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Thor: The Dark World
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I think I’ve figured out the issue with most Marvel movies. Ever since the release or even the announcement of The Avengers and therefore a connected Marvel universe, no film of theirs released is allowed to be as grand of scale as the previously mentioned super special awesome playtime with friends spectacular. Now all of the villains have to be kept to the equivalent of a purse snatcher with rocket boots so that all of the other Marvel characters don’t have to feel bothered by it. You have to wonder though if at any point Thor ringed up Hawkeye at times like this just to ask, “Where were you bro?!” Warner Brothers must be thanking God that they don’t have to deal with that kind of backlash to their DC films just yet. The thing is though that for all of the Marvel movies’ underwhelming plots and coasting narrative they still have something that the DC series still have yet to grasp, fun.

The film is a direct sequel to The Avengers and the first Thor (aka Abs from Space) movie, and by extension the rest of the Avenger movies as well, but I digress because the whole continuity is like a spider web and it’s easier to follow one strand less I be caught in the continuity web fandom of no one else gives a crap. As it turns out the events of The Avengers was only one part of a larger quest by Goldilocks and the Firm Ass to undo the damages in the nine realms caused by his brother Loki (now imprisoned). By the way the film expects you to have watched the previous Marvel movies to understand all the world details, so I’m just gonna expect the same from you as well. Before Planetary Pecs can rest from playing galactic clean up, a surviving race of dark elves(yes we’re going that route now) have come back from near extinction to take back the universe as their own. Meanwhile Hammer Bod’s human love interest has conveniently absorbed the dark elves weapon called the Aether. Which will give the dark elf king the... power to bring darkness to the world by... making him... big with... the... planetary alignment? I dunno. THUNDER CHEST=GOOD, DARK ELVES=BAD, LET’S SPACE FIGHT in what becomes a compilation in what all together looks like Lord of the Rings, Shakespeare’s Days of our Lives, Star Wars/Trek/Gate and any number of British sitcoms, but I gotta admit that it’s a good look.

As you can tell from my SUBTLE hints the movie feels more complicated than it should be, especially when in comparison to its more charming and simplistic first instalment. The amount of information thrown at you and the speed at which the scenes are played makes this movie feels much longer than the well under two hours that it clocks itself in. The main reason for this may be because Loki doesn’t join in on the journey till more than half the movie is over. Before that everyone is just counting down the seconds till we no longer have to pay attention to the stomping around dark elf king that has no more character to him than a Dungeons and Dragons stats sheet. When Loki does finally have his moment, the film picks up its humor, energy, unpredictability and plain fun in a way that I haven’t felt since the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

In the mean time, while sacrificing the pacing and charm of the first film, the sequel fixes a lot of issues its predecessor has while waiting for Loki’s arrival. The action and settings are constantly creative and unpredictable to the point of flying machinery looking as impractical as any Star Wars ship until you realize, “oh, that’s why.” The side characters, though briefly, are much more fleshed out as people with special attention given to fan fic favorite Loki. I as well appreciate the title Thor: The Dark World actually referring to a plot point in the movie rather than being the standard dimmer switch agreement that all movie franchises seem to be contractually oblige by. All of this slowly adding up to a confusing but bizarrely fun and inventive climax that will give people a whole new meaning to, ‘now you’re thinking with portals.’ The experience of the movie is like if you go to your hated boss’s birthday party for the only reason that he hired your favorite band; you go through the motions making the best of it until the band arrives and you’re submerged in a mass of energy, ambition and arousal... don’t you deny it.