Thor the Dark World Review
We are in week 2 of my Thor review series, that means that today we are talking about Thor the Dark World. Which...is widely regarded as one of the worst MCU movies. So what do I think about this movie? Let’s get started!
The Good:
And for me the best thing about this movie is that this is a slick movie that is in focus for the entire runtime. They gave this movie a $150-$170 million budget and you can tell that. The visuals here are great and you can tell that they wanted to make a slick and good looking MCU movie, and they did that.
You also have to talk about the great dynamic between Thor and Loki in this movie. I think this is the movie where their relationship is in its prime. And it’s best shown here when Thor and Loki are escaping Asgard, and it turns into this buddy cop movie and it makes me laugh. There is a lot of entertainment value in that scene. And it shows that Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddelston have great chemistry with one another. And I wish we got more of this type of dynamic inside of the MCU with this buddy cop vibe with Thor and Loki.
It’s also a movie that has plenty of entertainment value to it. It’s a movie that I’m never bored with, I always have a good enough time watching this movie. It’s a movie that moves quickly from plot point to plot point but you can still follow everything that is happening. I think the movie really does shine in the middle act of the movie with the escape from Asgard and going to The Dark World to confront Malekith.
Finally, this movie is known for not being a top tier MCU. And because of that, I think it’s easy to forget that this is an important MCU movie. We learn about the Reality Stone, we get introduced to The Collector and it helps us get a better understanding of the MCU. And introduces two important aspects in the entirety of the MCU.
The Bad:
And the big thing here is that Malekith as a villain, is pretty forgettable and not very good. And I think the big issue with him as a character is that the movie doesn’t give him enough time. As you move into the third act of the movie, it’s hard to remember what Malekith’s goal is. Like you have to stop and think about it because the movie doesn’t spend a lot of time with him. And even though the design of the character is cool, I think the Dark Elves look pretty cool. But Malekith looks like a generic henchman in this movie. Like if you were to stand him besides all of the other Dark Elves...you couldn’t tell which one he is. So this is easily one of the weaker villains in the MCU as a whole.
Another big issue with this movie is the tone. This movie’s tone goes from Lord of the Rings in space to a rom-com with Natalie Portman back to Lord of the Rings in space, then it turns into a buddy cop movie once Loki becomes a big part of the plot. And it changes from all of those so quickly, but they never feel right together. I like the idea of having a Lord of the Rings type movie inside of the MCU with the Thor character. But we only get a little bit of that, and then it moves to a rom-com with Jane on a date with Chris O’Dowd. I wish they balanced the film’s tone out more to make it feel like one movie and not 3 to 4 different movies squished into 1 single movie.
Also, I think the sequences on Earth are far worse then the sequences in the original movie. What they do with Jane’s friends in this movie is pretty bad. Like why do you have legendary actor Stellen Skarsgard running around Stonehenge naked trying to do science. I mean it is cringy and is not funny at all. They give Kat Dennings character her own intern which doesn’t work. That dynamic isn’t interesting to me, and I don’t think that character is very good. So whenever it would cut to these characters, it frustrated me with the way it played out.
Finally, I think the character of Thor in this movie is not very good. He doesn’t do anything that is really memorable or anything that really helps the plot out all that much. As much as Chris Hemsworth is great in the movie...the actual way that he’s written isn’t very good.
Final Thoughts: Like most people, I do think this is one of the weaker movies inside of the MCU. The villain, the tone, and some of the characters really hold the movie back as a whole. But there are some good things in this movie with the dynamic between Thor and Loki. As well as it is a slick production with a big budget. Put it all together and you get a mediocre movie in a fantastic franchise.
The Score: 6.9/10 (C+)
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