Movie Title
Thor - The Dark World
Year
2013
Genre
Action, Adventure, Comic Adaptation
Story
The movie starts with Odin retelling how the Universe was in total darkness before light crept in. And it was in the darkness that the Dark Elves trhived. When light was in the Universe, other life-forms flourished and the Dark Elves saw these life-forms as an infection to be wiped out. 5000 years ago, led by Malekith, the Dark Elves waged war upon the Universe. They had a really potent weapon, the Aether, that can basically do just that whenever the Nine Realms are aligned. Odin's father, Bor, led the Asgardians against Malekith's forces and destroyed them all except the Aether, which cannot be destroyed. So Bor hid it somewhere in the Nine Realms. Unbeknownst to all, Malekith had escaped with his loyal lieutenant, Algrim and the elite Dark Elf warriors, waiting for the day he could wreak vengeance against the Universe once more.
(Now, we know why this installment of Thor is called the Dark World)
That time has come and 2 years have passed since Thor was last on Earth. Jane Foster has moved on and relocated to London. It had been 5000 years since the Nine Realms were last aligned. The Alignment is happening again and the dimensional walls between the Nine Realms are overlapping and things can literally pass thru' between them. When Jane was studying this phenomenon, she literally fell thru' one of these dimensional breaches and coincidentally discovered the secret location of the Aether. Moreover, the Aether "infected" her and used her as a host body.
As Thor had been pining for Jane since their last meeting, he had Heimdall keep an eye on Jane regularly. When Jane had falling thru the dimensional breach, Heimdall could not see her. That was when Thor went to Earth to find out what happened to Jane. She reappears but Thor knew that there was something not right with her and brought her back to Asgard for help.
Malekith was then awakened from 5000-year wait by the Aether's re-activation and mobilised his forces to regain it for the renewed onslaught. Malekith and his forces invade Asgard and basically defeat the Asgardians' but was unable to locate Jane who was hidden by Queen Frigga.
Thor, having no choice but to work with the imprisoned mischievous Loki, seek out Malekith and stop them before they return with more firepower and raze Asgard.
Where is Thor's helmet?! C'mon. Loki not having his helmet is fine as he is technically a prisoner but Thor, he's the next in line to be Asgard's King. Plus we know how proud Thor is. He never removes his helmet, even when he kisses Jane or Sif!
Egads! Hogun is not Asgardian! This was established when Sif and the Warriors Three were quelling uprising factions across the Nine Realms. Hogun received Thor's blessing not to return to Asgard after that battle.
I also can't remember if I'd griped about this before but Heimdall being black. Sigh! It's not that I'm racist, but Heimdall is Sif's brother, so unless Sif is also black then it's OK.
Malekith - I prefer the comic book version as in there, Malekith has funky looking hair that makes him look menacingly insane just like the Joker. Here, he just looks like a battle-hardened warrior out for some revenge, albeit on a universal scale.
The Dark Elves and their tech. For a moment there, when they invaded Asgard in their cloaked ships, I got confused whether I was watching another installment of Star Trek or Thor! The Dark Elves use Laser Cannons and Anti-Matter Grenades. C'mon!
KURSE! Wow - altho not having appeared in any of the trailers I've seen, he's in the movie! And for long time readers (A personal thank you to all of you), you'd know that I was talking about KURSE waaaaay back when I reviewed Thor's 1st movie back in 2011.
http://jmerb.blogspot.com/2011/05/movie-review-thor.html
Do not leave after the movies ends as there is a mid-credit scene (As if you didn't already know this by now...)
The Collector appears in this extra scene!
While I am extremely glad to see characters like The Collector in movies, but a lot will be lost in the translation to the big screen as these characters are really complex and difficult to explain to cinematic audiences. However, having said that, as I said earlier, I am really glad to see it!
And from the scene, we discover that the Aether is none other than 1 of the 6 Infinity Gems that fit into Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet. Again, another artifact that was shown in Thor's 1st movie. This one really sets the stage for future Avengers movies (yes, I said it in plural.) as the Avengers would potentially face off against not only Thanos (whom we have glimpsed in the Avengers post credits scene) but also the Elders of the Universe, of which the Collector is a member.
I'm also very happy to see Odin's Ravens Hugin and Munin in the movie. Another point I really like is that the viewers are told a little bit of Asgardian history - specifically the battle between Odin's father Bor and the Dark Elves right at the start of the movie (so, don't be late into the viewing hall).
Overall
I did like the movie. I would have liked it more if it was a little longer. But then, for general audiences, I guess the length was just right at under 2 hours.
Plus, I really enjoyed watching the Captain America 2 (Winter Soldier) trailer as well. Am really looking forward to it next April.
This is a movie that would entertain almost anyone except for nit-pickers who would nit-pick a lot more than I would. So, if not for anything, just go watch it at least once. It's pretty entertaining.
Rating: 6.5/10
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