As the saga of Thor continues, an Asgardian we first met back in 2011 who was arrogant, impulsive and only learning humility when he was banished to earth. As the first film progressed Thor matured, reading him for the team up with The Avengers in Marvels 2012’s big blockbuster, in which he once again protects Earth from alien invasion.
The films kicks off with a Prologue that finds Thor’s grandfather at war with the army of ‘Dark Elves’, led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) who is hell bent on plunging the nine realms (The Universe) into total darkness.
Malekith’s plan revolves around hardnessing the power of ‘The Aether’ an ancient destructive force thought to be destroyed when Thor’s grandfather won the war against the Dark Elves. A war which Malekith sacrificed majority of his people in an attempt to get back at the Asgardian’s before putting himself and a few survivors in hibernation.
While learning about Asgards back-story and heritage we discover that meanwhile in the present-day that Loki is imprisoned on Asgard following the events of The Avengers. While Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is stuck on earth wondering where Thor has gone and why he didn’t drop by while events happened in New York during The Avengers. Meanwhile Thor’s busy ass kicking throughout the nine realms resolving the madness Loki started (evidently something we didn’t know during The Avengers).
As the balance of peace if restored to the nine realms, we discover there’s a big of drama and conflict once again between Thor and his father, like all father son relationships there’s a disagreement between the differences of being a king and that of being a man.
However while Thor and his father struggle to resolve their differences we learn that the Convergence is approaching once again, a beautiful yet dangerous cosmic event which happens every five thousand years in which all of the realms align.
An event which Jane will soon find herself the centre of it all, as she is pulled into a portal teleporting her in to some unknown location which happens to be hiding the location of the Aether. But her curiosity gets the better of her after she awakes hours after disappearing from Earth, and event which sends Thor to Earth panicking that he had lost Jane. Shortly after reuniting with her love, the UK Police which had been called by Darcy in a panic state that Jane has just disappeared she is to be arrested, as the officer places his hand on Jane’s arm an energy surge causes everyone to go flying and ultimately causes Jane to collapse.
Thor feels that this is something not of Earth immediately returning to Asgard with Jane travelling through the Bi-Frost, a scene which is both amazing and beautiful as you can see all the wonders of the universe.
As Malekith awakens from his slumber of hibernation he sets off to find the Aether, an event which will put him on a collision course for Thor and Jane on Asgard as we learn the energy surging through Jane’s body is the Aether. Something which will soon kill her if they do not find a way to remove the energy from her.
Though while the camera spends a lot of its time focused on Thor, you often get the feeling that there’s more to Malekith’s story and what his motives truly are.
The films kicks up when Thor and Loki are compelled to join forces, and rather than squabbling with each other, as they have done on many other occasions. Their dynamic becomes that more infinitely interesting as it opens to insight to how they may have fought before as brother rather than enemies.
That being said the relationship is flaring of love and romance between Jane and Thor meanwhile you get the since that Lady Sif is beginning to show more of her affection for Thor wanting him all to herself creating a love triangle.
Thor: The Dark World bridges from the first movie, and The Avengers continuing the adventure and preparing the Marvel universe for the next instalment of climatic battles across the cosmos. Same epic fight scenes and humour bringing out the imaginative guns with storytelling and back drops across the nine realms Thor: The Dark World brings Thor to an all new level and drops it right on a big juicy cliff hanger, making you want more.
That said, the film does manage to avoid the mass climaxed city wide destruction found in recent years. While East London does take a little bit of battering during the final segment of the film. The film manages to combined comedy and action for something of a satisfying conclusion.
“Epically Entertaining”
After The Avengers we wanted something great, and what directory Alan Taylor shoots is a combination of action and comedy all into a sequence mixed with a little bit of awesomeness. Making Thor: The Dark World the next best instalment into the Marvel universe mean while teasing us for the next instalment. We want more!