Review: Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston
Director: Alan Taylor
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Adventure | Fantasy
Official Website: Here

Editor Notes: Thor: The Dark World is now open in wide release.

Thor: The Dark World picks up in real time after the events of Thor (2011) and The Avengers (2012) with Jane (Natalie Portman) living in London trying to move on from Thor (Chris Hemsworth) with whom she fell in love with in the first film and has not seen in the two years hence.  While on a date with Richard (Chris O’Dowd from The IT Crowd), her faithful research assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) brings her news of some odd readings on equipment that Jane apparently doesn’t check anymore.  This leads to a warehouse where gravity is wonky and stuff just disappears.  Jane accidentally disappears too and finds a buried relic from a long ago war (she doesn’t know this, but it was explained to us in the prologue by Anthony Hopkins’ Odin as being a weapon that cannot be destroyed that was buried where no one could find it…on Earth).  After being infected with this weapon, a liquid that seeks out a physical host, Thor comes down and takes her to Asgard, to heal her and to meet his parents.

Thor: The Dark World keeps the tones struck in the first film, with some big comedy mixed with heavy drama, but this one succeeds a bit more because the humor is not limited to Earth this time around.

Thor: The Dark World keeps the tones struck in the first film, with some big comedy mixed with heavy drama, but this one succeeds a bit more because the humor is not limited to Earth this time around.  There is a lot that transpires, because this is a comic book movie and they are notorious for being extremely plot-heavy, so I won’t waste time here trying to recount much more of the story.

With the comedy reaching Asgard, there are some good moments between Jane and Thor, but also between Thor’s warrior friends (back from the first film) and with Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  There is banter enough to keep the Asgard sequences, of which there are more of, from weighing down the film with overwrought seriousness.  This may be from the new writers, or more likely from the absence of director Kenneth Branagh, who is best known for mounting faithful and resplendent Shakespearian film adaptations.  That level of drama was not needed and it’s good that it was absent.

The biggest problem that the film faces is an empty villain.  The main threat to Asgard and all of the 9 realms, is Malekith (Christopher Eccleston, best known as the ninth Doctor on Doctor Who), a dark elf who was vanquished by Odin’s father at the dawn of the universe.  It was this victory that enabled the universe to grow, since Malekith sought to keep everything in darkness.  Well, he’s been reawakened by the activity of the weapon in Jane’s body.  The trouble is that Malekith is given so little screen time and his threat is so vague that it never really feels credible or tension-getting.  Eccleston does a fine job in the role, but it feels so small and diminished in the face of the established characters that I never thought for a moment that he could succeed.  If he were given more time on screen and more development than just ‘he wants to plunge the universe into darkness’, there would have been something at the heart of the film and the danger would have felt more real to the characters.  Since there was no need to spend any time on the backstory of the 11 previously seen characters, more time spent on the Dark Elves would have strengthened the film.

Instead, most of the film is interplay between the established characters.  I can’t really knock that too hard, because it made for a very entertaining film and if it were not a superhero film and they didn’t need a villain to fight, it would have made an even better one.  Everyone from the first film has relaxed into their roles, especially Hemsworth, Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgard (as astrophysicist Erik Selvig) for whom this is their third outing in their roles, and each one plays well with each other.  They are the greatest assets to the film.

The biggest problem that the film faces is an empty villain.  The main threat to Asgard and all of the 9 realms, is Malekith (Christopher Eccleston, best known as the ninth Doctor on Doctor Who), a dark elf who was vanquished by Odin’s father at the dawn of the universe.

One thing I will say in comparison to the first film is that this one is much better lit.  Predominantly a television and documentary DP, Kramer Morgenthau brightened up the pallet of the Thor universe for the most part.  One of my biggest quibbles with the first film is that a fair bit of it is too dark and that muddied the action, especially against the Frost Giants.  Here, it does get a bit murky in parts but it is still better than before.

Speaking of murky bits, I’ll talk a bit about the final showdown on earth between Thor and Malekin.  There is a lot of shifting about due to manipulation devises developed by Selik and modified by Jane that causes teleportation to other realms and different locations in London that makes for some confusing action.  It’s only the broad humor that is injected into the battle sequence that helps to distract from the unclear locations.

While the humor is the film’s biggest attribute, it is also its biggest weakness.  There is so much humor throughout that the threat level is diminished.  It’s hard to take the destruction of the universe seriously with all that banter flying around.  It’s all good banter, so I don’t like to criticize it, but the film is ultimately less an action film as it is a comedy.

Thor: The Dark World is a lot of fun and while it is mostly comedy, there are some well-staged action sequences.  There is even a 9/11-via-Trojan-Horse reference in the way the Dark Elves attack Asgard.  There are some emotional moments as well, and they are well played and placed at the right moments.

If there had been more development of Eccleston’s character and more time spent with the Dark Elves, the film would have felt whole.  Instead, it feels like a lot of banter and hammer swinging that amounts to an entertaining film that is essentially empty.  Thor: The Dark World succeeds in that it makes me keen to see Thor again in The Avengers: Rise of Ultron (2015) and eager to see what becomes of Loki in the future as well.  And really, if a sequel leaves you wanting another story with the characters it has done its job well.

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Doug Heller

Sr. Staff Film Critic

I believe film occupies a rare place as art, entertainment, historical records and pure joy. I love all films, good and bad, from every time period with an affinity to Classical Hollywood in general, but samurai, sci-fi and noir specifically. My BA is in Film Studies from Pitt and my MA is in Education. My goal is to be able to ignite a love of film in others that is similar to my own.

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