Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Spoilers Ahead!!! so if you don’t want the story ruined, beware!

Ok, first I have to say thanks to Cineworld for showing this as a Double Bill with Thor 1 (the Extended Cut) aswell, so a good catch up on the story and actually seeing Thor 1 on the big screen again actulaly made the first one STRONGER for me, is it was generally considered the weakest of the Avengers Phase 1 movie line up.  The other big thing about Thor 1, was that it was considered the Star Wars style space opera of the Avengers film line up and Thor: The Dark World lives up to that comment immensely, and shows some of the Star Wars talent that has joined the Marvel/Disney line up now

The biggest thing you first notice (if you recognise the cast at all, which some didn’t), is that the cast list is majority bumped up in Thor: The Dark World with some big name actors and actresses returning from the first and getting a LOT more screen time aswell, but also some good cast changes

The setting is the strongest point here, it’s not set in America at all, but in our very own leafy London and also Asgard, but London has a solid half of the film time and Marvel, through some really clever and beautiful shots (and probably copious amounts of CGI) actually make the English capital City look pretty nice (I don’t like London to be honest, I actually don’t like cities at all, but London just makes me sad) and the main bad guy tearing up London is amusing on a geek level, considering Malekith is played by 9th (or is that 10th now?) Doctor Christopher Eccleston. He is genuinely creepy in his portrayal of Malekith, a Dark Elf that lost the war against Odins Father, Thor’s Grandfather, Bor (Tony Curran)

The biggest thing you notice between the two Thor movies is just how much Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has grown up and matured.  The first film was about him changing from being a brat of a warrior, into a King and leader of men (and then becoming part of a team in Avengers), however in Thor: The Dark World, he is learning to love and be a symbol and a peace keeper in the 9 realms.  Plus, for the ladies, more gratuitous naked chest shots (lots of gasps in the cinema last night).

On the other side of that character growth by Thor is his fathers, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is getting older, he wants to pass the mantle of king to Thor, but Thor won’t accept it, he has a job to do and peace to keep.   But Odin is getting old, he’s getting weaker and there was a level of desperation to the character this time.  Anthony Hopkins plays Odin amazingly, he looks fantastic in the costumes (I actually preferred his armour to Thor’s) and he gets to kick some ass in this film aswell, leading his army against the dark Elves, but looking like it takes him an effort.  Anthony Hopkins has made this role his own, especially with his relationship on screen with wife Frigga (Rene Russo), which is nearly heart breaking, but Rene Russo is amazing, looks stunning and kicks ass aswell.

Now, the biggest, yet smallest cast change I noticed was in the Warriors Three, who play a much bigger part in the film this time, Ray Stevenson is back as Volstagg, kicking ass this time rather than lounging around mostly eating, Jaimie Alexander reprises the role of Sif, again pining after Thor, Tadanobu Asano is only in the film as Hogun for about 5 minutes, staying on his home realm to help rebuild after an attack, BUT Zachary Levi (Chuck) takes over the role of Fandral from Josh Dallas this time and it shows.

The Earth based support cast is unchanged (Actor wise) but are in very different places in life, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) is rather unhinged after his possession by Loki in Avengers, and arrested by the police for streaking naked around Stone Henge, Stellan does an amazing job playing this role again, he brings incredibly humour, but also a level to the character that makes you believe he is a scientist that knows what he’s doing. Darcy (Kat Dennings) is still helping the group, but this time has her OWN intern/minion/lackey and makes the most of it. But of course Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), is the main billing here and after two years of searching for Thor and ways to connect to Asgard to find him, has finally started meeting other men and we first see her on a date with comedian Chris O’Dowd‘s character, Richard.   SeaBass…  SeaBass, SeaBass, SeaBass…

Yet again though, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) steals the show.  From initially being placed in Asgardian jail (which looks pretty swanky to be fair), to helping Thor and Jane Foster later in the film, to his obvious double crossing (didn’t see that coming…)But I am worried about the over arching use of Loki in the Avengers movies.  He is brilliant for fan service, but he stands the chance of over shadowing the storylines of other villains, as we know that the big baddie for Avengers 2 will be Ultron and Avengers 3 will be Thanos, I wonder how Loki will get involved with this and pull the strings of the storyline over Avengers Phase 2 and 3.I love Tom Hiddlestons Loki, I would actually happily go and see a Loki film, as he has made the character strong enough to not only hold his own on screen, but actually totally over shadow Thor, who’s film it actually is.

As I said before, the Star Wars influences are totally seeping through in Thor 2, and it benefits from it a lot.  Thor 2 is a far stronger movie than Thor 1 and I would actually say that it is stronger than IronMan 3 (which I gave an 8/10 for back in April), which was a little weak in the story department, but was about character and story development, especially with the building of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and the Extremis storyline that is being pushed in the tv show.

Thor: The Dark World is a special effects tour de force, it looks and sounds great, although I wasn’t bothered by the 3D, which seemed underused, as it did in IronMan 3 aswell.  I would actually happily go and watch it again at the cinema, but this time in 2D

A definite 8.5 outta 10

Bazinga Tony stark!
~Lone