Check Out My Thor: The Dark World Video Review!

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, recently I reviewed Thor: The Dark World on my blog and now that the film is FINALLY playing worldwide I feel like its time for me to bust out my badass spoiler-free video review!

Now for those who don’t know, I’m primarily a video review kind of guy on YouTube, have been for about 3 years and over the summer I sort of dropped off the radar and gave all that stuff a rest because I was too lazy and was perusing other ventures. But with Thor: The Dark World, I knew I have to come back to the online world and share my thoughts and I can tell ya that it is SO good to be back.

Check out the review below:

So what did you think of my review? Was it good, bad, indifferent? I’d love to hear your thoughts/criticisms. Also how was Thor: The Dark World for you? Whatever your thoughts, drop in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

Thor: The Dark World Review

Howdy people of the internet, its time for a new film review and today’s review will be on a film I’ve been easily anticipating for AGES; Thor: The Dark World. Now I reviewed Thor on Tuesday and now we have the follow-up which promised more character development, a new villain and more realism and not only does The Dark World have to follow-up from the first film but also The Avengers too, so does this film succeed or fail? Read on and find out in this spoiler-free review!

In terms of the story it takes places two years after The Avengers, Loki has been imprisoned, the Bifrost bridge has been repaired and Thor has been fighting away to restore peace to the Nine Realms. And for a little while things look like they’re stabilizing and becoming peaceful, but in the depths of the universe evil lurks waiting to be unleashed. A powerful energy known as the Aether is chased after by the race known as the Dark Elves, lead by Malekith who wishes to use it to plunge the universe into darkness. This not only spells trouble for Asgard, but also Earth and the rest of the realms too, so now Thor will have to go above to save not only Jane Foster but the rest of the universe too.

I thought the story in this film was great, from the beginning there’s a greater sense of scope and danger that comes with this plot and it all feels so much bigger and more involved than the first film. The overall tone is much darker and more serious and considering the threat involved that is a welcome addition, that being said there are still great moments of humour that works really well. The involvement of the Dark Elves and the history of Asgard and the Aether brings a lot more mythology to this fantastic world that was established in the first film and fleshed it out a lot more. I also like how even though there are crazy chaotic things happening on Earth and in Asgard, that there were still intimate moments with the characters. Family is still one of the key themes in this film and it is brought to the forefront and handled is a beautiful way, most moments between Thor, his family, friends and Jane are wonderful.

When it comes to the cast all amazing. Firstly Chris Hemsworth is still amazing as Thor, in the first film he took on the role with such charisma, flair and understanding of what the character embodies in the comics and in The Avengers he continued to impress. And in The Dark World Hemsworth just in his element, he’s badass, intimidating, funny, but also human and expresses a great deal of emotion too. And then there’s Tom Hiddleston as Loki, OH MY GOD, WHAT A BEAST! At this point its hard for me to deny my love for this character, since the first film Loki has inhabited a more sympathetic and likeable demeanour than his comic book counterpart and in The Avengers, Loki when to new heights to become the more villainous and despicable man he’s known as while still having a sense of humour and being incredibly cool and sophisticated. In this film Hiddleston nearly steals the show, his acting talents know no bounds and he takes Loki to deeper, more emotional places which just makes the character a joy to watch. Hiddleston along with Hemsworth are just fantastic and share some amazing scenes together and they’re both the major highlights of the film.

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster was pretty good, I feel like she’s matured just a bit and because of her role in the story I feel like she’s a lot more useful and interesting than the first film. Anthony Hopkins also steps it up as Odin offering some really wonderful father-son moments whether they agree or not, Odin looks out for Thor but is not afraid to voice his opinion. I also loved Idris Elba as Heimdall, this guy had a bit more to do in this film as he had more screen and action time than the last film, Elba is awesome in most roles he’s in and in this film he’s no exception. Then there’s Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the Accursed is pretty damn awesome as the main villain of the film, he’s scary, doesn’t seem too cliché in his personality and I like how he just wants to rule the universe in darkness like the days he knew before now. Also Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Algrim/Kurse was pretty cool, he a very creepy and powerful beast-like creature and offered up some good challenge for the good guys in this film.

Other good performances include Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, while her character is still primarily for comic relief, she did provide good moments of humour. Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Erik Selvig makes a great return and strangely enough is a lot funnier in this film. Jaimie Alexander as Sif still looked incredible and kicked ass though she wasn’t nearly in the film as much as I’d hoped. And then there’s the Warriors Three with Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Zachary Levi as Fandral and Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, they were all great and did well in their roles especially newcomer Zachary Levi, I just wish there was more screen time for them. Oh and Rene Russo as Frigga she was epic, I like how her role was expanded for more active stuff and emotional moments with her family and Jane. Oh and lastly may I just say that Chris O’Dowd in this film was great, while his role was small it offered up some really funny scenes.

As for the presentation of Thor: The Dark World it is easily one of the film’s strongest points. Visually the film looks INSANELY beautiful, the CGI is so much more vivid, colourful and detailed than ever before offering up some truly impressive material when it comes to the scenery of Asgard and the other realms. And may I just say that Asgard on a whole is WAY more lively and seems more realistic than before with more scenes dedicated to interior and exterior locations within the city that aren’t just in the main hall. Also the action sequences are very intricate and vast than before and luckily everyone gets enough screen time to kick some ass! Oh and the soundtrack by Bryan Tyler is amazing, this guy is really starting to become one of my favourite film composers, and while none of his music reaches the majestic points that Patrick Doyle’s score did in the first film, this soundtrack has a lot of epic and beautiful moments that amplified the emotion tenfold.

So in conclusion Thor: The Dark World is another great film for Marvel, it takes the foundation from the first film and amplifies the story, characters and action by a lot more. Alan Taylor has done a really good job at giving us a more dramatic and realistic version of this fantastic world that Kenneth Branagh crafted. In truth it is the characters that make this film truly special and Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are simply incredible and really elevate this film into something special.

Rating: 8.5/10 (This is a sequel that goes above and beyond to deliver much richer and deeper experience than the first film)

So what did you think of Thor: The Dark World? Did it meet your expectations or were you disappointed? Whatever your thoughts, drop in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

Feel The Thunder In This Thor Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, its film review time once again and with the release of Thor: The Dark World just around the corner I thought I’d give you my thoughts on its predecessor, Thor. Now I’m just gonna say this upfront, I love this film, I saw it 5 times in the cinema! If that doesn’t say enough about my love for this film, then let me elaborate in this review. So here we go!

So story-wise the film is about our main character Thor, god of thunder who happens to defy the rule of his father, Odin and because of his defiance Odin strips him of his powers and banishes him to Earth. While banished, his evil brother Loki takes over their home and has some questionable dealings with the enemy known as the Frost Giants. Over the course of the movie Thor has to learn the lesson of humility to gain his powers back through his interaction with humans and stop Loki from causing havoc to the world of Asgard.

The story is pretty good overall, though it has problems. The film deals with cause and effect, redemption and change, honour and family, and these issues are tackled in a thoughtful and spectacular fashion. I loved the focus on the relationships between Thor and Loki, and Thor and Odin, at the end of the day this is a film about family ties and how important they are. In addition to that I really liked the dialogue too, how it had a very Shakespearean vibe and there were some really beautiful, humourous and memorable lines. Obviously there were a great deal of aspects from the comics that were changed and for better or worse they’re now part of in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I believe most of the updates feels realistic, fresh and approachable for by both comic and casual audiences. That being said there are problems with the story in terms of pacing, uninteresting scenes on Earth when related to Asgard and obviously the not so believable relationship between Thor and Jane, which was materialized over a few days rather than a longer period of time. But other than those issues its impressive how the filmmakers crammed several years of comic book history is into this film.

As for the cast who’re all really great and add a lot of realism to this sci-fi/god-like story. Let’s start with the Asgardians. Firstly Chris Hemsworth is fantastic as Thor, he does a great balancing act between being larger than life, arrogant and aggressive, but also adds subtly, charm and drama to his performance.And then there’s Tom Hiddleston who does an equally great performance a Loki. This adaptation is more reletable because he is misunderstood and misguided, that in turn makes us feel for him and come to terms with his transition into darkness and evil. Hiddleston added some more remorseful aspects to the character and his transition to evil is portrayed well, though I wish he’d been a bit more sinister, but otherwise he was fabulous. Anthony Hopkins as Odin was as expected really cool, Odin was such a strong, imposing, yet caring character and I loved his speeches and aura. Hopkins already had the tools to portray the character effectively and he was so cool. The Warriors Three (Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun) played by Ray Stevenson, Joshua Dallas and Tadanobu Asano were delightful, they were all interesting, quirky and pretty awesome on and off of the battlefield. While I primarily know about them from Hulk Vs. Thor and my Wikipedia research, overall they seemed to be depicted pretty well though I wish they had more screen time.

Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif was great too, she was gorgeous and knew how to handle herself in battle, again like The Warriors Three I wish she had more screen time but she was still fun to watch. Idris Elba as Heimdall was very good too, I really wasn’t sure what to expect because this was very far removed from Elba’s standard line of work, but he did well, though some of his words were a bit hard to comprehend at times. Rene Russo as Frigga did a nice job well in the film too, although she was severely underused and I wish she’d had more screen time. Okay, now let’s talke about the human characters. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster was decent, Jane was good for the first half of the film and had nice chemistry between her and Thor, however I didn’t buy into her like her relationship with Thor. Firstly I find it hard to believe that someone as pretty as her would find it so hard to find love, and secondly I the time that she and Thor spent together was FAR too short for her to go from an infuation to all out love, more time wasneeded for that relationship to grow as it kind of felt forced towards the end of the film. Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig was pretty good too, can’t really fault him. And Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis was good too, she had some funny dialogue and was also very beautiful. 😀 And finally it was so great to see Clark Gregg back as Agent Coulson, he had some great scenes and dialogue and by that point he’d definitely become more of an interesting character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

When it comes to the presentation of Thor it is pretty good. Visually the film was very pretty with lovey art direction,good CGI, great costume design and nice cinematography. The visual effects were handled by BUF and Digital Domain, and they crafted some great gorgeous stuff, from the space worlds of Asgard and Jotunheim to the Frost Giants, Destroyer Armour and battle sequences, it was pretty awesome. The travelling sections via the Bifrost Bridge is some of the coolest stuff I’ve seen on-screen for some time (the first time it’s like, “Wow! FRIGGING AWESOME!!”). That being said the world of Asgard seemed a tad empty outside of the main hall and one had to wonder where all of the residents were haha. There also seemed to be a lack of sharpness and clarity in certain sections and I feel a studio like Industrial Light & Magic would have been a better choice for tackling the VFX, but still overall the film looked good.

The action sequences in the film was handled in an effective manner too, with most characters getting decent screen time. The action was shot wonderfully with lots of quick cuts and a variety of camera shots. I loved how Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir was depicted as it demonstrated a lot of different techniques especially with the spinning attacks which I wasn’t expecting to make it into the movie at all. The lightning effects were good and even Thor’s flying ability looked well portrayed too. Loki’s action on-screen was pretty good with a lot more physical combat with a staff, though I wish he had done more magic-based attacks. Everybody else have good fight scenes from the Warriors Three to Sif, from their battle with the Frost Giants to the attack on the Destroyer Armour. One thing that does bug me is the fact the first battle with the Frost Giants is the best one and everything that follows afterwards never quite reach that same level of greatness. Also the soundtrack crafted by Patrick Doyle was pretty great, it epic, dramatic and can go from being really powerful to being quite small and emotional. It really elevates whatever is happening on-screen and hits all the right notes for all the key scenes

So in conclusion I liked Thor a lot, it was a grand film with a good story, great characters, good action and a decent soundtrack. While there are some notable problems with the story, pacing and action, the film laid out the groundwork for these characters and other comic aspects to be incorporated into the sequel. Kenneth Branagh must be commended for taking what seemed to be an impossible task and making it feesable for comic book fans and casual audiences. A lot of people hate on Thor but I reckon its one of the better Phase 1 films, I recommend it and I can’t wait to be blown away by The Dark World (hopefully)!

Rating: 8/10 (It really was one of my favourite superhero films of recent years)

So what did you think of Thor? Whatever your thoughts, drop in the comments below and come back to this blog in the next few days for my review of Thor: The Dark World! Laters yo! 😀