After his superb performance in last years Avengers Assemble, Chris Hemsworth returns as everyone's favourite God of Thunder and bursts back onto the big screen to continue the story of one of the most beloved avengers. Bringing with him his godly and earthly comrades alike, Thor: The Dark World lived up to all expectations.
In this much darker sequal, Thor returns to fight the evil dark elves, led by Christopher Eccleston's Malekith, who wants the universe purged of all light. To be able to conquer this threat, Thor must team up with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and even Loki, who has been imprisoned for his crimes during Avengers Assemble. Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins and Stellan Skarsgard co-star.
The Dark World is the third film to feature Chris Hemsworth as the giant bashing, hammer hurling god of Thunder, and Hemsworth just gets better and better at the role. He manages both the dramatic, actions filled scenes (and there's a lot of them) and the multitude of comic moments with ease, as though he was always meant to wield the power of Thor. Likewise, Tom Hiddleston dazzles the audience with a much more real performance of Thor's conflicted brother Loki. Unlike the first film, Loki becomes more of an anti-hero rather than a villain. Amidst his biting sarcasm and bickering with Thor, he has some very moving scenes. One such scene is with Rene Russo, as Loki's mother (and wife of Odin) Frigga. These scenes cause the proud and heartless demeanor that the character often takes on to melt away, and reveals a very much broken and tormented individual.
This new side to Loki leaves room for a new villain, and so enters Christopher Eccleston's dark elf antagonist, Malekith. Whilst the fight scenes between the almost unrecognisable Eccleston and the mighty Hemsworth are visually stunning and filled to the brim with action, the villain himself is rather bland, with little to no back story. All that we know is that he wants the universe to be filled with darkness. This is, really, the typical bad guy goal, and put with the fact that the elves spend half the film jabbering away in a make believe elvish language, leaves the impression that the villains were only created to give the hero something to bash. In this endeavour, at least, they succeed.
Despite this, the endless stream of humorous quips, emanating mostly from the trickster Loki, cause immense entertainment. Even after half (well, maybe not half) of Asgard has been reduced to rubble by Malekith's forces, the charming rogue produces a laugh from all in the audience with his mocking of Thor's fellow Avenger, Captain America. Combined with his often blunt and sarcastic one-liners, this super villain turned unlikely companion brings the majority of the laughs to the film, which, it's safe to say, would be far too serious, and lacking in character, without them.
However, there are always bad points to even the best of films. There are several parts of the plot that are hinted at, but not explored as much as they could, or perhaps ought to be. Sif's feelings for Thor are made clear, and there is a marked tension between her and Jane. However, this would be love triangle never comes to the fore, and stays in the background, soon forgotten. Also, as with the first film, a lot of characters did next to nothing during the movie, where they could have had much larger roles and been developed more. This is a waste of the talents of skilled and extremely capable actors such as Idris Elba, who plays the Gatekeeper Heimdall. Also, the losses of these disappointingly underdeveloped characters doesn't provoke a reaction, and therefore the effect is lost. Frigga's death is a perfect example of this, as it serves only as a means to an end. It causes Thor and Loki to get angry enough to take the fight to the dark elves doorstep, which leads to one hell of a fight scene, complete with an arsenal of Loki trickery and Thor's godly strength. However, it is disappointing to see the potential of these characters go to waste.
On the whole Thor: The Dark World is an immensely entertaining film, with a superb cast, and plenty of action and comedy to keep any Marvel fan wanting more.
4/5 (Thor out of five?)
