Thor - the Dark World

[Shiryu]

It's been awfully quiet here in these past few weeks, soo has anyone seen the latest Thor film? Comments?

[Doctor Bong Crosby]

Nov 15, 2013 7:03:20 GMT -5 Shiryu said:

It's been awfully quiet here in these past few weeks, soo has anyone seen the latest Thor film? Comments?

I haven´t. Did you see it? If so, did you like it? Do you recommend it?

[Shiryu]

Yes to all the questions, I liked the first film, but this is a big improvement in terms of action and scope. Except for an hilarious scene with Jane at the restaurant, the first 15 minutes are not very inspired, but then there is what you could call a watershed moment pretty soon and everything improves drastically.

In terms of characters, expect a lot from Thor, Loki, Jane and Frigga. Some nice moments from Heimdall, Sif, Fandral and Volstagg too, not too much from Odin and nothing at all from Hogun. Loki in particular really steals the movie, making up for Malekith being a rather generic villain. There are some good laughs, too, especially in the second half.

Oh, and do stay until the very end of the credits. As you may already know, there are two scenes at the end. The first is by far the more interesting, but the second provides closure nicely.

[starfoxxx]

I JUST saw it in 3D.
Well, after the trailer for Captain America 2, I was SURE I would be disappointed. (We need to start a thread for that trailer, the BEST preview I've ever seen, hands down!)

As for THOR 2......
Definitely one of the best movies I've EVER seen.
Okay, just like I gushed over Wolverine 2, this movie benefits from not having to explain or rehash the Thor origin/backstory.
I thought it borrowed PERFECTLY from other classic films, especially STAR WARS; just so many visual cues, from space ships to .......well I'd rather not spoil anything major until more Assemblers have seen the movie.
Anthony Hopkins is to the Thor franchise what Patrick Stewart's Prof X is for the Xmen films. Perfect casting, Perfect performance.
I was very disappointed and underwhelmed with the Warriors Three in the first Thor, but they are also handled perfectly in Thor 2. Now THAT is the Volstagg I read in the comics!
Loki is in top form, that guy is just so entertaining.
I like the fact that the recent Marvel movies have gone full-tilt with their scripts. By this I mean that the Avengers, Iron Man 3, Wolverine 2 and Thor 2 are movies that take chances with keeping the drama significant in moving along the personal stories of the heroes. It makes the drama so much better, as I compare it to the "decompressed" current treatment of comic book storytelling, where they hype up the "major" event so much and then spread it out over 6 months to several years, that I find myself losing interest before anything actually HAPPENS.
Thor 2 has several MAJOR events happen to Thor, I was really shocked....and I loved it!
Hey, these producers realize now that when you get a chance to use these great characters----write a FANTASTIC, mind-blowing script! Thor 2 delivered EXACTLY the thrills I dreamed the great Marvel heroes I grew up with have the potential to deliver on film.

I only caught the FIRST scene during the credits (I'll have to look up that 2nd scene Shiryu mentioned.) All I can say is WOW! One of my FAVORITE villains!

To conclude (for now)....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!

[ultron69]

Never mind Thor, when is a Warriors 3 movie coming out??!!

[spiderwasp]

Must concur with the other opinions. Great movie. I love it when a movie can combine action, drama, and comedy seamlessly and this one did. Can't recommend it strongly enough and I agree that the second ending is worth hanging around for but the first one was the one that had me lighting up like it was Christmas already.

[dlw66]

Hi, guys --

I just saw it last night in 2D --went to a 3:50 pm show and it only cost me $5! However, I'd go see it again right now. I think Marvel has had three really good film sequels, all in fact better than the originals IMO -- Spider-Man 2, X2, and now Thor The Dark World.

This movie was a blast start to finish. Some of the comic bits got a tad annoying, but overall this action film seemed balanced. Starfoxxx, I thought of the Star Wars films throughout this one -- now that Disney owns the Lucas properties, they readily borrowed numerous sound effects. That was OK by me.

Frigga was awesome -- quite a pleasant surprise, and handled very well.

Tom Hiddleston is starting to push the all-time great comic villains (movie version). He steals every scene he's in. Whoever originally cast him in the part of Loki should get a huge bonus. Really, he and Hemsworth are perfectly cast, as much so as Downey is as Tony Stark.

On the Bronze Age Babies we're currently reviewing 8 Tales of Asgard stories. This film seemed inspired by those fun little short stories, particularly the stories about Thor's relationship to Loki. Incidentally, we'll be running a post on Thursday (11/21/13) that will allow our readers to fully-spoil this Thor film. I wonder if others will make the correlation between those old Lee/Kirby tales?

The Avenger who made the guest appearance -- don't know if I could have smiled more! And the villain at the end credits? While I thought he was portrayed a bit foppishly (if that's a word), I was very excited -- Spiderwasp, Christmas indeed!

Starfoxxx, gonna have to disagree with you concerning the portrayal of Volstagg. His character is where they should have spent their money on comic relief; instead we got Jane's lab assistant over and over in that role. I just thought Volstagg was played way too straight. Fandral, on the other hand? Perfect!! But Odin? I don't think Hopkins is playing him as a strong enough character. There's not enough anger, not enough omnipotence being exuded. He's sort of a Nordic "Father Knows Best" kind of guy here...

Jane vs. Sif? Jeez, why is that even an issue? Thor's dumb.

That's about all I want to say at this point -- if you want, come by the blog tomorrow and check out some "cat's out of the bag"-type comments.

Doug

[Marvel Boy]

Finally saw this film and loved it.

Very fun, lots of good drama and terrific humor, I liked this better than IM3. The trailer for the next Cap film looks great.

As for the teaser scenes, I think Marvel may be facing their next real challenge with the Guardians film. I was intrigued by del Toro's short performance as the Collector (especially since he was playing him as a bit of a fop) but my son kept asking me, "Who is that?". I'd tell him as simply as I could about the Collector, he paused, and asked, "Who is that?" So Marvel may have their work cut out for them here.


And I was mad. I knew Eccleston was Malekith so I recognized him under the makeup. But I completely forgot about Zachary Levi playing Fandral till I saw the credits. I missed Chuck! How do I miss Chuck?! Argh! :lol:

[humanbelly]

And yep-- HBSon & I went to see it on his Thanksgiving break (2nd viewing for him, in fact). I solidly agree that this was a much better film than the first one. Although not flawless, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. . . a very, very good piece of fun, action cinema-- high marks. Better than IM3, sure-- but that carries some weight, 'cause I rather liked IM3. . . much better (IMO) than IM2.

This cast, almost across the board, just hits the nail dead-on. Hiddleston & Hemsworth, of course. Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and geeze, HEIMDALL. I don't know if it's possible to bring more to a smallish supporting role than Elba has in this series thus far. I'm thinking I want Heimdall to be an Avenger-! HBSon is totally sold on him as being the most Bad-Assgardian ever (as it were).

Hopkins does worry me. His performance has such a phoned-in quality at times that I found myself concerned about the health of the actor himself. Just not a lot there underneath the surface to push him along, y'know?

I think I would find Jane's side-kick intern annoying if it weren't for the fact that I do think she's awfully funny. . . and doesn't actually hurt the movie in the process.

Chris Eccleston is just wasted here, I'm afraid. Such a generic, angry, one-dimensional warrior/elf/demon villain (although the oddly understandable nature of their core grievance with EVERYTHING gave some depth to dark elves on the whole)-- it really could have been played by just about any actor who could carry off a tough Klingon or raging street-tough. I mean. . . he's not Doctor Who, so he can keep himself available for. . . this? Still havin' a tough time w/ that. . .

And, although we haven't seen nearly enough of him, I'm totally buying this version of Volstagg-- and it's not necessarily pre-empting the one we're familiar with. . . we just may not have seen that side of him yet. But the one moment that captured him perfectly was him laughing with delight as he fended off the guards to allow Thor & Loki's escape. One brief shot, but my mind instantly said, "Ah, THERE'S Volstagg!".

And. . . hey, go ahead and make The Collector an ingratiatingly prancy fop. Honestly, it's going to make him much more interesting to watch on film, and it may even be a way of reading "between the panels" from the source material. Although odd, it certainly makes him memorably real.

HB

[wundagoreborn]

Jan 2, 2014 20:20:31 GMT -5 humanbelly said:

And, although we haven't seen nearly enough of him, I'm totally buying this version of Volstagg-- and it's not necessarily pre-empting the one we're familiar with. . . we just may not have seen that side of him yet. But the one moment that captured him perfectly was him laughing with delight as he fended off the guards to allow Thor & Loki's escape. One brief shot, but my mind instantly said, "Ah, THERE'S Volstagg!


HB

Ray Stevenson is becoming one of my favorites. He's compelling in whatever he plays, whether a Russian mobster (Dexter), a softhearted centurion (Rome) or an Asgardian. I always want to see more of him, no matter how big the role.

Haven't seen Dark World yet and it's bugging me but actual in-the-theater viewing opps are hard to come by right now.

[Crimson Cowl]

This was a retread of the first film by numbers and didn't do it for me. Mediocre. The first movie was much better.

Thor letting rip with his hammer in the final fight with Malekith was a treat though.