Following the destruction of the
bridge between the nine realms in the first THOR, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his fellow Asgardians have been fighting to maintain
the peace. It looks like peace is finally in Asgard’s sights after two
years and with Loki in prison with others. Odin suggests that Thor take
an interest in Sif as a romantic companion instead of yearning for Jane Foster (Natalie Portman)- who can’t get Thor
out of her head and only the pursuit of anomalies that brought Thor to Earth hold her interest. Jane’s assistant gets Jane interested in checking out some unusual activity at a building in a rough
part of London and Jane releases the Aether (one of the six infinity Stones) which uses Jane as a host for it. The release of the Aether awakens Malekith (Christopher Eccelstone) and his fellow surviving Dark
Elves from their sleep as Malekith wants revenge against Asgard and finish his quest to end the universe (stopped centuries
ago by Odin’s father Bor) that is only possible when the nine Realms converge once very five thousand years. Thor comes to Jane’s rescue and takes her back to Asgard before Malekith and his Dark Elves stage
an attack on Asgard to get the Aether. Thor turns to help from Loki in
an attempt to stop Malekith and free Jane from the Aether.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD is a good sequel and
a great world building movie in the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe. The
character development isn’t as great as the first THOR, but the sequel does have some great moments with Thor and Loki
in addition to some great action sequences and a Viking style funeral scene. It
is a film that is a mix of Norse mythology, fantasy, and science fiction. Stellan
Skarsgaard manages to provide some comic relief in this film. The flaws with
the movie are Malekith isn’t as deeply developed as he should have been (director Alan Taylor said there were some additional
scenes exploring Malekith that were cut) and Jane Foster is still one of the movie annoying female love interests in a Marvel
Universe movie. THOR: THE DARK WORLD barely covers some of the plot beats
to move the story along while I feel they should have fleshed out the character development more instead of always trying
to push the plot forward. The two end credits scenes are scene you should
stick around for because the first one sets things up for the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie and maybe even AVENGERS 3.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD is an enjoyable sequel
that has great world building and action sequences only to neglect character development on many of the characters except
for Thor and Loki. I hope there is a longer version of this sequel or they
somehow redeem the character development part for the other characters that interact with Thor when they decide to make THOR
3 (which is a forgone conclusion given the movie has already pulled in over $300 million worldwide in a short time with 86
million coming from the US). I like the plot more in the sequel, but I
do miss all of the great character development for all in the first THOR. The
sequel isn’t perfect, but you should see it if you are a Thor or Avengers fan.
I just hope all of this long game of the Infinity Stones pays off in the end.
I just want to see where it all goes and I hope Marvel Studios decides to make a fuller THOR 3 instead of the mixed
and yet enjoyable THOR: THE DARK WORLD.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
ALL HAIL THE KING is a fun 13 minute Marvel
One Shot as it focuses on actor Trevor Slattery in prison (and the real Mandarin isn’t happy with Trevor).
A BROTHER’S JOURNEY (30 minutes)-
a two part featurette that explores the relationship and character development between Thor and Loki during the course of
THOR, THE AVENGERS, and THOR: THE DRAK WORLD. The featurette has interviews
with Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, director Joss Whedon (THE AVENGERS), director Alan Taylor (THOR: THE DARK WORLD), producer
Kevin Feige), and other members of the cast in addition to glimpses of the screen tests of Chris and Tom did for Thor. Part 1 focuses on the first two films while part two talks about the events and character
moments in THOR: THE DARK WORLD (and how director Alan Taylor was pivotal in developing more of a central role for Loki in
the script process).
Six extended and deleted scenes (with optional
audio commentary) show additional character moments cut from the movie for pacing reasons and to tighten the sequel’s
focus.
There is also an amusing 3 ½ minute gag
reel that results in line fluffs, laughter, and cape mishaps.
EXCLUSIVE LOOK- MARVEL’S CAPTAIN
AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER- a quick 3 ½ minute promotional featurette that mixes interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes
footage, and footage from the movie in this first look at the sequel to the first CAPTAIN AMERICA film (also the first theatrical
trailer for the sequel is included on the disc)
SCORING MARVEL’S THOR: THE DARK WORLD
WITH BRIAN TYLER- go behind-the-scenes with composer Brian Tyler as he talks about the various themes in the score and see
the recording of the score.
Audio commentary with director Alan Taylor,
producer Kevin Feige, actor Tom Hiddleston, and cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau as they talk about the film’s production,
the story arc, and their favorite scenes.
FINAL ANALYSIS: THOR: THE DARK WORLD is a great sequel when viewed as the part of a trilogy which includes the first
THOR and THE AVENGERS as you follow the conflict between two brothers Thor and Loki with great character arcs. The extras are good with the HAIL TO THE KING short film being the most entertaining.
This blu-ray review is ©2-14-2013
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
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