Sci-Fi Norsesense

Rating: 4/10 (20 November 2013)

￼This film is not recommended.
Thor is back but, this time around, it felt like a visit to the Bizarro World rather than a journey to the dark world as the title proclaims. Everything that I truly enjoyed in the first installment of this franchise had an oddly opposite reaction for me in Thor: The Dark World. Everything in this latest installment seemed out of kilter from its entertaining 2011 predecessor. (However, it was during the film that I did have a full out-of-body experience: I so wanted to take this body out of the theater, away from the stifling boredom and unending disengagement of all the silly action and sci-fi mythos, but dear moviegoers, I dutifully fought that urge.)
In Thor: The Dark World, the comic banter is missing (with only one laugh total), as is the beefcake factor (with only one shirtless interlude). With this sequel, everything seems terribly oppressive. In his battle to save Earth, Thor must battle a new villain, Malekith (played one- dimensionally by Christopher Eccleston). Malekith is the leader of the Dark Elves, a group of mutant warriors bent on world destruction (what else?) with the help of a weapon of mass destruction called the Aether (pronounced ether). As with the first film, the film bounces from one battle scene on either a desolate planet or an Art Deco wonderland. Whenever the action takes place on Planet Asgard, the film has recharged energy and strong action footage, whereas, when we go to Planet Earth, the film bogs down and lands with a thud.
Chris Hemsworth, who was so much fun when we first met him as Thor, plays the role all too seriously. He's still an earnest hero, but that fish out of water conceit is no more. (And it was that premise which helped achieve the film's unique and special charm in the first outing.) Natalie Portman is wasted in her role as his astrophysicist gal pal. The wonderful chemistry between these actors playing Thor and Jane that once was is no more. Now Jane is a cute harpy and Thor goes from hunk to lunk. At least, he still has that magic hammer and knock- out abs. Hopkins, who was solid before as Odin, is now all ham and he never quite passes the muster. Such fine actors as Ray Stephenson, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, Kat Dennings, and Stellan Skarsgard are underused in minor roles. Only Tom Hiddleston as Thor's jealous and evil sibling, Loki, has the campy menace and star presence to make this film sequel-worthy.
The CGI is more than adequate as is Alan Taylor's direction. A few action sequences are well staged while others are inessential time fillers. Like the mighty Aether, the numerous and loud sci-fi action numbs the senses and only dulls the pain. The screenplay by Christopher L. Yost, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely is more convoluted than necessary with too much exposition spent on the Norse sci-fi background or establishing the next fight scene instead of developing characters and motives.
Thor: The Dark World just seems needlessly strung together from one battle sequence to the next, as Thor, Jane, and the gang travel from one portal dimension to the next anomaly. The film plays more like an expensive video game than it does a real movie. Boring.
As superhero movies go, the film is a minor disappointment. Marvel's Thor: The Dark World is no marvel at all. It's just more of the same, and not really all that interesting. GRADE: C
ANY COMMENTS: Please contact me at: jadepietro@rcn.com