Ring out the Old, Ring in the Old

Film: Thor: The Dark World
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Eccleston,
Director: Alan Taylor

Thor is the odd man out in the superhero team-up known as the Avengers. While the others are all humans who were subjected to accidental or intentional exposure to serums, blasts and radiations or possessing a specific set of skills, Thor is a being from another realm. Since the common reader does not have the imagination of the comic writers or artists, he comes from a realm where the inhabitants are just like us! As such getting him on to the silver screen was always going to be the biggest of Marvel Studios’ challenges. Treating Thor’s story as Shakespearean soap opera and getting the foremost Shakespearean – Kenneth Branagh – to direct was a good move. Now comes the followup. Where do you go?

Director Alan Taylor decided that that extra-terrestrial was the way to go and he sticks to it for most part. Thor’s (Hemsworth) homeland of Asgard has a large role to play. Courtesy of a childish narration sequence we get to know that during the age of Thor’s grandfather, the Asgardians went to war against Dark Elf Malekith (Eccleston), the bad dude, who had at his disposal some pretty bad mojo called Aether. Malekith lost and fled and the Aether was confiscated and buried deep in a stone column.

But not deep enough, as it turns out. In present-day Earth a portal opens. The petite Dr Jane Foster (Portman) gets drawn into another dimension where she is infected/empowered by the Aether. During this time the all-seeing Asgardian gatekeeper Heimdall (Elba) could not see her and alerts Thor, who immediately arrives on Earth. He takes Jane to Asgard to find a cure. Malekith awakens from a state of stupor and lays waste to Asgard looking for the Aether. Thor chases him away, but knows that he needs to get Jane away, or else Malekith’s next offensive would destroy Asgard. An obstinate Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor’s old man, refuses permission. So Thor has to get the services of his imprisoned brother Loki (Hiddleston) in order to save Jane from Malekith.

The performances are efficient for most part. Chris Hemsworth continues to be engaging. His pairing with the one feet shorter Nathalie Portman was amusing in the first installment. Here, even though she has a more pivotal role, it doesn’t stand out. Christopher Eccleston grunts his way through, but the makeup and the dialogue in an alien language suffocates his patented histrionics and dialogue delivery. Why couldn’t they let him speak in his own accent and in English? Surely the Brits massacred more people during their empire-building than the Dark Elves? 

Tom Hiddleston runs away with all the best bits in the movie. I was, and still am, critical of him being the main villain of Avengers. He is simply not that convincing as the grand evil villain who prompts all the superheroes to come together. But here, he is back to being Loki, the God of Lies and Mischief, and you see what a fabulous piece of casting it is. 

The production design in The Dark World is really eye-catching, especially the Asgardian parts. The photography is also spectacular during the battle scenes on Earth when the green screens are minimal. The post-production 3D is useless, as expected. The visual effects do not disappoint and big money scenes are suitably big. 

What exactly is wrong with Thor: The Dark World? Well, in the words of today’s generation, it is pretty blah. It is consistent in its tone and treatment. It is also consistently underwhelming. The screenplay credited to three writers never throws up any curveballs. It ticks all the requisite boxes and that is it. The direction by TV director Taylor also doesn’t stand out. 

Iron Man 3 aspired to be a lot, and eventually sucked. The Dark World, despite its budget and scale seems to be lacking in ambition. Or that is what comes through. When all you can think of in a movie is the two cameos it has, you know something is not right.