Thor: The Dark World – PG-13

Running Time: 112 min

Director: Alan Taylor

Main Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleson

Rating: 8

Thor: The Dark World, the new film in Marvel’s lineup of Avengers movies, is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to sequels. We all know how sequels are normally perceived: attempts by the makers to get more money from their already-made fans. However, this sequel gained some traction in the way of character development. Taking place after the mash-up in New York City, the film follows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleson) through a dark force that has come upon their home as well as through personal turmoil leftover from the battle of New York. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is brought into the chaos when she discovers a long-hidden evil that is causing anomalies on Earth.

Speaking for a huge base of fans—many who may or may not be on Tumblr—Tom Hiddleson’s performance was nothing less than riveting. Throughout the entire story, all its ups and downs, Hiddleson managed to play each and every facet of Loki’s complex personality to the dot. Both he and Chris Hemsworth represented their characters in more personable layers than ever before; characters were pushed through levels beyond “invulnerable thunder hottie” and “irrational and jealous yet somehow endearing trickster.” The relationship between the two brothers has been both defined and blurred, more so on Loki’s side than anyone else’s. What used to be blind rage and unexplained evil reveals itself as something deeper than simple jealousy.

This Thor sequel stepped up its game when it came to humor, possibly in an attempt to live up to Iron Man. Loki’s hand in humor was a pleasant surprise, as his sharp tongue can be used for not only underhanded insults but pretty side-splitting  jabs.

The story itself tried its hand at clever, but it was thwarted by and unfortunate pitfall common to many action movies. The film was overall dulled down by its weak villain, played by Christopher Eccleston, whose motivations for destroying the universe were cliché and not fully reasoned out. His bullheaded, narrow-minded approach to his goal made the movie as such; a head on, all-brawl-no-brains, meat grinding action. The first Thor had Loki as a villain, who brought mischief and complexity to the table as well as success for the film. It is as my favorite saying goes: a movie is only as smart as its villain.

Besides this ill-fated plot, this sequel made for a nice bridge between the Avengers movies and the future lineup of Marvel films, the next one being “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” I look forward to the Captain’s return (which was somewhat alluded to by Loki in this movie in a rather humorous way) and I’m glad this is the movie to precede it.