Thinking big. Daring big. In a town that is notorious for being creatively conservative and even cowardly, Marvel Studios is daring. They are doing things that have never been done in film, genre and otherwise. The degree of interfilm world building, cross franchise pollinating and intricate continuity, they are doing all kinds of things that the money men and the like in other studios would swear are losers. Only name brand well known properties? THHHPPPPLT. Only easy, spoon fed stories? Whatever. Expecting an audience to track details? Perish. Marvel is daring all that and more. Upcoming, they will give us a talking raccoon, so the level of creative brass they are throwing down with and making the money will hopefully open up some filmmaking doors for future endeavors.
Yet another thing they are doing right is taking chances on interesting directors who may not be the biggest marque names, but they have proven themselves elsewhere to not only have what it takes, technically and creatively, but they have individual voices that shine through in the films. They give a signature to their films which separates them from the cinematic dross we associate with Tinseltown in this day and age.
Which brings us to Thor The Dark World. The second in the Thor franchise and with Thor a founding member of the Avengers, the Thunder God is fully entrenched in the events of the cinematic universe. And, just like Iron Man 3, this film is fully feeling the after effects of The Avengers. In this case, Loki has been tried and imprisoned for his misdeeds, Odin is back and the Rainbow Bridge has been rebuilt. Thor's deeds have redeemed him in the All-Father's eyes and Odin is ready to turn over the Eternal Throne to him. But...he's not sure he wants it.
Strange things are afoot in the Nine Worlds, with a conjunction taking place that comes along every five thousands years. This is causing strange effects in the realms, which Thor, off cleaning up messes elsewhere in the worlds, misses. His physicist girlfriend Jane Foster, however, stumbles across a particular piece of weirdness, releasing a phenomenon known as the Ether, and reviving the Dark Elves to continue their quest of reworking the realms in their image.
After the Dark Elves attack Asgard, Thor is forced to seek Loki's help in mounting a counter-attack against Malechi, the Dark Elf leader and the forces he is assembling for the war.
And there it is. Some have said that Malechi was played kinda one note by Chris Eccleston (the ninth Doctor). But he played that one note well, as Malechi's motives were pretty simple. They wanted to make the entire swath of realms like their home dimension and they didn't care who suffered to make it happen.
Chris Hemsworth brings the swashbuckler, the warrior and the romantic with Thor again, giving him a touch more gravitas that is a result of the growing he has done in the previous films. Jane Foster and her mortal companions are even more (the annoying girl is somehow less annoying, even though she had more lines). The warrior's three had more, and the attraction undertones between Thor and Lady Sif were present, too.
The end of credit scenes (there are two were very satisfying). The first, which had a further clue in the big metaplot involving Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Gems revealed Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, a villain from the Marvel space set, over where the Guardians of the Galaxy work it. The second featured a humorous look at the aftermath of the films. Oh, and if you have the Blu Ray, check out that one shot with Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), addressing the issue of The Mandarin in a most creative way. Also look for Justin Hammer in the Riker's Island scene as well.
Alan (A Game of Thrones, Rome) brings a nice touch of fantasy/Nordic grunge to the look of the film, too, which seemed to befit the Realm Eternal.
Thor The Dark World. Keep on keeping on, Marvel.
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