Loki steals the spotlight in Thor: The Dark World

Phase 2 of the Marvel Universe film franchise got underway with Iron Man III, and now the next step to The Avengers: Age of Ultron is here with the release of Thor: The Dark World. In the new movie, it’s been at least two years since Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) saw Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – in person, that is. She did see him on TV during the attack on New York (chronicled in Marvel’s The Avengers, natch), but he hasn’t been back to earth to see her since he abruptly left earth in the first Thor movie.

Of course, fans know he couldn’t come back because the bridge between the realms had been destroyed, but it’s back now and the upcoming convergence of the Nine Realms is giving Thor a reason to be concerned about earth once again. It seems the Dark Elves, whom we meet in the film’s prologue, are determined to use the alignment of the realms to release the Aether and restore darkness to the universe. Thor must reluctantly seek the assistance of his imprisoned, adopted brother Loki to stop the Dark Elves and save not only the Nine Realms but earth as well.

A lot of complaints lodged against the first Thor movie focused mainly on just about all of the earthbound scenes. That situation has been rectified as most of the movie takes place on Asgard and various other planets. In fact, the earth portions of Thor: The Dark World almost seem inconsequential until a massively entertaining battle that serves as the film’s climax (think something almost on the scale of the New York battle, but encompassing several different worlds). Most of the earth sequences with Jane, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), and their interns are barely fleshed out.

Jane ignores some strange signals that seem to be heralding Thor’s arrival, Erik is running around Stonehenge naked and seemingly bonkers, and the intern Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) is so bad at her job that she hired her own intern. When Jane mysteriously disappears while the team is investigating an anomaly at an old warehouse, Darcy calls the police! They’re nearly arrested for trespassing, but the location is left untouched and unattended until the film’s climax. It seems odd that such a significant location would be left as a dangling plotline, but it appears that we may learn more about it on the TV series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on the November 19th episode.

Even though Thor is the ostensible lead character, the film really belongs to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Hiddleston just has a way of making evil so beguiling, fooling almost everyone around him that he’s just misunderstood and angry because he wants the throne of Asgard but he can’t have it because he’s adopted. We do get to see a couple of different sides to Loki this time around as he goes from prisoner to hero while also dealing with a pretty major death. But Hiddleston is so great in the role that you’re never really sure if he’s actually helping Thor defeat Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) or is he’s just trying to further his own agenda.

Sadly, Portman and Skarsgård barely have anything to do, even when Jane is transported to Asgard for a brief time. I am a fan of Dennings, who brings her patented brand of snark to the role, but tones down the raunchiness of her 2 Broke Girls character. Eccleston is barely recognizable as Malekith and speaks most of his dialog in whatever language the Dark Elves speak. Anthony Hopkins’ Odin is regal and weary, wanting nothing more than peace and to give Thor the throne, while Rene Russo’s part is beefed up a bit and she gets to kick some ass as Malekith and his minions lay siege to Asgard.

The film has solid production values, great action scenes, some nice humor (including a great Avenger cameo) and some stand-out performances, but for me – like the first Thor movie – it’s entertaining, but it’s still not a real jewel in the Marvel crown. Captain America: The First Avenger was a much better film than Thor, and I suspect Captain America: The Winter Soldier (coming early next year) will be a much better film than this. I seriously could not really tell you what the story was about in detail because it’s just not that strong and, as is the problem with these kinds of movies, you know that the hero is going to save the day at the end, so the drama of the universe being consumed by darkness isn’t as big of a threat as it should be. Ending the movie with Malekith triumphant, and tying it in to the next Marvel movie would have been a stunning move.

But … as we’ve come to expect from the Marvel movies, there is a tease for next summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy where the Dark Elves’ Aether may figure into the story. It’s a very puzzling and awesome set-up for the movie with our first glimpse of … I don’t want to completely spoil it! Luckily, that comes just after the first set of credits, but if you stick around all the way to the end, you’ll be rewarded with a little stinger reminiscent of the shawarma scene at the end of The Avengers. It ties up one loose end and then gives us a little moment of silliness that may also play into the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode.

Overall, Thor: The Dark World is a lot of fun (even if it is a little draggy in the first third) mainly due to Hiddleston’s performance and certainly does not tarnish anything that’s come before it. Hopefully with the words “Thor will return” closing out the credits, someone will write a real script with some real character development for the next Thor outing. For now, what we have is enjoyable, if forgettable.