Thor: The Dark World

I discovered two things about myself while watching the famous Norse god from the Avengers tonight: 1. I have new motivation to go to the gym. Chris Hemsworth is ridiculous. 2. I know how my future wake looks; Traditional viking warrior funeral. Broad sword clasped with both hands across the chest, pushed off to Valhalla on a raft out to sea, ceremonially lit on fire. Epic if it ever was.

Anyway, Thor 2 brings us back to the land of Norse legends, Asgard. Thor is once again fighting the evil that traverses the nine realms (including Earth) and this time there is a cool evil smoke spirit called Aether that is being pursued by the dark elf lord, Malekith, played brilliantly by former Dr. Who Christopher Eccleston. Meanwhile, Thor's human crush, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is still researching quantum physics and finds herself in the mix. Loki is still locked up from the Avengers, and Thor's parents are worried about the future of their planet. Of course, only Thor can save the universe from the forces of evil, and through plenty of eyegasmic fight scenes, he flexes his muscles and leads us to the next stopping point in this magical journey that has spanned several heroes and even more films over the past five years since 2008's Iron Man. In scenes reminiscent of Avengers' climactic New York battle, the nine realms lay victim to the might of Thor's hammer, and Malekith's smoke monster spirit magic. And of course, Loki is the wild card as the adopted brother with continually conniving agendas.

The film ends with the Marvel staple story continuation at the end of the credits, this time leading us to a segue into the Guardians of the Galaxy universe (http://www.hitfix.com/news/what-was-benecio-del-toro-doing-in-the-thor-the-dark-world-credits) Chris Pratt and an intergalactic team of aliens, including a tree-man voiced by Vin Diesel, and a raccoon with guns voiced by Bradley Cooper. It's coming at the end of next Summer, keeping with Marvel's consistent timeline (Captain America in April, X-Men in June, G of the G in August. They are keeping busy, but with Iron Man 3's box office showing ($409 domestic, $1.215 billion global), and now Thor 2's $86 million domestic opening (almost $330 million in less than 2 weeks internationally) they need to keep cranking these money makers as long as the audience keeps showing up.

Chris Hemsworth is enormous. Of course they throw in a shirtless scene, but if I had his upper body, I would probably demand to do the whole film shirtless. He's the perfect fit for Thor, and the best lines of the film are his perfectly timed deadpan interactions with the humans. He's a major action star who has the face, body, and acting that will take him down the road of Dwayne, Arnold, or Sly. He's going to be one of the major faces of action for the next decade if he plays his cards right. He's smart to ride out this Thor/Avengers thing though as there is one more Thor in the works (after the box office success, you can pretty much count on it) and at least one more Avengers, but count on two or more.

The rest of the cast does a nice job. It's still odd to see Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Idris Elba and Renee Russo get a little more screen time this time around as more of the film centers in the realm of Asgard. The rest of the cast from the first Thor return including Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard, Ray Stevenson, Jaime Alexander, and a few others. They are mostly padding for a rich, action driven film that is fantastical at least, and a vehicle to add more story before the next Avengers at best. Personally, I'm waiting to see what the new Marvel crew does with Hulk. It's been tried twice in the past decade or so, but the job the visual effects team and Mark Ruffalo did in Avengers was terrific, so it's always a possibility that they will sneak it into a franchise.

Alan Taylor is an experienced director mostly with high profile and award-winning television shows, and is an interesting choice to follow up Kenneth Branagh's first iteration. I like what Marvel is doing by getting fresh directors to keep the various cyclic franchises from getting stale. Their business model for sequels is both innovative and brilliant, and they seem to have struck a market niche that DC and WB are desperately trying to emulate. Unfortunately, they are lagging behind, and their failure to get Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, and even Aquaman off the ground is going to doom the Justice League dream. Batman vs. Superman will be the make or break film of the comic book space race, and if they are smart, they'll introduce more than a couple of the other characters in more than cameos. They need to get some starpower to back up Affleck and Cavill as well, and Jaime Alexander would be an amazing Wonder Woman, but success lies in Green Lantern and Flash.

Three things didn't sit well with me. First, Sif, Thor's gorgeous warrior companion is much more suitable and attractive than Natalie Portman's character. Sorry Jane Foster, you're a human, and you haven't been rumored to be playing Wonder Woman in DC's upcoming film (possibly making an early appearance in Batman vs. Superman). It's a subtly hinted love triangle, and possible fodder for future storylines. Second, Thor is just too bipolar in his invincible Moljnir-wielding god, or vulnerable brutish brawler. He seems to vacillate between the two at will, and when the situation demands it, he turns on the Thunder God and summons lightning at will. Thirdly, I'm not impressed with Loki's seemingly endless amounts of trickery that seems to have no limitations. Frankly, I'm getting tired of him already. Tom Hiddleston is great, but his turn has ended. Give us some new characters! I'm not a Marvel aficionado and never really read the comics, but there are literally thousands of characters to choose from, and fanboys and girls love when the storylines mirror the comics, but newsflash; it doesn't have to. Take a few liberties and give us some new blood on both sides of the fight. Don't get me wrong, Malekith was pretty cool and his unstoppable minion reminded me of the LOTR orc captain, but Loki is overdone. Enigmatic and charismatic as he is, three films for one bad guy is too much unless his name starts with Darth.

All in all, it's the second of the winter action blockbusters (Ender's Game, Hunger Games, Hobbit 2) and it's pretty cool. A bit darker than the first, but it's the Dark World, so what do you expect? Next up is Captain America: The Winter Soldier and it looks pretty fun as well, but I'm mostly excited to see Anthony Mackie as the Falcon. You know you can't resist the Marvel movies, but don't be like the girls behind us and don't talk through the whole thing, and stay until the end of the credits as usual. Am I turning into a Marvel nerd? Maybe so. 8/10.