Stop.... Hammer Time!

Yeah been offline a while, mostly due to computer troubles. I haven't been able to go to theatre very often recently. I have seen Gravity, but I've been having a hard time writing a review for that movie. It's tough to find the words to express my feelings towards it. I just saw Thor: The Dark World yesterday, proving once again I can't seem to stay away from Marvel Studios movies. Now as some of you may know, I was was somewhat.... skeptical of Iron Man 3 (Actually, I completely hated it) This led to me distrusting Marvel, which is surprising considering how much I loved The Avengers. Marvel debuted a new TV show earlier this year, Agents Of SHIELD. I haven't spoken about it here, but I didn't like it at all. The fact I was watching some much superior televisions shows at the same time (Read: Breaking Bad) probably didn't help, but the fact remains that the characters or setup weren't remotely interesting. Sure it's awesome to see Agent Coulson alive and well, but the show has nothing else going for it. What I'm trying to say is that Marvel's stock is at an all time low to me, but I had high hopes for this one. I liked the first Thor a lot, I was sure this would get Marvel back on track. Did it? Well.....

......Not really, no. There's stuff to like here, more than there was in Iron Man 3, but that doesn't change the fact that Thor: The Dark World is an empty, bland movie. First I'll talk about the good. Once again, Chris Hemsworth completely owns Thor. He's a lot less arrogant and much more likeable, which was a good thing. Once again, Tom Hiddleston is magnificent as Loki. I guess I kind of forgot how much I loved Hiddleston in this role, and he didn't disappoint. He isn't in the movie as much as he was in The Avengers, but he does manage to steal the show when he is on screen, even from Hemsworth. I had kind of thought Loki's story was more or less over after The Avengers, but I was wrong. The development between the relationship between him and Thor are easily the best part here. Natalie Portman was fine I guess, although Darcy really annoyed me at times. Even so, she was good for a few laughs. As with most Marvel movies, the action scenes were good, although I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as previous ones. I liked the extended look at Asgard, it's a very well designed place.

Now what didn't work? In a word: the villain. The villain is Malekith the Accursed and the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves reminded me a lot of the Putties from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. You know, these guys:

They were just henchmen, no real personality. Even so, they did look cool, and maybe even a little creepy. But Malekith? Wow did he suck. The look was okay, Christopher Eccleston was fine, but he was about as unthreatening as a villain could be. He wasn't threatening at all: He gets beaten easily several times throughout the movie, he's not a very good fighter, and he doesn't come off as particularly bright. He's less a villain and more an example on how no to write a villain. Outside of him, The movie is very bland, but it's hard to explain. I got bored a number of times, which is a bad sign considering the movie isn't longer than an average movie is these days. The story is isn't engaging or exciting, it almost feels like a story that really didn't need to be told. I loved the first one, and I was hyped to see a direct sequel. It didn't live up to expectations at all, which is too bad. Get your act together, Marvel!