So much handsome.
I have this thing called The Avengers Syndrome. I came up with it after I saw X-Men: First Class. I didn't see that film until two weeks after I saw The Avengers and I didn't much care for it. I felt very underwhelmed and didn't get the excitement many other people had for it when it first came out. Ever since The Avengers came out, other comic book films have felt obsolete. Everything worked so well in that film that we didn't get from the others. This is going to make it increasingly difficult for future comic book films, whether it be Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, or whatever. I say this because The Avengers Syndrome came into play in several parts of Thor:The Dark World and that isn't really anyone's fault.
Taking place after the events in The Avengers, we return back to Thor and his fight against enemies of the universe. We also return back to his bitchy, bland, stupid girlfriend, Jane and her "sassy" friend, Darcy. After being threatened by the Dark Elves lead by Malekith, Thor must resort to desperate measures in order to save not only Asgard, but Earth as well. That's were LOKI comes in and saves this movie from being really boring and useless.
A quick recap of the first Thor movie, I thought it was good. It could have been A LOT better, but there wasn't really anything to get mad about. Thor definitely felt more like a pilot episode as most of it is establishing the characters and the overall conflict is pretty minor in retrospect. Thor: The Dark World continues that, but still feels episodic. I said the same thing about The Wolverine, but with that movie, there were so many new characters thrown in. I didn't give a damn about any of them much less the bland story. At least with Thor: TDW, I still know these characters and still care about what happens to them. None of this makes either of the films bad, but for a Thor movie, I was really expecting something more. Thor is such a strong character surrounded by a complex environment that could make for an epic movie. I wish they took more time with it and didn't push it out so quickly. The only thing I hated about the last Thor movie was the same thing I hated about this movie, and that's Jane.
Jane is such a terribly written character. There's a difference between a strong-willed, intelligent woman and just a bitchy, arrogant girl. The intention was for Jane to be the first part, but turned out to be the latter. Why does Thor like this girl? She brings nothing to the table. She doesn't care about him. She is only motivated to do things if it benefits herself. When Thor comes back after 2 years, instead of being happy to see him, Jane bitches him out. She slaps him- twice, and starts going off on "Where have you been?! I've been waiting for you! I don't care if you been fighting all these battles and had this huge responsibility brought on you while I've been sitting on my ass doing science that is completely useless!"
Bitch, he's a god. He can't devote all his time for your sorry ass. You knew going into this relationship that would happen. Aside from that tidbit, why is Jane even in this film. She felt very shoe-horned in. I do feel that bringing in a love-interest for Thor is essential not only because she was in the comic, but because it brings another dimension to him. If they're going to have this character they could have done a better job. I don't think it is entirely Natalie Portman's fault, but she is a very mediocre actress. I don't much care for her and she wasn't the best choice.
While on the subject of bad female characters, there's Darcy, played by Kat Dennings. I didn't think Darcy was as annoying as many other people do, but she is really high up there. The good thing is that she isn't in this film a whole lot. I do give credit for their attempt at having a comedic female character, but the execution was terrible. I more so blame poor writing rather than Kat Dennings's acting. I really didn't get as mad as her as I did towards Jane.
Okay, enough negativity. I really do think this sequel is an improvement from the first. There's more focus on the beautiful Asgard rather than a boring, small town in New Mexico. It was random and pointless that they moved to London, but it beats looking at the desert.The special effects for this film is incredible. Asgard feels so real and it is easy to invest into the environment. The same can be said for the character designs. There's is also more focus on the other characters with room to develop. I'm glad we got to know Odin, Frigga and the other side characters more. I am a bit disappointed they killed Frigga. She was a very strong character I wanted to do more. But lets move onto the real star of this film, Loki.
I love Loki. I love Tom Hiddleston. He is such a handsome bastard. Some argue that he isn't the best villain in terms of motivations, but he is definitely a great character. Something about his dialogue and the things he does really make him engaging. However, the downside of him being such a good villain is going to make it nearly impossible for anyone to beat him. This is going back to my theory of The Avengers Syndrome. I didn't give a a fuck about Malekith at all. He was pretty boring actually. Apparently Loki may or may not be in any future films and that is really unfortunate as he is a huge draw. Hopefully Thanos or Ultron will be more dominant but we'll see!
The same can be said for Thor and Chris Hemsworth's performance. Thor is not supposed to be this obnoxious character and Hemsworth does a great job keeping him as he should be. Hemsworth isn't the best actor as he is pretty one-note but he fits into this role really well. Some of Thor's actions are questionable but goddamn, he is just so awesome.
Overall, this movie was pretty good. I liked it for what it was and felt like it was more focused than the first. I am hoping in the next Thor movie to stay the hell away from Earth and mortals and keep it on Asgard. The first half was a little boring but things picked up toward the second half. I found myself only interested when Loki, Thor, Heimdall, Frigga and Odin came on screen. Those were the only truly interesting characters with great performances. There was an obnoxious amount of cop-outs that were unnecessary (you can't kill Loki off and chop off Thor's hand, come on). I wish I saw this film in theaters as it was a lot of fun to watch. I am really eager to see these next incarnations leading up to The Avengers sequel and hopefully this syndrome wains.
Grade: B
Getting better, just not quite.
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