DAY 8
After the releases of Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, the age-old battle of Marvel vs. DC (not Marvel v. DC; this isn't a court case, Snyder) was raging harder than it had been in years. Most of the arguments came down to which movie sucked more (Man of Steel), as is the community's way of settling such important battles. See, DC had issued a challenge to Marvel that it too could create an interconnected universe of superheroes. Nerd blood would be shed this eve.
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| While of similar quality, I did not mean this man of steel. |
Amidst the scuffle, Thor: The Dark World prepared to make a statement for Marvel, proving that the studio would forever remain king of the mountain.
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| Hammer Time, mo fuckahs! |
However, Marvel didn't seem confident in the film's abilities. The studio has a reputation of over saturating the market with trailers, clips, and posters, so much so that people often feel like they have seen the entire movie before entering a theater. The same could not be said for The Dark World. Marvel seemed to keep this movie (funnily enough) in the shadows and didn't do much to drum up the public's interest. After seeing the film, I can understand why.
Thor: The Dark World showed up in theaters on November 8th, 2013, much to the yawns and apathetic shrug of a world surrounded by superheroes.
What They Did Right
The Look and the Feel
Once again, the Thor
franchise is second-to-none when it comes to visual effects. The CGI is gorgeous,
but more than that, all of the practical effects help the audience buy into the
idea that these realms are living, breathing worlds. The make-up for the marauders
of Vanehiem, the design and look of the Argaridan costumes, the bleakness of Svartalfhiem, the horrific look of the Dark Elves and the full-bodied feel of Kurse contribute heavily to bringing these worlds
to life. More importantly, The Dark World
is able to seamlessly blend the worlds of fantasy and sci-fi into one cohesive
universe. The Dark Elves are armed with space ships, ancient laser rifles, and
gravity grenades that can collapse a person in on himself. Not the typical
weapons one would think an elf to wield, even a dark one (not racist, I promise!). If you were to take Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Lord of
the Rings and throw them in a blender, Thor:
The Dark World is what would come out. The result is a world that I feel
like I’d never seen before, and a world that I would love to spend more time
in.
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| See you in your nightmares, kids! |
Nuance
These are my favorite performances from Hemsworth and
Hiddleston in the MCU. Both characters started out as bold, Shakespearian
characters that appeared to be acting for the stage, rather than film. In the
past, both performers were heavy handed in their delivery, movements, and
characterization. The Dark World
allows the pair to act like real brothers for the first time in the series. Instead
of bold, over enunciated lines, the pair use subtle facial expressions and
dialed-back dialogue to truly express their hate and love for each other. Watch
this scene:
“I wish I could trust you,” Thor says with a smile. In that
moment, you can see the pain in his eyes and hear the lament in his voice at
the idea of losing his little brother. It’s a great scene, and it has been
amazing to watch their progress. Both Hemsworth and Hiddleston completely embody
their characters.
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| Loki: I love you, brother. Thor: Shut the fuck up, Loki. |
The Humor
The Dark World is
quite probably the funniest movie in the MCU. I’ll let you know if I have to
eat those words after I watch Guardians
of the Galaxy again. Darcy is once again great as the comic relief, the
brotherly arguments between Thor and Loki in the Escape from Asgard sequence
really makes them feel like siblings, and the Captain America cameo is perfect.
As many problems that The Dark World
faced during production, it’s nice to know that the comedy of the movie made it
to release unscathed.
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| The movie in a nutshell. |
Take A Minute
So many people have died in these movies without our heroes
stopping to pause at their loss. They have a look of shock, continue fighting
the bad guy, and move on. That’s what is necessary, both for the movie to continue
and for the character to defeat the threat. This is not the case with Frigga.
When the Queen of Asgard falls, we are privy to a beautiful Viking funeral, and
get to see how much her loss effects the sons of Odin. It isn’t the most
necessary or well-done scene in the movie, perhaps, but it gives the audience
and the characters a moment to stop and mourn the ones we’ve lost.
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| Putting the FUN in funeral. |
Now You’re Thinking
With Portals
If you read my Iron
Man 3 retrospective, you already know that Marvel Studios was faced with
the challenge of topping the Battle of New York. The Dark World gives us another imaginative take on a climactic
battle scene. Instead of simply hitting the other guy until somebody falls,
Thor and Malekith have to deal with transporting in and out of realms, gravity
manipulation, and one really pissed-off monster (the last of which, I really
want to see recruited as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.). It’s a fun experience, and
proves once again that Marvel isn’t out of ideas just yet.
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| Something about cake! |
However, even with all of these positive attributes, it's hard to ignore all of the mistakes The Dark World made along the way. Without further ado, here are the things that piss me off.
What They Did Wrong
Made By Committee
The behind-the-scenes issues that plagued Thor: The Dark World are well
documented. Marvel lost director Patty Jenkins due to “creative differences,”
which caused strain between Marvel and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster). Director
Alan Taylor is often very outspoken about his poor experience working with Marvel.
Even Idris Elba (Heimdall) has gone on record as saying these movies are “torture.”
As I said nine days ago, I like listening to commentaries. I like hearing the
behind the scenes stories and about the vision that the film makers were going
for. The commentary for this film, however, is very telling. Tom Hiddleston and
Kevin Feige, who is the head of Marvel Studios, recorded their sections of the
commentary separate than that of director Alan Taylor and cinematographer Kramer
Morgenthau. These four couldn’t even be in the same room at the same time to
talk about the movie they had made. The
Dark World was having problems from the get-go, and Marvel, rather than
trusting the film makers, decided to step in and go into full on, Fuhrer-mode.
The result is a bloated, choppy, inconsistent film.
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| This is some bullshit. |
We Get It! Stop
Explaining!
There are two prologues tacked onto this movie. The first details
the battle between the Dark Elves and the Asgardians over the Aether. This is a scene later described by Odin in his library. The second prologue deals with
Loki going to prison. While it’s fun to see Hiddleston relish his
performance, this information of his imprisonment is also provided later. Then there
is the convergence. The convergence, or the alignment of the realms, is
explained five different times in this movie! It literally took me half a sentence to explain it. If we were to take out all of the
exposition of this movie dealing with the convergence, it would be 30 minutes long. If you feel the need to
keep reminding the audience what will happen during a particular moment in the
movie, your script is broken. Take the time to go back and streamline what doesn’t
make sense. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned internal struggles, we get a
movie that dumbs itself down for no goddamn reason.
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| Okay, class, open your books to page 15. We will be discussing the convergence for the rest of the fucking week. |
The Lame Villain
Fuck, Marvel. You just had to go and ruin my good times,
didn’t you? I was ecstatic when Chris Eccleston, my favorite Doctor, was
announced to be playing Malekith in The Dark
World. I believed that Eccleston was the perfect choice to play a sinister,
calculating antagonist in a Marvel movie. Watch the Doctor Who episode The End of the World, and you’ll get a
sense of just how scary and unforgiving Eccleston can be. Moreover, Thor had already proved that villains of
the extended universe had the potential to be powerhouses of strength and
emotion with Loki. I guess my expectations were too high. Instead, we get a
villain that could have been substituted with a sinister looking house plant,
and not much would have changed throughout the movie. More depressing? The Dark
Elves look terrifying! They give off the vibe of archaic, evil Storm Troopers
that can actually hit a target! There was so much potential here! An ancient king
commanding a formidable army holding a centuries-old grudge had all of the possibilities
to create an epic skirmish, the likes of which we had not seen since Middle
Earth. However, much like several other Marvel villains, the general public
forgets he ever existed.
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| Beware my power, Asgardian. |
Too Much Loki
The movie should have been called Thor Two: Loki Boogaloo for the amount of Loki in this flick. Every
time you turn a corner, there he is, with a smug grin on his face. I love Loki as much
as the next screaming fangirl, and I love that Marvel has at least one villain
upon whom they can thoroughly rely. However, it’s a shame that Thor takes
second-billing in his own flick. It’s almost like Marvel doesn’t trust that the
God of Thunder can carry a movie on his own, which is a shame, taking in to
consideration Hemsworth’s charisma. Rather than taking the time to delve into
our hero or discovering who the hell Malakith is, we get more scenes of Loki
being Loki. The scenes are by no means bad, and Hiddleston is always fun to
watch, but Marvel needs to decide very quickly if Thor is even worth the
attention anymore and if Loki should be the headliner in this franchise.
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| "STOP STEALING MY THUNDER, LOKI!" |
Thor: The Dark World
is a fun and entertaining addition to the MCU, but there is simply too much
about it that feels like Marvel had taken a step back with regard to
storytelling. I had hoped for this to be Thor’s Empire Strikes Back. What I received was Attack of the Clones: a film marginally better than the first, but
still far below my expectations.
Final Thoughts
Back in my The
Incredible Hulk retrospective, I made mention of the fact that Hulk’s
standalone film was the only one I didn’t see in an early showing. That was not
true. I didn’t see the early showing of Thor:
The Dark World, either. I just didn’t remember until I started writing
this. If that isn’t a representation of the overall quality of this flick, I don’t know
what is. Sadly, I don’t cast many thoughts towards the deity’s second outing. Thor: The Dark World was quickly
followed up by two far superior movies, and most of my attention was taken up
with them. At this point, I look at The
Dark World in terms of what it could have been as opposed to what it is. We
could have had the first female director of a superhero movie. We could have
had a really interesting villain. We could have had a really solid look at who Thor
was after the events of The Avengers.
While some of these pieces make it into the film, Marvel cannot make them
connect. Like most of Marvel’s Phase II efforts, Thor: The Dark World is defined by its missed opportunities.
1.
2. The Avengers
3. Iron Man 3
4. Iron Man
5.
6. Captain America: The First Avenger
7. Thor: The Dark World
8. Thor
9. Iron Man 2
10. The Incredible Hulk
What a shame.
END OF DAY 8
Thank you to all of my readers! Do you agree with my ranking? Are there any great moments or errant flaws that I missed? Should Marvel give up on Thor? Who wants to help me kickstart the Sinister Plant franchise. Let me know in the comments below!
#bringbackjustinhammer
Be kind to each other.
-James
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