Review written by Christian Garcia
Today I am looking at Thor: The Dark World.
The often-forgotten sequel that was given decent critical reception upon release but since the release of Thor: Ragnarok, has now been given more hate.
When I wrote my list of Marvel films back in 2015, I found this film boring and beyond forgettable. I quickly forgot it as soon as I watched it and for years it has been the bottom of my list of Marvel films. In the years since I last looked at it, is this movie still as bad as I remember it? Or have I been harsher on it than it deserves?
Let's take a look.
The Hero's Journey
At the start of the film, Thor is fighting to bring peace and order to the Nine Realms. However, despite these great conquests Thor’s mind dwells on Jane Foster. He visits Heimdall to see how she’s doing. His father and friends try to tell him to focus more on being the next King of Asgard. Thor is conflicted between what he wants and what he’s destined for. His wants have changed since the first film. In the first film, he was all about being the best warrior and the King but his experience on Earth has humbled and changed him.
Another moment that highlights Thor’s growth is when he and his father argue over how to approach the Dark Elves following their siege and the death of his mother. Odin is full of rage and anger and is willing to risk the lives of every Asgardian to take out the Dark Elves. Thor is more concerned about his people and concocts a plan of his own. It was a major contrast to the scene in the first film when Thor and father argue that leads to Thor being banished. Back then he was cocky and reckless, now he is thinking more like a King. This moment is also important in his journey because Odin’s reaction plays a major role in Thor’s choice in the films end.
Against his father’s wishes, Thor teams up with his prisoner brother Loki and concocts a plan to bring Jane and the Aether to the Dark World and destroy it there. Although it does not go the way he planned, he willingly took the risk to protect his people. With Jane’s help, he defeats Malekith and the Dark Elves. In the final scene, he makes his ultimate declaration of independence when he refuses his destiny to be king choosing his freedom to follow his own path instead. This moment signifies how much Thor has grown and has become his own person (or God).
The Villain
Malekith is the leader of the Dark Elves.
He wishes to use the ancient weapon known as the Aether (also known as the Reality Stone) to return the world to a state of darkness.
And that's about as much as we learn about this villain. Like Laufey from the first Thor film, Malekith is a very one-dimensional villain. Until I rewatched it for this review, I did not even remember his name which shows how little of an impact he left on me. He's not interesting at all and we do not learn anything about him. He's just a bad guy who wants to do bad things. Very by the book and standard villain. The trope of plunging the world into darkness is the most cliche motivations for a villain and sadly nothing creative is really done here to at least make it interesting. He is easily the most forgettable villain in the MCU.
The Film's Pros
Thor and Loki team up
In my review of the first film, I said the two biggest pros were Thor and Loki. They had great chemistry and made for fun interactions. So, the idea of them teaming up in this film was fun to see. It was fun to see Thor outsmart Loki and even Loki admitted to being impressed by it. Their relationship is the strongest aspect of all the Thor films. Despite their differences and having been at each other’s throats, they do still have a level of love and care for each other. When they confront Malekith, they act out a clever plan to make them believe that Loki betrays Thor again. Although the plan doesn’t go their way, another moment that highlights their level of care for each other is when Loki sacrifices himself to save Thor. When Loki dies in his arms, Thor is saddened by the loss of his brother. Of course, at the end of the film, it is reveled once again that Loki is not dead and up to more trickery. But the time they spent working together shows how great they could be if they worked together.
The Final Battle
The final encounter between Thor and Malekith has some creative elements in it and took advantage of the idea of battling across portals that send them to different worlds. They build up the idea of the portals and inter-dimensional travel and it’s nice to see them take advantage of it. It leads to Thor having to get creative with his battle strategy such as figuring out where to throw his hammer. They make their way back to Jotunheim and even bring a frost monster back with them. It even gives us a funny moment where Thor takes the subway.
The final moment where they use the portal to crush Malekith with his own ship was kind of clever although admittedly anticlimactic. And on that note while the final battle was creative visually, it did lack that epic feeling present in other films.
The Film's Cons
No feeling
The biggest issue that plagues this film is that it does not elicit any form of emotion out of me. When a film fails to draw any kind of reaction, there is a serious issue. I mentioned that while the climax was visually creative, it lacked an epic feeling. That’s because I was not at all invested in that battle because I knew how it was going to end and it felt like it was just going through the motions. That’s how the entire film feels. Like it’s just going through the motions. Even when Thor’s mother is killed, I felt nothing. The scene of her funeral while visually beautiful felt emotionally empty. When a film feels emotionally empty, you know you have a serious problem.
This film just feels empty and hollow. I didn't feel anything while I watched it and I didn't feel anything afterwards. They say sometimes any reaction is a good reaction, but no reaction is worse than a bad reaction and I agree. This film did nothing to stimulate me emotionally and because of that it falls flat. The story didn’t grab me enough to warrant any kind of emotional investment and did not take me for any kind of emotional ride like previous and better Marvel films have.
Malekith and the Dark Elves
Like the Frost Giants in the first film, Malekith and the Dark Elves make for another set of generic and forgettable villains. Their design is not very interesting and looks too like the villains from the first J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film. Their presence in the world felt so out of place that it took me out of the story at times. When the Dark Elves attacked Asgard, I kept feeling like I was watching something that belonged in The Mandalorian or another Star Trek film. Not Marvel. They felt like they were put here just to have villains for Thor to beat up. I remember the opening battle with Thor and his friends against the rock people and found that fit the world of Thor better than the Dark Elves. Honestly, I think the film would have been better if they just focused on Thor vs. the rock people instead of these generic, sci-fi reject-looking villains.
Final Thoughts
After watching this film again seven years later, I was surprised to have felt very apathetic towards it. For years, I always remember this movie being so awful and boring. My second time around, it wasn’t as awful as I remember it but at the same time that’s probably because I came away feeling nothing towards it.
So, to answer my question from the start of this review, yes, I have been too harsh on this film. But that’s not because it’s better than I remember, it’s because it’s not even bad enough to warrant such a reaction. It did not feel like a chore to get through like Iron Man 2, but it also wasn’t like the Incredible Hulk where it had some value. This film is just there. It’s not spectacularly awful and it doesn’t really bring anything to the table that’s worth seeing. In my review of Captain America: Winter Soldier, I mentioned how it went above and beyond expectations of what people were expecting to be a filler film.
Thor: The Dark World does exactly what is expected and is the definition of a filler film. It does what it needs to do and that’s all. That’s why I didn’t bother showing it to my girlfriend in our watch through. When describing it to her, her reaction was this, “I’m okay with skipping it if it gets me closer to the Avengers movie.” And that’s the best way to approach it if you’re going thru the MCU for the first time. It does not do enough good nor bad to leave a lasting impact. You don’t gain anything by having watched it nor do you miss out on anything by not having watched it and it’s the Marvel film that you can easily skip.
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