Movie Review: Thor The Dark World (2013)

Thor The Dark World (2013) directed by Alan Taylor

An ancient enemy of Asgard threatens to attack again--the Dark Elves. They ruled the universe long ago when darkness was supreme and they want to turn out the lights for the rest of the universe now. Odin's father had beaten them 5000 years ago when the nine worlds aligned and their power was at its height. Now another alignment is coming and the elves are back to their old tricks. Thor is ready to fight along with his usual compatriots but when as things go from bad to worst, he has to rely on his scheming evil brother Loki.

The plot is very generic and surprises are mostly not surprising. The Dark Elves are not very interesting as villains because they lack any character or menace to them (in spite of the fact they want to destroy the universe!). They look like "baddies of the week" from Star Trek or Doctor Who (which may be a subliminal thing for me since their leader is played in heavy prosthetics by Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston--I recognized his voice about half way through). Loki is easily the best thing about the film. His schemes are interesting and Tom Hiddleston plays him with panache. The other actors are good but the script doesn't give them much to work with. Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd has a fun cameo and there are other laugh out loud lines, but not as much as in the first Thor movie. The chemistry between romantic leads Thor and Jane Foster is weak (though she does look cute in Asgardian armor!). The ending promises some interesting possibilities in the next movie, so I'm not giving up hope, but I can't recommend this film unless you're a Marvel completionist.