It would be easy to say that you are a fan of “Thor” because of Chris Hemsworth or Tom Hiddleston. I mean, have you seen them? They are beautiful—there is no question or argument—but there is more to Thor than his biceps. In fact, you can’t forget:
- His eyes
- His hair
- His voice
- His hammer
OK, I’m kidding. Well, not really, but I’m getting distracted. I will have to say that “Thor: The Dark World” was better than the first Thor movie, which while it was marvelous, it required a lot of exposition to explain to us who these people were and why we should care. “Thor: The Dark World” has the privilege of being able to dive right into action and conflict.
***Slight Spoilers***
Let’s get one thing out of the way; Loki is not the villain of this story. He is definitely not a shining example of humanity, but he is not the main antagonist. That place has been taken by a dark elf, Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston. We get a bit of backstory on the Dark Elves and why they have a grudge against the Asgardians, and it is one of the only problems I have with the movie. The Dark Elves want to use the aligning of the nine realms to turn the universe back to darkness with something called the Aether. The problem with this is that it will destroy the whole universe. One of the elves tells Malekith that this will be their legacy, but how can you have a legacy if you have destroyed everything?
Despite not being the villain, the relationship between Thor and Loki is one of the best things in the movie. Loki provides humor and charm, and Thor is all muscle and good intentions. The brotherly dynamic between them is filled with tension and as much as I love Loki, I spent a majority of the movie waiting for him to betray Thor.
Loki is in the dungeon, which was admittedly was a heartbreaking sight, and Thor is keeping peace in the nine realms after the destruction of the bifrost, but he misses Jane. Turns out even though he can’t visit her he has been watching to make sure she’s safe every night.
Jane, for her part is pining for her love who hasn’t contacted her in two years, but she’s awkwardly trying to move on and failing. Cut to Darcy, Kat Dennings, (the comedic relief when Loki is offscreen) telling Jane about some weird readings on her Palm Pilot. In true brilliant damsel-in-distress style Jane runs straight toward the trouble in the name of science! and the darkness of the universe gets sucked inside her.
Enter Thor to the rescue, whisking her off to Asgard in a bifrost flash. He takes her to Asgard to help her and Jane gets to meet the (god) parents which doesn’t go well. Of course in Thor’s typically genius plans, by dragging the darkness of the universe to Asgard, he’s now put a honing location for Malekith to come destroy his realm and the real conflict begins.
We get some incredible female fighters in this movie. One of my favorite things in this movie was the expansion of Thor’s companion Sif as a character and warrior. At first I thought they were just trying to put Thor and Sif together, and they are, but she is more than a point in a love triangle. Thor’s mother Frigga also gets a chance to show her skills when she fights Malekith to protect Jane. Jane also gets to fight but mostly uses her brain instead of brawn, although she does slap Loki AND Thor.
“Thor: The Dark World” is full of stellar twists that I didn’t see coming. There is even a cameo by another member of the Avengers. Most importantly make sure you stay to the very end of the movie, past all the credits. Those little snippets at the end of all Marvel movies are must-watch and “Thor: The Dark World” has two so stay until the screen goes dark.
I don’t want to give away all the spoilers, but rest assured the story in “Thor: The Dark World” is incredible. It is full of humor, heart, action, and surprise. I can’t wait to see how the ending of “Thor: The Dark World” ties into Marvel’s TV show after their tie-in episode on November 19th.
[divider] [/divider]Did you see Thor? What did you think? Tweet us @litdarling
