I've had connection issues this last week. This is last Tuesday's post, the promised Thor: the Dark World review. Tomorrow, I will post the story that was meant for last Saturday. Wednesday will be the regular Tuesday post. This way, I'm getting you all the posts without inundating you with three posts at once.
The Marvel Avengers movies are definitely action movies - stuff blows up, the lead looks bad-a, and there are things to laugh about. Primarily one-liners. They also have a strong element of drama. Plus, muscles. So many muscles.
I’ve also noticed a rhythm to them:
Action – Iron Man
Action – Hulk
Action/Character – Iron Man II
Prequel to The Avengers – Thor
Character/Action – Captain America
BAM – The Avengers
Heavy Fallout – Iron Man 3
Character/Humor/Action – Thor: The Dark World
I predict that Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be Character/ Action/ Drama.
Thor: The Dark World definitely has epic fights and character growth, but it also releases some of the tension built by the Marvel movies so far. It embraces the utter ridiculousness of being normal, average people in a normal, average world while gods run amok. If you like the Avengers movies so far, go see this one.
Thus concludes the entirely spoiler free part of this review. The rest will contain whatever spoilers I deem appropriate, probably very few, cunningly crafted to have you guessing what it means right up until the moment it appears onscreen.
In other words: spoiler alerts.
Okay, the bad guy (Malekith) wants to make the universe a place his people can live in. That’s a motive that I can understand, and is a good one villains or heroes. But then, why does he sacrifice his people right at the beginning? Like, all but one to destroy the universe. (And make it Dark, the way it used to be when his people ruled. Hence, “The Dark World”.)
The reason for Thor to team up with Loki seems similarly thin, but is somewhat forgivable because it is motivated by family tension, which they well establish. That tension actually has me looking forward to the possibility that maybe Loki has changed. (Forgetting about the part where he killed people, and tried to commit genocide on the Frost Giants, and attempted to takeover earth, of course.)
Speaking of the royal Asgard family, Frigga actually has some lines and a role to play in this movie. A somewhat minor onscreen role, but critical to the story. Her lines with Jane even help the movie sort of barely pass the Bechdel test.
There’s also plenty of time spent on Earth. Erik Selvig is dealing with the fallout from having a god in his head. Jane and Darcy are travelling the world with a new Intern in tow, searching for unusual phenomena. (It’s funny when he drops the keys.) Darcy is pretty delightful throughout the movie, and Ian adds to the movie, rather than taking away as extra characters sometimes do.
On interesting thing is the characterization of Mjolnir. Definitely the best acting by an inanimate object. Watch for it.
One last thing – Marvel: Agents of Shield is affected by the movie, but it’s not a parallel story. The movie’s impact is minor, with the team cleaning up after some of the fallout. It is an Asgardian themed episode, which is a nice touch.
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