User blog:L'Ange Noir/Thor: The Dark World Review -there will be spoilers

Hi. It’s me again. Been a while since I posted my Iron Man 3 review, but I couldn’t resist after watching Thor: The Dark World. So, here goes.

WARNING: May contain spoilers.

WARNING: I really meant it about the spoilers.

LOOK: If you’re still reading, then don’t blame me if I accidentally give away a plot point. I’ll do my best not too, but I can’t guarantee anything.

I watched this in 2D. I don’t know how good the 3D is, but for me, 2D is a personal preference.

Firstly, cast. Chris Hemsworth as Thor was believable. None of the arrogance from the first film and there’s a suggestion that even just getting to know the Avengers has helped him. He still quips a lot when fighting but he’s not as gloaty. And what he says at the end, about who he wants to be, is perhaps the most telling change in his character. I quite like him but I don’t know. At times it didn’t feel like he was the star of the film. He was the one on screen most. He fights for his people. The story is meant to revolve around him. Yet for some reason, the whole thing seems to rely on… Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. Now, there’s the one who stole the show. Quippy one liners –such as “Let me guess, you’ll kill me. There may be a queue.” And “You just decapitated your grandfather.”- had the whole cinema laughing their heads off. You see more than one side of Loki in this. His mischievous, more innocent side; the anger over his treatment following the events of the Avengers (he still doesn’t see himself as having done anything wrong); and his relationship with his family other than Thor. He clearly cares about Frigga, but I left the cinema wondering how much of what Loki said and did was genuine. It’s entirely possible he played everyone.

Try not to go to the cinema with a Loki fangirl. They’ll scream a lot. Or cry. Or leap up and down excitedly. (No, I wasn’t with one when I was actually watching it but I was forced to have a conversation with her later –I find a silver bullet engraved with religious symbols and tempered in holy garlic water is an effective Loki fangirl repellent.) Also, am I the only person who thinks that Asa Butterfield would make an amazing Kid Loki? Jane Foster –I try to like her, I honestly do. But I much prefer Darcy, although it pains my inner scientist to admit it. Jane just seems…lacklustre, although Natalie Portman does do a decent enough job. I just find her relationship with Thor far too clichéd. She’s meant to be a brilliant astrophysicist. She makes a few comments which are obviously meant to make her seem a genius but the rest of the time, she just seems…well, normal. There’s no spark of genius and wandering off alone in a creepy building is just asking for trouble. Do these people not watch horror films? Never go off alone in a creepy abandoned building where the laws of physics appear to have been forgotten (let’s not go into how that bottle would either reached terminal velocity or continued accelerating at a greater rate than shown). Also, I can’t quite forgive the character for

Selvig, Selvig, Selvig. You really haven’t recovered from having the Tesseract in your head, have you? Stellan Skarsgård was pure comedy gold in this. What Loki did to him has obviously deeply unsettled him and driven over the edge into Mad Scientist territory (pants are now optional. And by that, I mean American pants which we Brits call trousers, just to avoid confusion) Let’s just say, his visit to Stonehenge makes my disastrous visit aged eight look positively rosy. After a nice little stay in a building with lots of medicine and not very attentive audiences (great Stan Lee cameo), he remarks that “It’s nice to know the world is crazier than inside your head”. He is the only human to correctly hypothesise about the main event in the film and I wonder if Loki’s mind control might have left a few subconscious thoughts that help him save the day. Odin has kind of just reinforced my dislike of him based on the comics. From the father in Thor who only wanted to teach his son an important life lesson, Odin has begun to blur the lines between good and evil. He’s the most morally ambiguous character in my opinion, even more so than Loki. Frigga seems to be his limiter, preventing him from becoming too extreme. Thor calls his father out on his like-mindedness to the bad guys, with his black-and-white, all-or-nothing worlds view. Also, he puts me in mind of a pushy parent, keeping hinting that Sif might be a better match for Thor than Jane (who, even if I don’t like, I feel for). Now, I know what Christopher Eccleston said about Thor and having only taken the role to pay his mortgage. Regardless, I still loved his performance. And to hear Dark Elvish in a Northern accent (Lots of planets have a North, obviously) was rather amusing. Yet for all Malekith is made to be a big bad guy, and I do dislike him, I also see where he’s coming from. Once the Dark Elves ruled all. Then they were ripped from grace. I can see Odin or even pre-first movie Thor being the same if similar happened to the Asgardians. And even though he’s shown to sacrifice most of his people in the prologue, he himself is only acting for them, knowing full well that his plan will kill him, but bring his people back to their former glory. Thor was right when he told Odin that there

Now Darcy. She was a highlight. Expanded from her comic relief role from Thor, although still providing a certain level of comedy, I found her much more likeable than Jane. Maybe it’s just the fact she can see the absurdity of her situation and revels in it. She takes a childish glee in things like playing around with dropping stuff when the disturbances in reality are observed. Also, I sense that she watches Jane and Thor with a sort of glee that she’s been given her own front row seats at a real soap opera. Now Jonathan Howard as Ian, the intern’s intern (and second real Brit I can think of from the Marvel movies –fourth if you include Fitzsimmons) is also rather amusing. I hope they keep him. He and Darcy just bounce off each other and I could almost see the pair getting their own little spin-off oneshot. They’re the sane ones of the little group and both seem to enjoy just watching the craziness. I loved Rene Russo as Frigga. She’s expanded on much more than the previous Thor film. Mother, warrior, magician; she still cares deeply for Loki, no matter what he did and tries to keep him safe. I loved her as soon as I saw her meet Jane. She may not approve, but she wants Thor to be happy, acting as a counterfoil for Odin. She’s this wise, kindly and intelligent queen.

Heimdall is a whole lot cooler in this film. Charging and attacking a giant ship with a sword? I really want to see him meet the Avengers. Heimdall isn’t as unswervingly loyal to Odin as first appears. We saw his slight rebellious streak in Thor, helping the Warriors Three. But I can’t help but feel that Odin should probably listen to Heimdall, who can see everything and appears to be a pretty good strategist than coming up with his own insane plans –which basically amount to fight each other until everyone on one side dies. Keep Heimdall, he’s quite amusing in his own dry, sarcastic way. The Warriors Three –well, Two. Hogun’s back home in Vanaheim, so misses out on the action. Very amusing, and the Asgardian comic relief. They had vital roles, but were pretty small, although they all had the rather amusing point of telling Loki if he betrayed Thor, they’d kill him, resulting in the queue quip. Jaimie Alexander gets a bigger role as Sif. And it appears they’ve finally acknowledged the mythological relationship between Thor and Sif. She appears to have at least a crush on Thor (and a friend says Loki quite likes her, but I didn’t see it) and it’s quite plain Odin much prefers her. Personally, I prefer Sif to Foster, but then maybe that’s because Sif wouldn’t be so stupid as to wander off alone in a creepy haunted building. Crazy adrenaline junkie enough, maybe; but not stupid. Also, Sif can look after herself, rather than letting the

The story of The Dark World was at least amusing and fun, if not the best Marvel’s given us. It was engrossing, but I felt it could have delivered more on its promise to explore the Nine Realms. We saw Svartalfheim, Vanaheim, a little peek of Jotunheim and some fire place. That was it, except from a few little flashes that were too brief to actually tell anything about. I enjoyed the parts in London, with Darcy, Ian and later Selvig trying to work out what on earth is going on. Seeing as Thor and Odin are almost as much in the dark as they are, I think they do rather well. I don’t want to go too much detail, but there were some lovely little cameos. Korg of Krona shows up, a nice little reference to Thor’s first adventure but don’t expect to see a Warbound Korg yet. Also, it was pretty much confirmed that

There was also an uncredited appearance of Chris Evans, which is yet another amusing Loki moment. And we get an appearance of the Collector from the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, who definitely has his own agenda. By the way, like the Avengers, there is both a mid- and end-credit scene. Don’t leave after the mid-credit scene, as most did. Hold out and wait. Overall, the film was enjoyable, and the cast did do well, but I found myself rooting for those the studio probably didn’t want me to root for. I pitied Malekith and I spent the entire time going “Loki’s planned this. Loki’s manipulating that. Oh, for pity’s sake, did you actually believe Loki, you stupid Thunderer! Go Loki!”

And then I had to try and explain the Infinity Gems, the Elders of the Universe and Thanos to a 10 ½ year old I went to see it with. He kept thinking the Collector was Thanos and in the end I gave up and bribed him with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. By the way, what’s the likelihood we will see the first Avenger find out about Coulson next week?

Roll on Winter Solider!