In spite of what you may have heard, sequels aren’t always bad. Indeed, sometimes they are better than the originals. Case in point: Alan Taylor’s take on the Thor franchise for Marvel, Thor: The Dark World.
Once, before the time of the Nine Realms, Dark Elves held sway in a dark Universe under their lord, Malekith (Christopher Eccleston). Then came the Universe we know, and the creatures of Light, and the Dark Elves were defeated and their deadliest weapon, the Aether, taken from them and hidden in the darkest, deepest dungeon of Asgard by King Bor.
The next Convergence approaches, and astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is falling behind the curve: she’s mooning over Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who has disappeared for two years. He has an excuse – the peace of the Nine Realms has been shattered and he’s been fighting to restore it. (And somehow, that makes perfect sense to an Asgardian.) Thor’s father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), has also started dropping very broad hints that it’s time Thor stopped mooning over this very same Jane Foster and think about insuring the succession – humans don’t really last very long, by Asgardian standards. (That discussion didn’t go well.) Jane’s intern, Darcy (Kat Denning) has finally persuaded her that she needs to pay attention to the weird readings that her instruments are giving off – and of course she gets sucked into an anomaly she’s investigating – and just happens to wind up next to the Aether’s prison. The Aether is not about to miss this opportunity, and takes up residence in Jane. The die is cast.
I think the thing that has impressed me most favorably about the Avengers-related films coming out over the past several years is that they don’t take themselves too seriously – there are elements of humor, from snappy dialogue to near slapstick, that contribute to the general lightness of tone, no matter how dire the circumstances. The Dark World is no different.
Alan Taylor’s directorial credits seem to be mostly in television, including work on The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones. He’s put that experience to good use here — The Dark World is good, tight blend of adventure, drama, action, and humor, and every element, every scene, drives the momentum. Even the funeral scene (yes, there’s a funeral scene), which could have been a killer, maintains the flow.
One of the strengths of this one is the focus on the personal story: not only the romance between Jane and Thor, but the interactions among the characters as a whole. There’s a good amount of depth here, and fair degree of subtlety, and good solid subtext coming through. The cast is superb, and one very nice part of that is that there is actually character development, not something you ordinarily expect from a superhero comic. Even Tom Hiddleston’s Loki starts to have a human dimension (although with Loki, you’re never sure), and the rest of the cast takes the opportunity to build some depth into their characters. We’re treated to some good ensemble work, too, and the dialogue, when necessary, crackles.
Even the cinematography deserves mention. Aside from the visual effects and the tight control of action sequences, there are scenes that are so perfectly composed that they could easily stand alone as stills.
Even if you’re not a fan of superhero movies, see this one – it’s a good, solid action flick, fully up to the standard set by The Avengers.
(Marvel Entertainment/Walt Disney Studios, 2013) Rated PG-13, 112 minutes.
