Good evening, everyone. Welcome to my next post in my series covering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This post will cover the Thor sequel subtitled “The Dark World”. Directed by Alan Taylor (who also directed some episodes of Game of Thrones), this movie has Thor going against Malekith and the Dark Elves, with some help from Loki, Jane Foster, and her science buddies. It has been a while since I have seen this movie. Let’s see how it holds up.
After the Marvel Studios logo pops up, we see a flashback of Malekith (played by Christopher Eccleston) talking with his Dark Elves on Svartalfheim. We also see the Aether for the first time, which would become the Reality Stone. Odin’s father Bor and his Asgardian army fought and won against the Dark Elves to prevent the Aether from destroying the Nine Realms. The Aether was kept in a safe place as the movie title pops up. We then cut to present day where we see Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being sentenced to the dungeon for his actions on Earth. After a brief talk between Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Loki, we see Thor and the Warriors 3 (plus Sif) fighting on Vanaheim. Thor takes care of the enemies easily thanks to his hammer Mjolnir, but is saved from a dagger by Sif’s shield. Thor then takes on a big rock man (Hogun) easily and says “Anyone else”, leading everyone to drop their weapons and kneel. Thor and his friends then head back to Asgard thanks to Heimdall (Idris Elba) and a reconstructed Bifrost bridge. Thor then talks with his dad. Odin says that the realms are in peace for the first time since the bridge breaking two years ago. Odin also says that Thor is ready to take the throne as king of Asgard and to enjoy himself, even though his heart is with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) on Earth. Thor is at a festival briefly before he talks with Sif (Jaimie Alexander). Thor thanks Sif for her sword and her good nature before we cut to London. Jane is on a date with some guy. Darcy (Kat Dennings) interrupts the date to look at something science-related. Jane tells Darcy to leave the restaurant so the date can continue briefly. Jane then leaves the date and tells Darcy to drive somewhere. A bumbling intern is in the car as Jane is trying to call Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), who is seen nude at Stonehenge on a news broadcast. Jane and Darcy then arrive at an abandoned factory with the intern. They encounter some kids that are at the factory and tell them that they are scientists, not cops. One of the kids makes a car flip 360 degrees before going somewhere else. Another kid drops something, which falls eternally. Jane tries doing that, but her soda can doesn’t come back. Jane then leaves discovers something with her detector as the others play around throwing stuff, including car keys. The detector intensifies as she is thrown to the location of the Aether. It gets into her skin as she faints. A sword vehicle containing Malekith activates, waking him up from his suspended slumber. We then cut to the Bifrost where Thor talks with Heimdall. Heimdall tells Thor that Jane is studying the convergence of the nine realms. Jane wakes up and runs to Darcy. Jane is angry that Darcy called the cops. Darcy tells her that she has been lost for 5 hours as Thor arrives on Earth in the rain. Jane slaps Thor twice while Thor tells her that the Bifrost was destroyed after he left her to fight Loki. Jane said that she saw him on TV. Before they kissed, Darcy interrupts and tells Jane that they might be arrested. Before the cops could put her into custody, the Aether blows up on them. Thor and Jane then leave for Asgard.
We then sit to Malekith’s home realm where he sees that everything is ruined. After that brief scene, we see Jane being looked at by Asgardian nurses as they study the Aether. Odin is not pleased about Jane being in Asgard. The guards get hit by the Aether, which is protecting Jane for the time being (even though Thor says she is sick). Odin then talks with Thor and Jane about the Dark Elves and the Aether. Odin says that there is no way to get the Aether out of Jane. Malekith and his dark elves get ready for their mission on their ship. We then cut to Warriors Three, plus some others, including a dark elf in disguise, go to Asgard. Loki has a talk with his mom Frigga (played by Rene Russo). Loki yells at her that Odin is not his father. Thor then talks with Jane about the convergence of the realms before they kiss. Thor’s mom then enters the scene. Loki is tossing something up in the air as he witnesses the imposter kill a few Asgardian soldiers and prisoners. The imposter also frees some prisoners, but leaves Loki in his cell. Loki then directs him where to go. Chaos ensues in the dungeon as Thor fights some guys. While all of this is happening, Loki is reading a book. Frigga tells Jane to listen to everything she says. Heimdall runs to stab the Dark Elf shop and blows it up in the process. He sees the bigger ship arrive and he just watches. Some of the little ships get destroyed by Asgard as Heimdall puts up a huge shield over the pipe organ-looking castle. The shield is destroyed soon after, allowing the dark elves to infiltrate as they look for the Aether. After the big ship crashes, the elves exit it and attack the Asgardian soldiers. We then see Malekith emerge as he throws something that destroys the throne. Odin enters the throne room to look at the damage before he realizes that Frigga is in danger. She fights with Malekith, but is stabbed to death by one of his henchmen after she says no to his question about the Aether. Thor unfortunately arrives too late to save her as the ship leaves Asgard. We then have an emotional funeral scene where Frigga is on a canoe-like boat sailing off to the abyss. Before she falls over, a fire arrow hits the boat and she floats away in ashes and stars. Loki is still in his jail cell while all of this happens. We then cut to London where we see Selvig talk about the universe to a room of senior citizens. Stan Lee is in the scene asking for his shoe back. We then see Jane have a vision regarding the Aether. The sky turns red before the scene returns to normal and she is asked to come with some guards. Thor then talks with Odin about Malekith and the risk that it will take to fight his people.
We then see a brief scene with Darcy and her intern as they see the footage of Selvig running nude at Stonehenge. Thor talks with Heimdall, who tells him that the Bifrost is closed on Odin’s orders. After their talk is over, Thor talks with the Warriors Three, Sif, and Heimdall about their plan. Thor then releases Loki, who lets them through a secret portal to Malekith’s home realm. There is some funny moments with Loki transforming to Captain America (little Chris Evans cameo). Jane goes with them as she slaps Loki for the attack on New York. Heimdall tells Odin that he has committed treason against him. Sif and the Warriors 3 threaten to kill Loki if he betrays Thor. Thor eventually gets the ship to work as he and Loki go to the realm where Malekith lives. Jane faints for a brief moment while on the ship as they are being followed. Loki keeps commenting on everything during this scene, which is funny. Thor has enough and pushes Loki off the ship. He and Jane go on another ship as they go to the secret portal. The portal is successful as Loki says “Tada.” Thor and Loki have an argument about trust and their mother. We then cut to Darcy and her intern as they come to rescue Selvig from the psychiatric home. They get scared by some weird birds that come out of the ground. After that, we see Thor, Loki, and Jane fly to where Malekith is. Loki then betrays Thor after he is free from his handcuffs. He stabs him and kicks him before slicing his hand clean off before Mjolnir could get to him. Loki then gives Jane to Malekith, who then extracts the Aether from her. It all turned out to be a trick as Thor’s hand is grown back and he destroys the Aether. But then, the Aether goes to Malekith’s body. Thor then goes through some guys easily before flying to the ship. Thor then struggles with the henchman without his hammer and gets a boulder thrown at him. Loki fights some elves before going to Thor and stabbing the guy. Loki is then stabbed before sending that guy to a fiery death. Loki then succumbs to his wound and dies (for now, anyway). Thor and Jane then find cover in a cave where she tells him that everything will be destroyed if they don’t do anything. Somehow, Jane gets a call from the guy who she went on a date. She also discovers her drink can and some car keys before getting back on Earth.
They drive to their home as Thor hangs up his hammer near the door. Erik is happy to see Thor and Jane. We then cut to Odin in Asgard where a guard tell him that there is no sign of Thor. Thor, Jane, and the others then think of the plan to stop Malekith. Thor grabs his hammer as they leave for their mission. Darcy and her intern figure out the tripods as the Dark Elf ship arrives in London. Civilians run away as the ship hits land and Malekith emerges from it (his face is half burned from Thor’s lightning). Thor arrives to fight with Malekith as Jane and Selvig figure out their thing. Thor throws his hammer and fights Malekith more as the tripods are activated. Darcy and her intern are teleported accidentally during this scene. Jane then tells everyone in the library to leave. Thor and Malekith then fight in numerous realms thanks to the portals. The hammer teleports and flies for a long time as Thor struggles with Malekith. A monster from Loki’s home realm Jotunheim enters Earth and causes havoc. Thor then enters a subway train to get to Greenwich to find his hammer. Malekith is getting so close to bringing darkness to every realm. The Aether is making its way onto Asgard as Thor takes the tripods and fights through the redness of the Aether. Thor throws both tripods to Malekith, which blows up his hands. Thor finally gets his hammer and hits Malekith with it, ending the darkness and killing Malekith. The ship then collapses as Thor is unconscious. It looks like the ship will land on Thor when it transports to Malekith’s realm and is destroyed. Everything is back to normal as Darcy kisses her intern. While Jane and the others are having cereal, Thor tells his father that he won’t accept the throne. It is then revealed that Loki was disguised as Odin as Thor walks away. After the credit montage, we see Sif and Volstagg (Ray Stevenson) go to Knowhere to give the Aether, also known as the Reality Stone, to the Collector (played by Benicio Del Toro). The Collector then says “One down, five to go.” After the credits, we see Thor return to Earth to kiss Jane while the monster from Jotunheim still runs amuck. The movie ends with the words “Thor will return.”
This movie is still enjoyable at points, including the fight scenes and the stuff that involves Loki, who is played wonderfully and hilariously by Tom Hiddleston. Chris Hemsworth had another great performance as Thor in this movie. Some parts of the movie are a bit boring. Most notably, the stuff on Earth not involving Thor. Of course, I like Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, but the others are not as strong. Darcy and her intern were mostly useless, other than being comedy relief (not really good) and helping with the science stuff. The Dark Elves and Malekith were a bit threatening, but I had no doubt that Thor was going to take care of them, with the help of the science people anyway. It was a bit of a bummer to see Selvig in this movie as mostly comic relief, including when we see footage of him running nude at Stonehenge. In terms of emotional scenes, I appreciated the funeral scene for Thor’s mother Frigga after she got stabbed by the Dark Elves. The score of the movie, composed by Brian Tyler, was fine. Obviously, the best part of the score was in the funeral scene. Other than that, it was serviceable at best.
Overall, “Thor: The Dark World” is a good watch, but it is my least favorite of the Thor movies. Loki’s scenes made the movie less boring than it would have been without him interacting with Thor. There are some good moments in this movie, and it also served a purpose in introducing the next Infinity Stone: Reality. The next movie in the series won’t deal with any Infinity Stone stuff. Next up is the Captain America sequel subtitled “The Winter Soldier”. I’ll get that post out soon. In the meantime, I wish you all a great weekend.
(Here is the video from the people at How It Should Have Ended on this movie.)
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