Thor: The Dark World is the second movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Two and it’s also the second solo adventure of the Thunder God (Chris Hemsworth). In this outing, Thor must save the Nine Realms from Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, who wants to destroy them and then rule over them. Unfortunately, the generic nature of his character and his plan weaken the movie.
Buy Thor: The Dark World Blu-rayThe movie opens with a prologue set thousands of years ago when Malekith previously tried to take over the Nine Realms with the Aether, the Reality Stone in a fluid state that turns matter into dark matter. Bor, Thor’s grandfather and former ruler of Asgard, defeats Malekith, but the villain and some of is minions escape, putting themselves into suspended animation. Bor transports the Aether to a hidden world.
In Asgard, after Odin (Anthony Hopkins) imprisons Loki (Tom Hiddleston) for his actions in The Avengers, it is revealed that the Convergence, an alignment of the Nine Realms that happens every 5000 years, is commencing. This causes the Realms to be linked through portals. Scientist Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor’s former flame, comes across a portal and not only is transported to the aforementioned hidden world, but the Aether enters her. Thor brings her to Asgard to be cared for, but the reappearance of the Aether in this Realm awakens Malekith, reigniting another war between his forces and Asgard. Thor is forced to turn to Loki for help.
The world of Thor offers an interesting mix of fantasy and science fiction as the gods and monsters from Norse mythology mix with high-tech gadgets. The real strength of the movie are the familial relationships, particularly between Thor and his adopted brother Loki. After two movies fighting against each other, it was refreshing to see the pair work together, even though anyone with a familiarity of Loki is just waiting with bated breath for the character to eventually act in his own best interest. Keep an eye out for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance by Steve Rogers.
As with all the stories, they succeed based on how strong the villain is, and because Malekith doesn’t do anything memorable to stand out, The Dark World is underwhelming. His goal is a cliché and his motivation unclear, which parallels the filmmakers. There is a great climatic fight between Malekith and Thor as the portals cause them to battle across different worlds. It’s too bad there aren’t more memorable sequences like it.
