Thor: The Dark World

Thor, to me, was the weakest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One reason for this was it played too much like a culture clash comedy. Humor’s been an appealing element of the Marvel films, but it had a little too much in that department. But the biggest flaw was that it felt like little more than a primer for The Avengers. The title hero (Chris Hemsworth) and his villainous brother Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) story didn’t really get going until near the end of Thor, and played out in The Avengers. That might have been necessary from a storytelling standpoint, but it made the thunder god’s debut seem like the movie equivalent of a comic book tie-in issue, which the rest of the Marvel heroes’ own pictures were not.

There were other problems with the movie, but these were the two that really sunk the whole thing for me. Thor: The Dark World fixes the big problems, at least, and is a substantial improvement over its predecessor.

Set some time after The Avengers, the movie catches up with our hero just after bringing peace to the Nine Realms (I’m not sure what that means, but it has to do with Norse mythology). But back on Earth, Thor’s love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) becomes possessed by a destructive force with the power to engulf the universe in darkness. Her find awakens the evil Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), leader of the Dark Elves and an ancient enemy of Asgard, who renews his war against Thor’s home realm. To stop him, Thor and his companions are forced to team up with Loki, who's imprisoned for his attempted invasion of Earth.

It doesn’t fix everything, and some of the same foibles from the first one carried over. There’s still the loaded, bombastic dialogue that basically spells out the whole plot for us, and some of the same wooden and one-note characters. And on top of the plastic-looking Viking armor, we also get bad makeup jobs for Eccleston and his second-in-command Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. As in “the worst we’ve seen from Star Trek” bad (probably why all the other Dark Elves wear identical masks). But most of all, it’s just hard to buy the inherent ridiculousness of the whole storyline. I realize it’s rather finicky to believe and go along with some fantastical hero stories but criticize this one for being too dopey. Yet, here I am. The extensive but not-so serious mythological plot and aesthetic emits a low-grade Tolkien vibe that's hard to shake off (maybe I’m spoiled by Peter Jackson’s movies and can’t help but instinctively compare all fantasy fare to them).

But as I said, the most major problems were rectified. The humor is still plentiful, coming from the main cast as well as supporting players like Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård (as well a few great—and I do mean great—cameos). This time it’s actually funny, not intrusive (or I just expected it this time and was more forgiving), even when it turns the final climactic showdown into a goofy zigzagging action piece. Speaking of which, there actually are action scenes, which Thor lacked, and as good as any we’ve gotten from Marvel so far.

Most importantly, this is Thor’s movie, not a buildup for something else. Beyond the cheesy epic grandeur and greater Marvel mythology, it’s at its heart a self-contained little adventure yarn that’s a lot of fun. That much is enough, but it even gives us some interesting character evolution. At least it does for Loki, who over three movies has gone from merely a powerful smartass to a more interesting and ambiguous baddie. He’s definitely the most interesting one in the picture (poor Thor, merely a promotional primer in his first title and upstaged in his second), and I hope Hiddleston still plays a role in the Marvel film canon going forward.

Despite being a sequel, Thor: The Dark World is the first real full Thor picture, the one the character deserved. Better late than never.