Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for rather grim action violence
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 11.8.13
One must give considerable credit
to the master planners behind the current Marvel Comics movie franchise.
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| After Thor (Chris Hemsworth, right) reluctantly frees Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from his Asgardian cell, Jane (Natalie Portman, foreground center) angrily warns the "god of lies" that she'll go postal on him, if he even thinks of betraying the good guys. The Asgardian warrior Sif (Jaimie Alexander), carrying a long-term torch for Thor, keeps her own wary eye on Loki. |
Starting with 2008’s Iron Man, and with no missteps, they’ve delivered a consistently entertaining blend of
action, light humor and engaging character drama: no small feat, given the supplementary
requirement of making these films accessible both to longtime comic book geeks
and “regular folks.” Some films have slipped a little; others — notably The Avengers — have been excellent. All things considered, we’ve been having a
rollicking good time.
(The X-Men and Spider-Man series have been equally well mounted, and kudos to them, as well. But — thus
far — they’ve not been integrated into the current tapestry that showcases
Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, the Avengers and SHIELD.)
Credit a blend of savvy
directors, carefully calibrated scripts and strong casts, with equal attention
paid to the all-essential supporting characters. It’s not easy to construct
action epics this massive — with an ever-expanding back-story — while also
penning droll, slightly mocking one-liners that demonstrate a willingness not
to take things too seriously.
I haven’t seen that formula
applied so capably since Sean Connery’s early James Bond escapades.
All of which brings us to Thor:
The Dark World, which benefits from equally suitable acting talent.
Broad-shouldered Chris Hemsworth is every inch the Asgardian warrior,
absolutely fit to wield that marvelous magic hammer, and he also manages to
look imperial — rather than silly — in that ridiculously ornate outfit. Anthony
Hopkins brings regal Shakespearean sincerity to the florid dialogue we expect
from Odin, ruler of Asgard; and Natalie Portman is a refreshingly brave,
intelligent and resourceful human sidekick ... anything but a stock “girl in
trouble.”
And as also was the case with Thor and The Avengers, this film is darn near stolen by Tom Hiddleston, so
perfectly cast as the villainous, duplicitous trickster god, Loki. Speaking of
the Bard, Shakespearean actors have long known that the bad guys have the best
parts and get all the grand lines, and Hiddleston’s Loki has become the modern
template against which all future fantasy baddies will be judged. He’s simply
marvelous.
Rarely have so many smug remarks
and scathing denouncements been delivered with such brio. It becomes necessary
to watch these films at least twice — no real punishment, that — in order to
better savor the subtleties of Hiddleston’s body language: the frustrated fire
he gives Loki’s gaze, the condescending set to his stance, the contemptuous
sweep of an arm.
When Loki dismisses Earth’s
inhabitants as being no more significant than ants, we can’t help believing
that it’s true.
All this said, Thor’s longtime
comic book escapades don’t usually engage me as much as those experienced by
other heroic denizens in Marvel’s universe. The scales are simply too large,
the premise too celestial. Essentially invulnerable gods inevitably call on all
sorts of deus ex machina powers whenever the chips are down; this necessitates
enemies who are, somehow, stronger still — and sufficiently threatening — in order
to deliver a satisfyingly challenging conflict.
Blending Thor’s realm with the
Earth-bound moxie of human characters such as Portman’s Jane Foster helps a
great deal, of course, and this film plays that card as often as possible. But
this story’s universe-threatening menace — or twin menaces, really — is vaguely
defined and rather too reminiscent of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga (with
spaceships and laser cannons tossed into the mix).
Hiddleston’s Loki is a far more
interesting character, throughout, than Christopher Eccleston’s pouty Malekith,
who — despite his power and ferocity — has no more dramatic substance than the
massive stone creature Thor dispatches during an early skirmish. In a word,
Malekith isn’t very interesting, and Eccleston does little to make him so.
In this respect, then, the film’s
five credited writers — Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely,
Don Payne and Robert Rodat — have stumbled a bit. Granted, it’s hard to emote
beneath all the makeup that Eccleston is forced to wear, but his character
certainly could have displayed more of the feral cunning that makes Loki so
fascinating. Our writers have no excuse, really, since Malekith is a
long-running “Thor villain” dating back to 1984. Surely, that much published material
should have yielded some juicy, deliciously malevolent fruit.
Instead, by way of explanation,
we get a prologue — narrated by Hopkins’ off-camera Odin, and also reminiscent
of Lord of the Rings — that explains how, back in the day, Malekith and his
fellow dark elf inhabitants of Svartalfheim, one of the “nine realms” of Norse
myth, were defeated while trying to plunge the entire universe into darkness
with the help of a roiling black mist dubbed the “aether.” Somehow, this
corporeal octopus ink imbues its “host” with even greater dark powers.
Although believed dead, Malekith
actually put himself and his surviving dark elves into hibernation, against a
future time when celestial events would grant them an advantage. The
Asgardians, meanwhile, were unable to destroy the aether ... just because. So
they concealed it where it never, ever, ever would be found. (Yeah, right.)
(In passing, I must confess that
I’ve never understood the motivations assigned to villains such as Malekith.
OK, say he’s successful; he plunges all of Norse mythology’s “nine realms” into
darkness, destroying everything and killing everybody. What’s left to do after
lunch? Aren’t things, moving forward, apt to be a bit ... boring? Kinda dull? I
can only conclude that such baddies aren’t very good at big-picture planning.
(But I digress.)
Two years have passed since poor
Jane last saw her blond, buff boyfriend; we catch her as she tries,
reluctantly, to move on by agreeing to a first date with a nice-guy type (Chris
O’Dowd, in a cute cameo). That goes awry when Jane’s assistant, Darcy (tart-tongued
Kat Dennings, in a welcome return), pops up and jabbers excitedly about some
weird readings on one of their quantum physics gizmos.
Jane, Darcy and a new intern
named Ian (Jonathan Howard) track this disturbance; elsewhere, Jane’s
astrophysicist mentor, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), has noticed equally odd
phenomena ... but nobody is paying attention to him, because the poor guy’s
still off his nut after being possessed by Loki in a previous adventure.
Jane’s investigations lead to
serious trouble when she “warps” into the precise cavern where the aether has
been buried. (See? I told you they didn’t hide it well enough!) Worse yet, this
ectoplasmic glop swirls into her body and, well, all sorts of bad things follow.
Even from his galaxy far, far away, Thor can’t help but notice, and so — with
some assistance from the Asgardian sentinel Heimdall (Idris Elba, also a
familiar face) — he brings Jane to Asgard. Much to the displeasure of his
father, Odin.
Cue Malekith’s revival and
invasion of Asgard, in order to obtain the aether, and so forth, and so forth.
Subsequent skirmishes play out on Svartalfheim and Midgard (Earth), as Malekith
anticipates a once-every-five-thousand-year convergence of the nine realms.
None of this cosmic nonsense really matters much, except that Thor is forced to
accept help from his detested adopted brother, Loki.
Which is when the fun really
begins.
The broad action canvas allows
some crucial participation by Thor’s longtime comrades, the “Warriors Three”:
Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Zachary Levi) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano).
Jaimie Alexander also returns as the Asgardian warrior Sif, who in Odin’s view
is Thor’s perfect match; the scripters missed a bet by not playing up this
awkward romantic triangle, and amping up the tension between Sif and Jane.
Rene Russo’s Frigga, Odin’s wife,
plays a much larger role this time, the actress deftly delivering the proper
blend of regal bearing and motherly angst (Loki having become such a
disappointment).
Director Alan Taylor displays
just the right touch with this bombastic material, and no surprise; he’s a
veteran of tough-edged TV shows such as The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones. He and editors Dan Lebental and Wyatt Smith choreograph all
the requisite battles with landscape-altering ferocity, but Taylor doesn’t
overlook the all-important quieter, character-building moments.
We also can’t help being
impressed by the world-building involved, not to mention the intricate opulence
of Asgard’s majestic structures: Take a bow, production designer Charles Wood
and special effects supervisor Paul Corbould.
Indeed, all the production
elements are first-rate, as is typical of these recent Marvel Comics
adaptations. Kramer Morgenthau’s cinematography is suitably lavish when on
Asgard, and we can feel the grit between our teeth when the scene shifts to rubble-strewn
Svartalfheim. Composer Brian Tyler keeps our pulses racing with a suitably
heroic score.
Everything builds to a grand
climax that involves clever and quite amusing use of realm-spanning portals.
I’m not quite sure how (or even if) the aether is actually defeated, but then
that’s the script’s weak link anyway. At one point, much is made of Jane’s
mortal body being unable to contain this gloppy invader’s energy, but somehow
that little problem just sorta vanishes. Script-by-committee does tend to leave
such plot holes.
Comic book geeks will delight in
the usual cameo by Marvel guru Stan Lee, and I got a kick out of an unexpected
cameo by Chris Evans’ Captain America. And, as usual, you’ll want to remain in
your seats for some closing-credits hints of Things To Come.
In the final analysis, Thor’s
sophomore outing is a bit, ah, casual with some core plot details ... but
you’re unlikely to mind, since Taylor builds up plenty of good will while
bringing in his film at a fast-paced 112 minutes.
Looks like it’s another job well
done, and full speed ahead for next spring’s Captain America: The Winter
Soldier.
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