MOVIE REVIEW: Thor: The Dark World

GENRE: 3D Action, Fantasy

RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes

STARRING: Chris Hemsworth (Rush, Thor), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Tom Hiddleston (Thor), Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock)

DIRECTED BY: Alan Taylor (The Emperor’s New Clothes)

RATING:

Currently screening at Ster-Kinekor Northgate.

PLOT: Thousands of years ago a race called the Dark Elves tried to send the universe into darkness by using a weapon known as the Aether. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the crown prince of Asgard and together with his warriors they defeat the Dark Elves. Their leader, Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) escapes to await his next opportunity to attack. The king of Asgard, Orin (Anthony Hopkins), instructs his warriors to bury the Aether in a place where nobody will ever find it, as it is impossible to destroy.

In present day London, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) gets sucked into a wormhole while investigating an anomaly. Jane is an astrophysicist and Thor’s love interest. Unbeknown to her, she crosses paths with the Aether and its’ powerful energy enters her body. She is missing for hours and Thor returns to Earth to find her. Malekith wants nothing more than to extract the Aether’s power from Jane’s body, so he can destroy Asgard and take his revenge. In order to protect Jane, Thor takes her back to Asgard with him, against his father’s wishes.

Malekith re-unites with the Dark Elves and attacks Asgard. An epic battle ensues. As the warriors of Asgard re-group and count the fatalities, Malekith and his army return to Svartalfheim to plan their next attack. Odin wants to keep Jane on Asgard so that Malekith will return, so he can destroy the evil leader once and for all. Thor disagrees with the plan and decides to escape from Asgard with Jane to a place of safety. He enlists the aid of his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who has been imprisoned on Asgard. The ousted Loki is jealous of his brother and yearns to be the next king of Asgard. On this perilous journey, can Thor trust Loki not to betray him?

THE GOOD: Some reviews claim that this film is better than the first. Fortunately, I have not seen the first!

THE BAD: There is a total lack of chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman. This is so evident in their deadpan expressions and meaningless conversations with each other. None of the actors deliver any more than a mediocre performance and none of their characters develop into anything of substance. The film is very slow and long-winded to the point of being boring. The dialogue is peppered with corny jokes which are totally irrelevant. The film is overly reliant on special effects with the result of being more confusing than exhilarating. The last battle on Earth switches to and from the different realms so often that the storyline is completely blurred.

VERDICT: This is the sequel to the first Thor film and hopefully this is where it will end. I enjoy the fantasy of the Marvel Comics superheroes and after watching Man of Steel a few months back, my interest in these characters was re-ignited. This film is very disappointing.

*Special thanks to Ster-Kinekor Northgate for making the review possible.