A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
At some point during the sprawling Marvel vehicle that is “Thor: The Dark World,” Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis (Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings respectively) are accosted by British police who ask why they are in a restricted area. Jane then explains in the following way, “It’s okay. We’re scientists.” With that line officially uttered (and no way to take it back), my BS radar sounded loudly. "So it’s going to be this type of movie," I thought. And with that in mind, I strapped myself in for the bloated, vacuous spectacle to follow.
Make no mistake, “Thor: The Dark World” is a dumb movie. It takes everything that made the original such a deft, comic delight in 2011 and multiplies it by ten, tossing in a hodgepodge of sci-fi and fantasy elements and a storyline that feels like it was penned by a group of Warhammer 40K cosplayers. Some scenes look like they’ve been lifted from Xena reruns, while others seem like deleted scenes from the Hobbit and others could have been shot on discarded sets from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite this and despite the crackerjack dialogue that has the tendency to induce eye rolling, “The Dark World” is a lot of fun.
Picking up where “The Avengers” left off last year, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard to purge the Nine Realms of evil-doers (who I guess have been on the loose since the Bifrost-shattering events of the first Thor film). His meddlesome brother Loki (a swaggering Tom Hiddleston and once again the best part of this Marvel assemblage) has also been tossed into Asgardian prison to pay for his crimes. Though things have returned to normal for our mythological hero, his longing for Jane Foster cannot be quenched by all the battle, spoils and ale in the Nine Realms. But instead of flying to Earth to be with her (which he can honestly just do because he’s... well... Thor) he must wait for conflict to bring them together again. Cue the Dark Elves, a Tolkeinian race that predates the Big Bang and seeks to plunge the universe into (gasp!) darkness.
I will give credit where credit is due, the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) are ruthlessly cunning and always stay one step ahead of the Asgardians. The tension is palpable from their reveal until the climactic battle on their homeworld. Unfortunately, that’s where the movie should have ended. Instead we are subject to another thirty minutes of confusion, explosions and pseudo-scientific quantum physics that may have Michael Bay waving his arms and claiming “too much!” As the Marvel series spirals deeper and deeper into unmarked territory of their canon, I’ve begun to notice something else as well. Fewer of the stories are instantly accessible to the casual audience and seem to be geared for the comic book crowd alone. For instance, there are two obligatory post-credit scenes, only one of which made any sense to me. I’ll admit that my knowledge of comics goes only as deep as Watchmen, The Walking Dead and Kick-Ass, but if the alienation is setting in this early, it’s only a matter of time before the masses leave Avengers 3 scratching their heads and asking “what?” Let’s hope they catch their mistake before it spirals out of control.
But I digress, if you’re looking for a good time at the theaters this fall and you think that “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is just too cerebral for you, look no further than “Thor: The Dark World.” I certainly won’t blame you.
Written November 29, 2013
Make no mistake, “Thor: The Dark World” is a dumb movie. It takes everything that made the original such a deft, comic delight in 2011 and multiplies it by ten, tossing in a hodgepodge of sci-fi and fantasy elements and a storyline that feels like it was penned by a group of Warhammer 40K cosplayers. Some scenes look like they’ve been lifted from Xena reruns, while others seem like deleted scenes from the Hobbit and others could have been shot on discarded sets from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite this and despite the crackerjack dialogue that has the tendency to induce eye rolling, “The Dark World” is a lot of fun.
Picking up where “The Avengers” left off last year, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard to purge the Nine Realms of evil-doers (who I guess have been on the loose since the Bifrost-shattering events of the first Thor film). His meddlesome brother Loki (a swaggering Tom Hiddleston and once again the best part of this Marvel assemblage) has also been tossed into Asgardian prison to pay for his crimes. Though things have returned to normal for our mythological hero, his longing for Jane Foster cannot be quenched by all the battle, spoils and ale in the Nine Realms. But instead of flying to Earth to be with her (which he can honestly just do because he’s... well... Thor) he must wait for conflict to bring them together again. Cue the Dark Elves, a Tolkeinian race that predates the Big Bang and seeks to plunge the universe into (gasp!) darkness.
I will give credit where credit is due, the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) are ruthlessly cunning and always stay one step ahead of the Asgardians. The tension is palpable from their reveal until the climactic battle on their homeworld. Unfortunately, that’s where the movie should have ended. Instead we are subject to another thirty minutes of confusion, explosions and pseudo-scientific quantum physics that may have Michael Bay waving his arms and claiming “too much!” As the Marvel series spirals deeper and deeper into unmarked territory of their canon, I’ve begun to notice something else as well. Fewer of the stories are instantly accessible to the casual audience and seem to be geared for the comic book crowd alone. For instance, there are two obligatory post-credit scenes, only one of which made any sense to me. I’ll admit that my knowledge of comics goes only as deep as Watchmen, The Walking Dead and Kick-Ass, but if the alienation is setting in this early, it’s only a matter of time before the masses leave Avengers 3 scratching their heads and asking “what?” Let’s hope they catch their mistake before it spirals out of control.
But I digress, if you’re looking for a good time at the theaters this fall and you think that “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is just too cerebral for you, look no further than “Thor: The Dark World.” I certainly won’t blame you.
Written November 29, 2013