There are a couple good moments, like when Jane is fascinated by Asgard magic/science but whereas the first Thor benefited tremendously from the fish-out-of-water antics of Thor encountering our world, the sequel doesn’t do anything half as entertaining having the reversed situation with Jane visiting the Asgardian Gods. So far we’ve spent relatively little time on earth, and that’s fine but me, except that the stuff that goes on Asgard isn’t particularly interesting or fun to watch. So, of course Jane comes in contact with the Aether, which moves Thor to look for her and bring her to Asgard. We also catch up with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who has been unable to recover from the emotional aftermath of falling in love with a nordic God that has disappeared from her life. This is still very much your typical blockbuster with your standard McGuffin (a red goo-mist hybrid called the Aether) and a couple of bland villains called the Dark Elves (played by the wasted talents of Christopher Eccleston and Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje). Yes, most of this early part of Thor: The Dark World looks and feels like something out of Game of Thrones, but it lacks the clever writing and mature themes of the series. The movie is directed by Alan Taylor, who made his name directing television shows such as The Sopranos, Mad Men and more relevantly Game of Thrones. I actually admire the way Marvel has decided to embrace the weirdest and geekiest aspects of their comic library to give flavor and color to their mainstream blockbusters, but all these elements don’t keep Thor from feeling very bland and boring. If this all sound very confusing and nerdy, it’s because it is. The movie opens in Asgard, as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is fighting an interminable battle to bring peace back to the nine realms. And diving right on to what people are calling “phase two” of the Marvel movie-universe (which basically means the movies leading up to Avengers 2), Thor: The Dark World features the best and the most frustrating elements of what Marvel has been up to. Creatively, though, there have been hits and misses. Commercially, all Marvel movies have been a success. On the one hand, what they’re doing is not that surprising (considering how the comic book industry has relied on similar commercial strategies for decades), but on the other hand, it’s a gigantic enterprise that doesn’t cease to amaze on how far it is willing to go to keep getting bigger. Expanding through many different heroes, villains, movies and interconnecting all of them in the hugely successful The Avengers, the Marvel movies have become one of the biggest franchises and most effective marketing strategies of all-time.
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