Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World

With THOR: THE DARK WORLD set for release in the next few weeks Patrick has decided to look at what will make or break the movie.

I think every fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is looking forward to Thor: The Dark World, but with the box office success of Iron Man 3 it’s under a lot of pressure to keep Phase 2 on the road to Avengers: Age of Ultron without any bumps. I think there are a number of things that will make this movie great.

Highlight Thor’s Qualities

Thor is a warrior. He is in fact probably the only true warrior among the Avenger clan. Therefore it’s important to see him as this warrior outside the Avenger setting. We saw this in Thor, and it was that sense of him being a warrior that helped give the movie a different feel from Iron Man.

Thor: a true Warrior

We also need to see that Thor has been changed by the events of The Avengers and from his first outing. We saw a glimpse of this at the end of Thor but an emphasis is something that will be needed in this movie too. We can see this in the trailers that Alan Taylor, Chris Hemsworth and the Team have really thought about this and it’s pretty evident that this will happen. We have seen flashes of battles, Thor’s love of fighting, but we have seen a growth too. The main evidence of this is when Thor confronts Loki asking for his help: “WHEN you betray me, I will kill you.” Thor is wise enough now not to trust Loki completely. Again we only have fragments of this from the trailers but I am confident that we will see this in the movie.

Asgard Front and Centre

Asgard in Thor.

Thor is unique in that has another world away from Earth. We know from the trailers that a great deal of the action will take place in Asgard. This is a good thing. The Avenger clan all have their own qualities and Thor’s magical background is a huge part of his appeal.

Asgard seems to have changed from Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. We see that Alan Taylor is bringing in some of his Game of Thrones experience into the mix. In Thor, while I liked the look of Asgard, I felt I looked slightly to “Disney”. All the bright colours and flashing lights were nice but made the 3D very hard to watch without your eyes hurting. Taylor looks to have dulled the colours a small bit and this is a good thing. The Asgard we see in the trailers seems slightly more grounded and a little less fairy tale. It makes it more tactile and that allows us to associate with it a little more.

We know that Jane (Natalie Portman) is brought to Asgard based on the trailer, meaning that the action and majority of the film will be spent there. Wise move and one I endorse whole-heartedly. It gives us a chance to see Thor as the member of the mystical that he is.

Don’t use Loki…too much

Harsh...but true

I will probably be killed for this section (quite possibly by my sister), but it think Loki has to be put SLIGHTLY to one side for this movie. I love Loki as a character and I think Tom Hiddlestone is great in the role. Loki is a great villain but I think that Thor has to be the focal point of the movie. Loki to a certain extent has been the focal point in two movies (Thor and Avengers) because he was the singular bad guy in each. Thor’s struggle to find his way in the first movie is running parallel to Loki’s search for his identity. Therefore we learnt as much about Loki as we did about Thor. The trailer suggests that Loki will “help” Thor against the Dark Elves so that will be a change but with Loki, we will always be left wondering. My worry is that Loki will be given as much screen time as Thor, when we need to see Thor develop as a character in the lead up to Age of Ultron. The second official trailer has much more Loki in it and it almost seems like he is the major piece in the puzzle of the movie. This may have been a way to keep Loki fans happy but I hope it doesn’t reflect the overall direction of the movie.

Malekith

Make the Dark Elves Formidable

The trailers give us a good glimpse of the brilliant Christopher Eccelstone (Dr. Who) and his Dark Elven army. We can tell as well that his villain Malekith is going to pose serious problems to Thor. This is also reiterated by Taylor who said: “we will be killing Asgardians”.  Having watched Game of Thrones and the way they conduct business there, I wouldn’t be surprised is much loved character faced Malekith’s wrath. This points to the Dark Elves being tough opponents for Thor and that we may have a battle on our hands. The more formidable the bad guys, the more action after all.

Give us some lead into Age of Ultron

Age of Ultron: End Game for Phase 2

One thing that annoyed me about Iron Man 3 was that there was no real link to the Age of Ultron. We know that it’s on the road map and really I felt that there was no sense of the Iron Man 3 leading to the events of Age of Ultron. I’d like to see Thor: The Dark World to give us some indication what may happen in Ultron. It’s been rumoured that a trailer for Captain America: Winter Solider is going to be running with the film and I’m sure fans will eagerly awaiting for that. The thing for me is that near the end of Phase One we could tell it was building towards The Avengers, I like to feel that too with Age of Ultron too. Thor: The Dark World may be a good starting point for this.

My hopes are high for Thor: The Dark World and for some reason having seen the trailers for it I think it will make a nice step towards Age of Ultron.