Neglecting Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearean turn from the last “Thor”, “The Dark World” settles for tourist spots, alien locales and a lot of popcorn selling action.
The villains are dark elves (led by an unrecognizable Christopher Eccleston in distempered make-up, a pair of jutted stick-on ears and a laced ponytail), who get up from their eon long hibernation and decide to pursue a plot device called “Aether” (pronounced “ee-ther”), a wispy, and quite deadly, substance of omnipotent universe crushing power that’s color-coded red and black for Red-Alert level prominence. Obviously we are going to see tourist sites – on world and off – turn rubble. The Aether finds its way to Earth and syncretizes with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, ho-hum), Thor’s love interest who is waiting and aching for him since the first Thor movie two years ago.
Our guy, though in love, had been busy literally hammering down intergalactic disorder in other 8 realms (Earth is realm 9).
His day job is tough. After bashing alien heads – all of whom have awesome destructive capabilities, and yet choose to battle the mano-a-mano way – he has to come back home to his blowhard dad, the All-Father Odin played with pompous uninterested staged enunciation, who we now learn isn’t a god at all; (Abrahamic belief in the Almighty is stronger at Marvel than mythical religions, I guess).
Chris Hemsworth as Thor (who I guess is now just your average super-powered alien with a mythic hammer that’s better trained than my previous dog Wilson) is as fine as he was in the prequel and “Avengers”. When not tearing down heavies Mr. Hemsworth flashes a smile here, throws a broad stately accent there, and of course, takes off his shirt for some fan-service.
While Ms. Portman should be the object of our affections, especially because of her imminent-death dilemma (the Aether is too strong for her human body) I had zero anxiety for her safety. Zip, nada, zero - Rather than worrying about her, my interests shifted to Kat Denning’s deadpans. A little while later, I was somewhat unsettled by Stellan Skarsgard’s once genius now nude and nutty professor, who for some inexplicable logic walks around in an underwear (I don’t want to accept the film’s reasoning for his current off-kilter persona; seriously, this wasn’t a LoL moment).
The rest of the note worthy’s are Idris Elba’s Heimdall, Asgard’s grave-voiced peeping-tom galactic gatekeeper (who takes down a huge spaceship with a sword) and the lovely Rene Russo (Odin’s wife Queen Frigga, also pretty nifty with a short-sword). Still, notwithstanding a few key dialogues, everyone here are bit-part characters. No need to tell whom to root for here, is there?
Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s adopted brother Loki is the second most attention-grabbing actor in the Marvel Universe after Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. Unlike Mr. Downey Jr., Mr. Hiddleston keeps himself away from faux theatrics (Mr. Hopkins, I love you, but please take note). His Loki, less infused with Shakespearean pathos than last time, is still deliciously Machiavellian with a craftily underexposed flash of fragility.
Mr. Hiddleston’s genius is bigger than any bloated special effect “Thor: The Dark World” can muster – and he doesn’t need brain-numbing 3D to do it too. Released by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios, “Thor: The Dark World” is rated PG-13 for the usual world ending skirmishes.
Directed by Alan Taylor; Produced by Kevin Feige; Written by Christopher L. Yost, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (based on a story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat); Cinematography by Kramer Morgenthau; Edited by Dan Lebental and Wyatt Smith and Music by Brian Tyler.
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Chris O’Dowd, Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins.