November 10, 2013

 

What a fun film. I’ve been craving a Marvel film since Iron Man 3 in May and this did just the trick. Though not a huge fan of Thor, I really enjoyed this second installment of the series. Plus, it just sets up the next Avengers film, or just the next Marvel film, so I’m pretty pumped. And it kicks off the good winter film season too.

 

We begin eons ago with the father of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of Asgard, battling the Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who seeks to destroy the universe using a weapon called Aether. Malekith uses enhanced soldiers called the Kursed, but Bor’s team is too strong, and he defeats the army. Not before Malekith gets away with his lieutenant Algrim (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and some other elves. They stay in suspended animation, while Bor locks away the Aether in the Dark World, where no one will find it.

 

In present day, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is imprisoned for his crimes on Earth (see: Avengers review). Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his warriors are out battling to make peace in the Nine Realms and restore the BiFrost, the Rainbow Bridge between realms, which was destroyed in the first film. But just when Asgardians think there is all calm and peace, Heimdell (Idris Elba) notices that he can’t ‘see’ Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor’s human love interest, on Earth.  This is because, back on Earth, in London, Jane’s intern Darcy (Kat Dennings) noticed objects are disobeying the laws of physics, just disappearing into thin air and reappearing, sometimes in different realms. Jane ends up in the realm where the Aether is being kept and it consumes her.

 

Thor heads to Earth to find Jane and sees the power she now possesses. He brings her to Asgard, much to the dismay of his father Odin. However, Odin informs Thor that Jane is infected with the Aether, and in time she will die from it.

 

Once the Aether enters Jane, Malekith is awakened and goes on a mission to find it and finish what he tried to start, destroying the universe. After an attack on Asgard, Thor knows that he must bring Jane to another world in order to lure Malekith there and destroy the Aether for good. Of course, his father won’t allow it and Odin just locks up Jane instead. Thor and his warriors, along with Heimdell commit treason to get Jane to the Dark World for the plan. However, this means that Thor needs Loki’s help. He’s forced to trust Loki, even though he doesn’t.

 

In a really fun plan, Loki and Thor are able to get Malekith to lure the Aether out of Jane, to save her, but its now in Malekith, who runs off to finish his evil plan, which of course, will take place in Greenwich, England…conveniently near Jane’s lab with Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard). But, it appears Loki is killed in the fight. With no way out of the Dark World, Jane finds a portal back to England. The group, along with Thor, heads to Greenwich to stop Malekith. Of course, this plan doesn’t go exactly to plan and a battle ensues, with destruction and a lot of transporting with scientific equipment.

 

And then the world is saved. Thor heads back to Asgard where he turns down the throne, which Odin has offered him. He pledges his allegiance to Asgard, but doesn’t want to rule it. And in one last close-up of Odin, we get a glimpse of a possible third installment of Thor.

 

In the first credits scene, we are introduced to the Collector (Benicio Del Toro), who will star in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. So, it was a nice preview of the next film. And in a final scene at the very end of the credits, Thor comes back to Earth to visit Jane.

 

The film had a lot of humor, but I thought the plot was pretty good too. It’s a shame that Portman had a larger role in this, because I’m not a fan of her, but it didn’t really take away too much from the film. Much of the comedic relief came from Hiddleton and Dennings, which is fine. I thought this was much better than the first one, but you have to remember that I’m not a comic book reader, just a lover of the Marvel films, so I’m curious what Thor fans thought.

 

I did see it in 3D, but only because it was at a convenient time and pretty cheap. It was pretty cool, so if you can afford it, by all means enjoy the 3D. I’m sure the regular 2D was just as good though.