THOR: THE DARK WORLD – Review

Great Odin’s Raven!
 

Sorry, excuse the ‘Anchorman‘ pun but I can’t help myself. THOR is back and this time he faces an enemy who has been banished for centuries and after being inadvertently brought back to life, is now hell-bent on revenge. Christopher Eccleston plays Khan….sorry Malekith, a dark lord defeated by Odin’s father and banished for hundreds of years, along with his magical juice that sounds like Ether – but the subtitles say it’s spelt Aether – that when unleashed will bring darkness to the Nine Realms. I have to say I wasn’t a big fan of the first film – it just sort of wafted over me except the bits with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) but this one was an enjoyable romp I would be happy to watch again.

 

 

Back on earth, astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is now in London with her colleagues Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Erik (Stellan Skarsgard) and when she accidentally opens the tomb that holds Malekith’s Aether, the liquid enters her body and she becomes a sought after commodity to the dark lord and his army. THOR comes to the rescue and takes her back to Asgard in order to protect her. In order to betray Odin‘s wishes and go after Malekith to stop him unleashing hell, THOR releases Loki from the dungeon he has been kept in, so he can use his brother’s brutality to get to his enemy. Here is where the film gets interesting. Hiddleston never comes across as particularly scary as Loki, which makes him more scary if that makes sense. He runs rings around the bullish THOR, and even us, as the audience, are not sure what his motives are, and if he has finally found it in him to forgive THOR for previously defeating him. It is not until the final dénouement that we learn the truth.

 

 
The final battle between THOR and Malekith takes place in Greenwich. There is of course the now obligatory post – 911 shot of spaceship/aeroplane landing in ordinary city streets while terrified citizens run for cover; but it’s fun, edge of your seat stuff and while a little predictable, the ending is very open and no doubt ‘THOR 3‘ will start production soon.
 

What’s right with it?

Too often Hollywood films cast the sole Brit as the baddy of the piece, but with THOR we have British baddies in Hiddleston and an unrecognisable Eccleston, but we have Idris Elba back playing faithful guard of Asgard, Heimdall – probably the noblest man on the planet, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin, who does come across as a bit of a cold fish, but has the welfare of his planet and family at his heart. There are some great comedic moments in the film, and an unexpected cameo by another Avenger half way through. This is fun, no brainer film ideal for a date.
 

What’s wrong with it?

Gorgeous as Chris Hemsworth is, to me he is the Roger Moore of THOR. Moore always gave the impression he had his tongue placed firmly in his cheek whilst playing Bond, and for me Hemsworth is never 100% convincing as THOR. In all fairness, the whole premise of the film is pretty ridiculous, and there must have been times it was hard to keep a straight face, but the whole point of acting is pretending it’s real.
 

In a nutshell. A fun romp which has more of a story than the first version, but THOR will never be one of those sci-fi films with a deeper meaning. It does what it says on the tin, and while it could do with taking itself a bit more seriously, it’s steers refreshingly away from being po-faced like a lot of modern-day comic book films (yes I’m talking about you ‘Man of Steel‘).
 

Oh and make sure you watch right till the very end – after the credits!
 

‘THOR: The Dark World‘ is out now.