As one would expect, @tomhiddleston steals the show.

Gentle Readers,

Clan J. took in a screening of Thor: The Dark World yesterday.

Over all, we enjoyed this flick immensely. The team behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a great job taking great stories from the Marvel Comic pantheon and integrating pieces here and there as fan service, yet turning certain plot points on their ear in order to keep the fanboys (like Dr. J.) on their toes. One cannot take 50 years of comic history and cram it into half a dozen, or a dozen films and cover everything. Allusions, homages, and complete inversions (e.g. The Mandarin in Iron Man 3) are the way to go to keep fans honest. Similarly, as not everyone who tunes into these epic films are as well versed as the fanboys, and the writers do a fantastic job creating interesting stories that keep the new fans interested (e.g. Mrs. Dr. J., The Lil Resident and Lil Medstudent).

In this outing, the dark elves, inhabitants of Svartalfheim (Dark Elf World), lead by Malekith the Accursed are an ancient race who were defeated by Bor, father of Odin as he was using a super weapon called the Aether (all powerful liquid dark matter stuff) to destroy the universe, typical stuff. In the face of defeat, Malekith and and part of his army escaped using a ‘Scorched Earth’ approach, destroying their home world. The Asgardians secured the weapon in a hiding place on Svartalfheim.

Five-thousand years later, the movie picks up. A new convergence of the nine realms occurs. Boundaries between the worlds break down and Jane Foster stumbles upon a wormhole between Movie-filming tax-haven London and Svartalfheim and accidentally absorbs the Aether.

At that point all sorts of mayhem start…

As noted above, Tom Hiddleston played the villain/anti-hero Loki with scene stealing aplomb. He also lets us see a little bit inside the inner turmoil of Loki, struggling, even after millennia with who he is, an Asgardian or a Frost Giant?

Christopher Eccleston was fantastic as Malekith. When he was speaking Dark Elvish, you could feel the emotions and expressions in his voice. These movies are made and broken by the villains, and in all of Phase I and Phase II, so far, after Loki, Dr. J. thinks he’s the best villain. None of the Iron Man villains come close. Tim Roth’s Abomination did not impress Dr. J. He did like Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull, placing him third on the list.

Joss, if you’re reading this, Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Von Doom…just saying.

Jaimie Alexander was given a bit more to do, as her crush on Thor is an evolving plot point. Given her role in this, Dr. J. think’s she be a great Wonder Woman, but Dr. J. suspects there are others in the running for that role, and I doubt she wants to be typecast.

Kickin’ ass and taking names on Vanaheim.

You also saw a little bit more of the Nine Realms in this epic. In addition to Svartalfheim, Vanaheim (home of the Vanir gods) was visited. One could see a gateway into Muspelheim (a world of fire, Surtur’s realm).

Now what did Dr. J. not like about the movie. Erik Selvig went a little mad since the Battle of New York, and this was played up for too many laughs. And as much as Kat Denning’s Darcy Lewis is hilarious, there was just a little much comic relief from her and Ian the intern. Asgard wasn’t as bright and glittery as when Branagh directed, but that may have been by design. Furthermore the final scene of the film forces Thor 3 in a different direction than Dr. J. would have liked. Surtur, the Enchantress and the Executioner are all yet to make their MCU debut which would be nice if Avengers 3 becomes a ‘Masters of Evil’ flick. They are still setting up Thanos as well, so it should be interesting to see how things shake out. If Guardians of the Galaxy is a big hit, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for there to be a ‘Beta Ray Bill‘ Thor movie. Beta Ray Bill is way out there, but it’d be a fun curveball of a movie.

A space alien who can wield Mjolnir, super cool stuff in an acid-trip sort of way.

No matter how it plays out, the MCU is still churning out quality popcorn flicks. Go check this one out!

Dr. J.