Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Jaimie Alexander, Zachary Levi, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Certificate: 12
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Marvel Universe just couldn’t possibly sustain such a high level of quality indefinitely, and with a quota of films to fill, one of them was bound to be lacking in both entertainment and quality. That film is THOR: THE DARK WORLD. An unnecessary stop-gap on the way to AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, that fails to tie itself into the bigger picture or be a rollicking fun tale on its own merits.
Thor returns to Earth after a race of dark elves returns and begins to destroy things out of vengeance for past losses in battle. The plot is treated as something unimportant, with a bunch of throwaway villains whose motives are left simple, while even the big bosses, Eccleston’s Malekith, have neither depth nor development. The villains are introduced via a laborious and clunky prologue, and have a few talks before each fight, but they continuously fail to engage in their plight.
Meanwhile, the romance angle is a retread of that of the last film. Thor returns to Earth and Natalie Portman is mostly wasted. The script seems to think that just having her tag along with Thor will enable a love to blossom, but nothing could be further from the truth. She always has a place to hide during battles where she isn’t needed, but is easily threatened when the plot calls for it. Taylor’s direction announces his TV roots, with much of the film having the tone of an episode of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki is once again the bright spark, but his talent detracts from anything else going on. He is the true star, which means that Thor (Hemsworth) is barely memorable. The action sequences are also a collection of anti-climatic moments that seemed crammed into a story that never should have existed in the first place.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD isn’t exactly a bad film, but it is most certainly a forced one. Whereas CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER looks to have completely changed from the original film, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY seems to offer something completely new, THOR: THE DARK WORLD is cursed by the feeling that Marvel had everyone contracted to a THOR sequel as well as pencilled in production dates, but had no idea what they were going to do. What we’re left with is a bland and uninspired plot that serves little purpose.
[usr=2]THOR: THE DARK WORLD is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 24th February.
