lived in a whole other world, and was always one of Marvel's more fantasy-based characters, I wondered how it would be pulled off, considering superhero movies up to that point always seemed to be required to stay somewhat grounded.
With how far the MCU (among other superhero franchises) has come, it's almost weird to think that there was actually a time when producers didn't seem to think that making a comic book movie look like its respective comic book pages could possibly work, as if being too fantastical was "out of bounds," so to speak. Much to this film's credit, it turned out that the formula needed to make this work was really quite simple; do the 'Fish out of water" cliche, but give the fantasy world within the movie an ample part of the story instead of the lead character simply leaving their world to get to Earth for *insert reason here*. The film hits the ground running when Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her friends, Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Darcy (Kat Dennings), happen upon what seems to be some sort of meteor crash, but turns out to be some guy named Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who had fallen from the sky. From there, the film recaps the events on Asgard, Thor's home world, that lead to his banishment to Earth and to his unworthiness to wield the hammer, Mjölnir. He then spends his days in exile, befriending and getting to know Jane, Erik, and Darcy better, and realizing that human beings are more than meets the eye. Meanwhile, on Asgard, Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) learns his true parentage from the man he has considered “Father” all of his life, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Feeling betrayed and desperate for approval, Loki wants to prove his worth and show he deserves the Asgardian throne more than Thor. He seeks Odin's recognition and a place in Asgard. When Odin enters the deep "Odinsleep" to recover, Loki seizes the chance to take the throne. Eventually, however, his rule becomes too much for Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three: Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Fandral (Josh Dallas), and Volstagg (Ray Stevenson). Sif and the Warriors Three soon find the motivation to bring Thor back from Earth to put an end to Loki's rule, with the help of the bridgekeeper, Heimdall (Idris Elba). With all of this layed out, however, years have passed, and at this point 'Thor' isn't a hell of a lot more than an origin story for both Thor and Loki, who has since gone from the MCU's greatest villain with 'Avengers', to anti-hero, to guardian of the multiverse, making him perhaps the single-best developed character within the MCU. In fact, today I would almost use this first 'Thor' film more as a Loki starting point, since Thor's overarching story feels much simpler. No matter how I see/review this film nowadays, however, it doesn't change the fact that, for its time, it was a pleasant surprise. Upon learning through trailers and online chatter that this would, indeed, be a "fish out of water" story, my mind leapt to '87's 'Masters of the Universe', which was the same deal, but far more focused on whatever was going on on Earth, grounding what is otherwise a whole world of fantasy. I figured the same thing might happen here, and 'Thor' was a sort of "make or break" title for the success of the 'Avengers' film we were all hoping to see. Luckily, not only was just about half of the film set in the fantastical realm of Asgard, but whatever happened on Earth was essential to developing Thor's character and, more often than not, was done hilariously. It was easy to embrace this movie for what it was, and I'd probably consider it the very beginning of when the MCU took the wheel of Marvel and finally said, "See this comic book? See these frames? Bring that to life!" They tested the waters of epic superhero fantasy with 'Thor,' and let's face it, things succeeded more than we ever could have thought possible. 3/5 POST-CREDIT SCENE: Erik Selvig is brought in to meet with Nick Fury. Fury shows him the Tesseract and mentions its immense power. We then see Loki, eavesdropping on the conversation, setting the upcoming plot for 'The Avengers' |
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