Thor: The Dark World 2013
The Thor movies never interested me that much, but after watching the rest of the Marvel movies, plus the series Loki, and with Thor 4 coming out later this week, I decided I should catch up. I was more impressed with the first Thor movie than I thought I would be, but was more wary about Thor: The Dark World, generally considered the worst of the first three phases of Marvel movies (Phase 4’s Eternals now occupies the lowest peg). There are definitely things I don’t like. Similar to the first movie, the bad guys are just some ugly group of creatures who can be incredibly powerful or easily wiped out depending on what the plot requires, and with no real exploration of their motivations or character. They are a new group of orcs. Then there is some silly space magic about the convergence of the nine realms that Asgard rules over (one of which is Earth). However, the movie has two great characters in Thor and Loki. And a strong supporting cast featuring Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, and Kat Dennings. There is a nice effect from the convergence that causes portals to other worlds to open up which sometimes return things that go into the portals and sometimes don’t. For me it was fun to see Loki and Thor in a movie that does a nice job of exploring their relationship. I also feel like there were some real consequences at work, unlike a lot of the Marvel movies (I mean for characters, not the fate of the universe). Plus it is fun seeing post-credit scene teasers when I already know where those are going to go in subsequent movies. So I still enjoyed seeing this movie. It maybe doesn’t quite earn a B+, but I think a high B is in order.
Written: 04 Jul 2022
Owned on: Digital