‘Thor: The Dark World’

The first Thor movie, in fact, suffered somewhat from that stylistic schizophrenia, as its original director Kenneth Branagh had difficulty finding a balance between the thunder god and the superhero, the mythic and the mundane. The second installment of Thor’s cinematic franchise, Thor: The Dark World, is directed by Alan Taylor, a Marvel Studios newcomer whose fantasy credentials include helming several episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Taylor does a better job of balancing the disparate elements of Thor’s spheres of operation: the fantastical realms embodied by the celestial city of Asgard and the mundane cinematic “real world” of Earth. The problem is more a matter of Taylor's inability to pull together the various threads of a complicated plot into a cohesive and exciting whole.

Viking details

The story concerns an ancient race called “The Dark Elves” who are old enemies of Asgard. (Asgardians seem to make a lot of enemies.) Their leader, Malekith (played by Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who), has a scheme to bring back the days of the Dark Elves’ supremacy. Of course, Thor (Chris Hemsworth, in full superhero buff gorgeousness) must stop the enemy, eventually having to call on the assistance of his evil stepbrother Loki (the ever-charismatic Tom Huddleston).

What struck me most favorably about The Dark World was its evocative visual mood. Especially in scenes set in Asgard and other fantasy worlds, it’s elegantly designed and gorgeously filmed. Taylor seems to have a good eye for Viking-inspired design details, which helps to elevate the film’s otherworldly sequences several notches above standard big-budget superhero moviemaking.

The cast, however, is a mixed bag. Hemsworth, in his third outing as the god of thunder, has relaxed and grown considerably more confident in his portrayal— still (necessarily) pompous, but much less wooden. Not surprisingly, though, Tom Huddleston as Thor’s evil stepbrother Loki steals the show whenever he’s onscreen. I would be most surprised if there hasn’t been some discussion somewhere in the depths of Marvel Studios about spinning Huddleston’s Loki off into series of films.

Wasted villain

Natalie Portman as Thor’s mortal girlfriend, and everyone else who played what were essentially “Earthling sidekick” roles, did a perfectly fine job of what was asked of them. Mostly they were used as comic relief, which I didn’t mind, as the comedy wasn’t excessive or intrusive and helped enliven the film’s otherwise somewhat tedious first half. Chris Evans also has a brief but delightfully funny cameo as Thor’s Avengers buddy Captain America.

On the downside, Christopher Eccleston was pretty much wasted as the main villain Malekith: dour and stoic, almost to a Vulcan level— an adequate villain, but one who didn’t add much verve or interest to the proceedings. A surprising disappointment was Anthony Hopkins, who was uncharacteristically flat and ineffective as All-Father Odin. As any De Niro fan will tell you, it’s really depressing to watch an acting icon phone in a performance.

Overall, The Dark World is an uneven bag. For about half the movie, it’s an adequate but pretty standard super hero installment. Then suddenly, especially in the latter half, we are given scenes of spectacular grandeur and haunting beauty that compare favorably to a Jackson Tolkien movie. If Taylor had managed to pull the whole movie up to that level, Thor: The Dark World would have been a game changer for Marvel Studios. As it is, it’s a solid next installment in Marvel’s growing cinematic universe.