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'Thor: The Dark World' Reviews: Antihero Loki Is The Best Part Of The Sequel
'Thor: The Dark World' Reviews: Antihero Loki Is The Best Part Of The Sequel
Kirsten AcunaNov 6, 2013, 21:39 IST
Disney / Marvel"Thor: The Dark World" comes to theaters Friday and so far, the first reviews are pretty positive.This time Chris Hemsworth returns as the God of Thunder to fight off against Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the leader of an alien race called the Dark Elves who are set on destroying Earth (naturally). The sequel reunites Thor with girlfriend Jane (Natalie Portman) and his adopted, conniving brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after he tried to destroy New York City.Wondering how the sequel lives up to the 2011 film?We'll gather our own assessment once seeing the film come Friday. For now, here's what others are saying about the God of Thunder.The movie is a bit over the top. But that's okay. Fans expect that.Time Out:"This is a deeply silly, extremely noisy and sometimes impenetrable action movie that's drowning in CGI, wild overacting and mullets. And it's enormously entertaining."Variety:"Disney/Marvel's latest slab of briskly amusing, elaborately inconsequential 3D entertainment is a buoyant if derivative ride."IGN's Chris Tilly says the fight scenes are great, thanks to director Alan Taylor - who has worked on "Game of Thrones":Disney / Marvel"Taylor has a more naturalistic approach than Kenneth Branagh employed on the previous flick, thrusting his camera into the heart of battle so that the fight scenes have a grittiness and muscularity that serve the story well."While Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor, he's lacking some of the vibrance of the first film:Variety:"With no sins of hubris to overcome this time around, Thor himself is a somewhat duller presence this time around, through no fault of Hemsworth's solid, likable performance and stereoscopically enhanced pectorals."We're not really sure why the villain Malekith is out to destroy the Earth.IGN:"There's no doubting that Christopher Eccleston is an excellent actor, but here he's buried under mountains of prosthetics, and the audience spends so little time with the character that we never get a true sense of who he is or what his motives are."The visuals aren't all that impressive. Disney / MarvelTHR: "For all the budget spent on lavish visual effects in The Dark World nothing in it quite compares to the White Walkers marching relentlessly through the snowy Northern wastes at the end of the Taylor-directed episode 'Valar Morghulis.'"The film is packed with humor - but no single moment that tops this gem from the first film.The Guardian: "There are numerous comedic interludes, but nothing to match the ingenious cutaway scene from the first film in which Thor walks into a pet shop and cheerfully demands a horse."Digital Spy: "The script (on which Joss Whedon did a pass) is very, very funny, with Kat Dennings's feisty Darcy given an expanded role and Stellan Skarsgård returning for some mental breakdown-based comedy."Variety:"In the end, that humorous approach is largely the film's saving grace, keeping the action sufficiently lively and diverting that audiences won't recognize how recycled the material is, or how low the stakes feel."The second half of the film is better than the first: The Hollywood Reporter:"The middle section is mostly a muddle, with endless cross-cutting between the Dark Elves plotting, attacking and then retreating to plot some more, earthlings Darcy and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) worrying, and the Asgardians bickering over what they should do."New York Mag: "I drifted off into the Aether myself while various CG armies whacked away at one another, but Thor: The Dark World gets a lot more entertaining in the second hour, when the shape-shifting Loki is sprung from his cell."Everyone agrees, Loki is the best part of the film.Disney / MarvelIGN:"Thor: The Dark World is an entertaining superhero sequel that comes to life whenever Loki is on-screen."THR:"Most of it pales into insignificance when Loki takes the stage, which isn't often enough given how wildly uneven the sections without him are."Digital Spy:"All of the qualities that have made Loki beloved among fans despite his villainy - the sardonic wit and eloquent rage and the crippling vulnerability beneath - are given full reign, but Loki is ultimately still on screen less than you wish."Overall consensus: See itSure, it sounds silly that yet another villain is trying to take down Earth and Thor for some reason isn't calling upon his new found Avengers friends to lend a hand in cleaning up the mess, but you know it will be a good time. From the trailers, the dynamic between Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth alone is enough reason to go.If you're not heading to theaters for Thor or Loki, any Marvel fan is going to want to stick through the credits to see the two extra scenes teasing future comic films from Disney and Marvel. Seeing the film in 3D? Ahead of the film, you'll get a five-minute sneak peek at "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" which comes out next spring."Thor: The Dark World" is in theaters Friday, November 8.
