Thor: The Dark World
{4.5/5} “You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What makes you think you can trust me?”
Malekith’s race was defeated by Odin’s father but he has been in hibernation, waiting for the day when he can get his hands on a powerful weapon called the Aether. Malekith will take advantage of the coming alignment of the Nine Realms to send everything back to the darkness from whence it came. After fighting many battles throughout the Nine Realms, Thor finally returns to Jane on Earth. But Jane has inadvertently stumbled across the Aether and it’s now inside of her. Thor wants to take the battle to Malekith and he reaches out to the only person who can get him there — Loki.
Thor: The Dark World, released in 2013
It’s a sequel to Thor. I saw it in 2D.
Thor is growing on me — this movie is more interesting than the first one. The visuals aren’t quite as stunning as some recent movies but it’s close — it’s worth seeing on the big screen.
Only Thor’s name is in the title, but he has a lot of help from his friends — both on Asgard and on Earth.
The glee with which Tom Hiddleston plays Loki makes him a joy to watch in every scene he’s in.
It’s an unusual — and imperfect — combination of fantasy and science fiction. Guys with swords line up to do battle with guys who arrive in spaceships. My other problem with the movie is that a key part of the solution to the problem was not explained particularly well.
Those issues were fairly minor and I enjoyed it a lot — there’s quite a bit of humour.
The exciting music is by Brian Tyler (Now You See Me). The main theme, known as “Thor: The Dark World” on the soundtrack, is particularly great.
The expected people reprise their roles from the first movie. Chris Hemsworth (The Cabin in the Woods) plays Thor. Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers) plays Loki and Idris Elba (Prometheus) plays Heimdall. Anthony Hopkins (Instinct) plays Odin and Rene Russo (In the Line of Fire) plays Frigga.
Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) plays Jane. Stellan Skarsgård (Melancholia) plays Erik and Kat Dennings (the TV show 2 Broke Girls) plays Darcy.
Christopher Eccleston (the TV show Heroes) plays Malekith and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (the TV show Lost) plays Algrim. Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact) and Chris O’Dowd (FAQ About Time Travel) have small roles.
Stan Lee (co-creator of the Thor comic book) has a cameo and there’s another fun Avengers cameo.
The movie was directed by Alan Taylor (The Emperor’s New Clothes).
There’s a scene in the middle of the credits and another one at the end. Thor will return.