Better Off Otherworldly

Rating: 6/10 (30 October 2013)

Thor: The Dark World made a wise choice of stepping up to its sequel. It tends to explore worlds beyond Asgard and Midgard, and innovating more details around this absurd universe. Because if your source material have a world this rich, it makes your everyday reality look boring. It's a fine escapism, but the joy stumbles when it goes to the storyline. It's almost like the opposite of the first movie. Here, it works better when it simply shows the heroes fighting off the bad guys, but feels forced when it tries to pull off a drama. The overall film can be entertaining, but it messes a lot of elements within the surfaces.
The big problem already lies by justifying the word "dark" in the title. While being dark and serious is not really a problem to this modern era of blockbusters, the film never felt natural for it. Though, the first movie was more special when it was focused on the drama, here it definitely feels force. There are those "tragic" or "emotional" scenes when it feels so contrived for the sake of fitting and pleasing the audience who seek for sheer deepness. The result is surprisingly not compelling, which makes you wish it was handled by Kenneth Branagh again. The film also suffers with a weak plot, there are large parts where the good guys are lingering to brood, making plans, and just goofing around while they're surrounded by a formidable enemy. Those moments they waste pretty much kills the momentum.
The movie is better when it stays loyal to the roots of a Marvel picture. Staying in the action and the comedy is when the film felt more comfortable, although it may get out of hand. The cast gives plenty of life, as always, especially when Tom Hiddleston is around to spice things up. Director Alan Taylor seems to be more interested in creating inventive action set pieces and featuring stuff that we don't normally see in the genre, which helps a lot to bring pure energy within the adventure, while the CGI effects bring massive scale in any world they stop in to.
Thor: The Dark World had its fun moments, but also suffers by its missteps. The recent trend of "darkening" almost every latest superhero movie somewhat affects it. Having drama scenes is definitely not the problem since the first movie was fascinating because of those parts. The real problem is how the film delivers them, it instead makes them look preachy and pretentious. It would have been a straightforward quest, because that's where the film works better. If the whole film is completely adventurous and full of personality, then it might end up being somehow remarkable. Still, Thor needs some pizazz to its gravity to make it more than just another action blockbuster. For now, Thor: The Dark World is fine enough as a distraction.