The THORiffic
The Action
While the first movie had some pretty good fight scenes, notably the ones where Thor battles the Destroyer armor and the final battle with Loki, it felt like Thor wasn't utilized to his fullest potential in terms of asskickery. In contrast, the way Chris Hemsworth moved with his hammer in Thor: The Dark World with a refined brutality of sorts. This is also largely thanks to Mjolnir practically being a character on its own, sort of like Iron Man's fire dousing robot only infinitely more useful. In terms of Chris' fighting style per movie, it's Thor > Avengers >Thor: The Dark World. Props go to a guy named Ben Cooke and his team for that.
Scale
I can't help but compare Thor: TDW to Thor because Thor: TDW pretty much satisfied a lot of the things I didn't completely like in Thor. One of them being the comparative scale. In Thor, on Earth, he was protecting a small town with a total population of maybe a thousand. I understand that to heroes like Thor, protecting one life is just as important as protecting a million, but with Thor's mythology and power, surely his time can be better spent doing something else. On Asgard, he fought to protect the Frost Giants, a people he literally disobeyed his father to slaughter.
[spoiler]In Thor: The Dark World, he fights to save all the nine realms, and the fight with Malekith literally spans ALL nine realms from Midgard to Jotenhiem to Asgard. That's a fight worthy of the power of the god of thunder right there![/spoiler]
The Worst Actor in the Film is Chris Hemsworth
And this is not a jab against Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth was actually really good - like he's been learning from Anthony Hopkins good. It's just that Anthony Hopkins pretty much stole the spotlight. Christopher Eccleston put on a clinic, as well. And due to his performance as Loki, Tom Hiddleston is going to be the wireframe for the character for the foreseeable future. And Natalie Portman, while not having such a challenging role as Jane Foster, gave a really good performance. I'm pretty sure it's her past work that's making me biased towards her acting skills here, she pretty much just played damsel in distress.
But damn, Anthony Hopkins KILLED IT.
AnTHORny Edward Stark Snark
Funny moments, clever writing and witty delivery - Thor's got it almost as much as Iron Man did, performed nicely even without RDJ's natural knack for it. Thor: TDW breaks up the action and tension with moments of hilarity. I guess this aspect of the movie might swing either way but it entertained me so I'll put this here on the pros side. Major props ot the screenplay writers Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely.
Real Bro Love
I have always been a fan of the complexity of the relationship between Thor and Loki. This is true for both the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While everyone pretty much despises Loki for being the god of mischief that he is, only Thor still strives to see the good in his brother. This was brought to life in Thor: The Dark World more than any other movie, though it has always been present in The Avengers and Thor.
Oh, and speaking of complexity, I also liked how this movie showed just how deep Loki's character truly is.
Post-Credits Scene
Thor: The Dark World has TWO post-credits scenes so make sure you stick around for those. Well, stick around for the first one. The second one, while pretty amusing, isn't worth writing home about.
Villains Posing a Believable Threat
It has been the illness of some of the weaker superhero movies to have villains that don't match up well with the main protagonist. To a certain extent, I believe The Avengers was guilty of this but only because their greatest protagonist was the conflict within the team. Another good example would be Iron Man 3's Aldrich Killian. Let's throw in Green Lantern's Hector Hammond and Parallax in there, too.
In Thor: The Dark World, although you knew Thor would prevail as most heroes do, you are made aware that the bad guys mean business and they are indeed capable of taking out things and people Thor holds dear, if not Thor himself.
The THORibble
Unexplained Stuff
While the story, as far as comic book stories go, was plausible, there were some things the film never even bothers to explain. They just worked the way they did just because.
[spoiler]Bor says "Bury it deep, somewhere no one will ever find it." Next scene, WHOOPS! Jane finds it.[/spoiler]
Just WHY?! Why did that happen? Pretty much the event that sets things in motion was left unexplained.
[spoiler]There's also the matter of Dr. Selvig's magical teleport rods. How in the hell do they work? What they do was explained, but they were pretty sketchy on the how.[/spoiler]
I guess the one above is a nitpick. It is, after all, a comic book movie. But there's a whole slew of comic book logic that can explain that miracle exception. Like I've always said - the miracle exception only works when everything else in the world is grounded on some form of physical law. You can't keep making up rules as you go along.
Sssshhhh... it's science. You wouldn't understand.
[spoiler]And while it's a possible set up to the third movie, that whole Loki switcheroo was one huge gaping cliffhanger. That's cool for a TV show but for a movie that may or may not get made, its mystery may be the ultimate payoff instead of its resolution.[/spoiler]
Weak Moments
Throughout the nine-realm saving action, there are moments where Thor: The Dark World just doesn't demand your attention. In fact, there were a couple scenes that felt just a little out of place. It's not like there were a lot of them, but there were enough for me to take notice. And I generally appreciate everything.
[spoiler]Thor riding the metro to Greenwich is one of them. Why the hell was the metro even running towards a station where a 50 story space craft just landed and a giant battle between gods and elves was being waged? WHY!?[/spoiler]
Idris Elba did not say he was cancelling the apocalypse DAMN IT!
Oh yeah, the apocalypse is totally going to proceed as scheduled. THORy about that.
Verdict
Thor: The Dark World is definitely a popcorn movie blockbuster. In that regard, it has completely succeeded. It isn't groundbreakingly fantastic, but it is very entertaining. Go see it at the theaters. At 1 hour, 51 minutes, it's well worth your hard earned money.
I liked it so much that I didn't even notice Thor never wore his helmet.