Frivolous God of Thunder sequel

THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The "Iron Man" trilogy has rocked with imagination, thrilling action scenes but, most importantly, a rousing hero was found in the charismatic performance by Robert Downey, Jr. who had been given the chance to develop his Tony Stark. "Thor: The Dark World" is not in the same vein, heck not even in the same universe. Intermittently funny, it is mostly a yawn-inducing sequel with hardly the humor or gravitas that director Kenneth Branagh and actor Chris Hemsworth brought to the original Thor. Even the subtitle, "The Dark World," sounds like a cliche from the world of J.R.R Tolkien.

The Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) wants to shroud the world in darkness. Yep, you can't say you have not heard that before. Except he wants to literally shroud the world in darkness with the help of a weapon called Aether, which looks like floating spilled ink that an astronaut let loose into space. After Malekith fails to unleash the Aether in a battle sequence that looks like "Lord of the Rings" complete with amber red tones and dark gloomy skies, the spilled ink is placed in a stone column to never be found again. Yeah, right. Next we get the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth) wielding his hammer at a rock monster in yet another battle sequence. All is right with the universe until we learn that the Nine Realms are about to be aligned, allowing for portals on Earth. Natalie Portman returns as astrophysicist Jane Foster who discovers these portals in some abandoned factory where kids are throwing soda cans into this portal (everything disappears in this portal and lands in the world of Asgard). So far, so good. Unfortunately, Jane accidentally releases the Aether which consumes her. Naturally, we get Malekith who wants possession of it and we also get the sweet return of Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor's adoptive brother, whom Thor reluctantly enlists his help in fighting Malekith and locating other portals.

When "Thor: The Dark World" focuses on the bitter, bruised relationship between Thor and Loki, I was sold. When it focused on Thor and his love for Jane, I was also sold (though Portman is not half as convincing as I would hope). When we see Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), now placed in a mental institution, I was happy as can be to see the return of an eccentric character in the Marvel universe. Likewise, I was delighted to see the return of Kat Dennings as Jane's quirky intern (I still insist she should have played Jane Foster). But the movie gets bogged down in lots of flashy special-effects and far too many brightly lit shots of spaceships and rainbow colored passageways. When I see ships firing lasers at each other, I started to think I was watching "Star Wars," not Thor. The final, interminable climax has Thor and Malekith pounding each other from one portal to another - it literally gave me a headache. The movie loses sight of its characters and of the quirky humor of the original film. I also wanted to learn about Malekith who is simply an insidiously evil elf - I mean, why is this guy wanting to shroud the world in darkness? There is a hint of revenge in his plan but it is shrouded in noise and overkill.

"Thor: The Dark World" places emphasis on action over plot, explosions and razzle-dazzle over character exploration. Director Alan Taylor takes over Branagh's duties but he is not as epic a director as the Shakespearean Branagh. As far the characters are concerned, only Loki rises as the most fascinating villain in any of these movies - his acrimonious relationship with Thor and Thor's father (Anthony Hopkins) should've and could've given this movie a shot of urgency. As it stands, the movie creates a far more cardinal sin - it is boring.