Thor: The Dark World

This sequel was about as good as the first movie with that film being just a little better because it was the original. I liked "Thor: The Dark World" because of the way the story was executed but it just was not as fun as I wanted it to be. Despite that flaw, this movie has some humor. In my opinion, Marvel had a little trouble with most of Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "Iron Man 3" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" did not quite live up to their corresponding predecessors and "Ant-Man" was likewise decent but not great. At least the first two Thor films were consistent with each other.

The plot in this sequel was predictable at some times but most of the time during your first viewing; the filmmakers had the upper hand story-wise. They did a decent job of setting up plot points silently and then having them pay off later such as when Thor and Jane are alone on Svartalfheim. In this film, Jane is out of her league as she is taken to Asgard where in the first film Thor was on a new world. This creates some humor but not too much thankfully. This part of the plot didn't need all that much humor. The relationship between Odin and Thor is interesting in "The Dark World". They admire each other thanks to what happened two years earlier but they are still at odds. I enjoyed the non-linear sequence where Thor and company escape from Asgard. At first I had a problem with some of the weapons on Asgard because they felt too much like science fiction instead of fantasy and also because we didn't see such weapons in the first movie but I guess after seeing "The Avengers", I shouldn't be surprised to see these kinds of weapons. If the Chitauri use laser guns then why not the Asgardians? Just because we didn't see these weapons on Asgard in the first film doesn't mean they did not exist. The existence of the Destroyer hints at these kinds of weapons I guess. Loki's shape shifting powers were another change that bothered me more. Why didn't he use them before in other movies? Continuity is important to me. The two deaths in the film allow Thor to become the kind of superhero he is: an Avenger. The climax was fine. At the midway point of the film, I was desiring more fun and I got some during the climatic battle. After multiple viewings though, the climax isn't as fun as it was the first time. The location of the climax, the center of the Convergence, was a good idea by the way. The ending shot dramatically left us with many questions, especially concerning Odin. I knew we would have a long wait until we got answers to these questions and four years did feel a little long. Thankfully the wait wasn't unbearable thanks to other MCU films and the mid-credit scene in "Doctor Strange" did a lot to make the last year of waiting tolorable. Speaking of those subsequent movies, the mid-credit scene in "The Dark World" turns out to be an important one. Not only does it allude to "Guardians of the Galaxy" but it, along with Orin's explanation of the Aether to Thor and Jane, also officially introduces the Infinity Stones to the MCU. Previous to this movie, we have seen two of the stones without knowing it. "The Dark World" contains the appearance of a third stone: the red Reality Stone.

The returning cast members reprised their characters quite well. Zachary Levi is now playing Fandral and I liked that. Before seeing the movie, I wondered if he was going to play this character similar to Flynn Rider and it turns out that is pretty much what happened. Fandral becomes a live-action version of Flynn in many ways. Levi was supposed to play Fandral in the first film but was unavailable at the time. I like him better than Joshua Dallas to be honest. Stan Lee's cameos in the Thor movies are quite better in my opinion than in another other parts of the MCU. My favorite cameo though was that of Chris Evans. They even used the musical theme from "Captain America". Anthony Hopkins' performance differs from that in the first film and I wonder if it had anything to do with the change in directors. I wanted really wanted Kenneth Branagh to come back and direct. He didn't even help to produce this movie and that makes me sad. As a fun fact, they shot this movie at the real Stonehenge. Considering what happens in the movie at Stonehenge, it is fascinating because the cast and crew were not allowed to touch the stones while filming. Joss Whedon apparently rewrote several scenes during reshoots and I am thankful for that.

The original film was only slightly better and that is good news for this film. Anyone who liked "Thor" will like "Thor: The Dark World". The storytelling in the movie was entertaining and the various gags in the film gave us the humor the film needed. I was hoping for a more exciting film however but sequels rarely are.

3.5 Stars out of 5