Growing up, I found my love for comic books through looking at the pictures. My uncle was a huge influence of mine, and I remember he would give me a few old ones . I’d spend hours looking at the pictures when I was young. Eventually, I learned to read and I began to realize just how great some of these characters really were. Within the last ten years, mainstream filmmakers have taken advantage of these connections a lot of us made at a young age and made a killing on turning these stories into full on action-packed, special effect laden, real life versions of the images we kept in our heads, even turning non-comic book fans into new ones. This has been good and bad in my opinion. Sometimes these stories turn out exactly like we imagined like The Dark Knight Trilogy. Others turn out like Spiderman 3. It’s hit and miss. No one likes to see their favorite heroes ruined.
Thor: The Dark World continues to transform the post Avengers written legacy of Thor, the god of thunder onto the big screen. This is one of the classic superhero tales. It is one of Marvel’s most successful comics and drawing huge influences from Norse mythology. Thor is not just a superhero, he is a god. This fact alone could set him high above the rest of the Marvel universe. In this new film, Marvel reintroduces the crowned prince of Asgard, as well as showing us some of the other nine realms from the comic book series.
In the beginning, we are also introduced to Malekith, one of Thor’s many adversaries. Malekith’s (Christopher Eccleston, Dr. Who) desire is one of retribution. He is the leader of the Dark Elves and strives to bring the universe back to a period of darkness before creation using a device known as Aether. Defeated once before by Thor’s grandfather Bor, Malekith is reawakened by Jane Foster(Natalie Portman, Black Swan), Thor’s love interest. Perfect, eh? You’ll get to see a lot more of her in this film. Oh, not to mention Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Only Lovers Left Alive), Thor’s cold, crass, and malevolent adopted brother is also back from the first film.
Truly, this film has the ability to do well. The cast alone is reason to see it. Besides the aforementioned leads this film also includes Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo, who both provide excellent performances as the parents of Thor. I also can’t say that I’ve seen Christopher Eccleston play such an interesting character since he was the 9th Doctor on Doctor Who and he does an amazing job as a villain. Honestly, there are so many things to say about this film. Like I said before, most films of this genre can be hit and miss; however, Marvel managed to stay true to a lot of Thor’s classic qualities. Visually, this film is brilliant, just as any Marvel action hero film should be. The creative minds from this film excelled in making the little details just as great as the big ones. I really enjoyed seeing more of Asgard, the home world of Thor, in this film. Imagine a cross between Coruscant from Star Wars and Gondor from Lord of the Rings. I was also relieved to find out that a majority of it was actually built for the movie and not CGI. In fact, it was the biggest set ever built for a Marvel movie. The chainmail pillows were also a nice touch. Way to get down, Thor. That kind of stuff is often overlooked in film so it was nice to see they took the extra time.
On the other hand, there are a few things I wasn’t so sure of. The enormous elephant in the room, even with Iron Man 3, is where the heck the other Avengers are?! I can see both sides of the argument on this one, however, so let’s not get too crazy. While watching Thor swing that hammer around I just can’t help but wonder that all these other superheroes are in the same galaxy, so how come none of them ever show up? Is it just because the movie is named after a single Avenger? Is there some kind of fight between bros? Was the Schawarma that bad? I imagine all of them could use some help now and then. They’ve broken that wall but won’t show up to help. We have to just settle for a Chris Evans cameo. My only other complaint, and believe me these are small ones, is that I feel a film referencing Norse mythology should be a little bit darker. Ravens and battle axes just don’t look right when they glimmer in the sun so much.
I can’t have everything though and all and all I feel they did a very true to comic representation of the comic in Thor: The Dark World. At least as much as they could. I believe most people will thoroughly enjoy watching Chris Hemsworth beat the crap out of another alien race.
(Insert MC Hammer joke here)
I give Thor: The Dark World 4 “Skyrim Helmets” out of 5.
by Jason Burleson
lostinreviewsblog.wordpress.com 
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