Nobody in
Hollywood can burn up the screen with a sneer quite like Tom Hiddleston and
Thor 2: The Dark World belongs to Loki.
In Loki,
Marvel know they've created a fan favourite character from an unlikely source
and now will surely continue to use him as Thor's main foil.
Tom clearly
relishes his role as the God of Mischief and pulls out all the stops to create
further depths of malignant marauders.
The downside
is that the depth of Loki's character can at times cast a shadow over the
heroic Thor, (Chris Hemsworth) who apart from providing a well rounded voice
and accent for the Norse God, is left looking like a glorified clothes horse
when Loki is stealing the lime light from him.
A brilliant
scene unfolds when Thor springs his raven haired brother from his prison cell
and they embark on their clandestine voyage off Asgard and Loki uses his powers
of illusion to re-invent himself in the image of Thor's Asgardian pals and even
as Captain America.
As Marvel
launch their so called 'Phase 2' of movies, Thor 2 marks a return to the lofty
ambitions of The Avengers movie after the stable effort of Iron Man 3.
Director
Alan Taylor - who has worked on many TV hits including Game of Thrones,
admirably picks up the gauntlet laid down by English 'lovie' superemo Kenneth
Branagh from the first Thor film.
Sir Anthony
Hopkins also lends some much needed gravitas to the heavenly bodies on Asgard
and it would be great to see more of him on the screen, as he appears to be
largely used for plot exposition.
Far from
settled after the fallout from Avengers Assemble, the majestic realm of Asgard
is under attack from the Dark Elves, led by Malekith, who are seeking the
all-encompassing power of the Ether in an attempt to plunge the Universe back
into eternal darkness.
Meanwhile,
it seems that the universal centre for the Elves' evil ambitions is Earth and
all the action takes place in London, which is a welcome sight - especially as
the majority of the Marvel movies are being shot in Blighty.
Astrophysicist
Erik Selvig, played deftly by Stellan Skarsgard is seen dementedly running
naked around Stonehenge and later establishes the danger involving the
convergence of the nine realms and why all the ancient star gazing spots are
pointing to Greenwich as the central focus for trouble when they fully allign.
This has got
to be one of the funniest Marvel movies to date, which when compared with the
Iron Man movies and Robert Downey Jnr's quip-firing Tony Stark is no mean feat.
Perhaps it's because the story line is so fantastical in Thor, that it needs
the comic relief.
As we've
come to expect from Marvel, the attention to detail is spot on and the little
British references are done with great aplomb.
When Jane
Foster grabs a can to throw into a portal to another realm, it is none other
than a can of Vimto. Eagle eyed viewers can also spot a box of Shreddies
gracing the table of Jane's apartment-turned-lab.
One of the
funniest moments comes when Thor comes home with Jane and hangs up his Mjolnir
tentatively on a coat hook.
Although the
directions the blonde-haired god gets on The Tube to Greenwich from Charring
Cross have drawn some askance observations from the blogosphere.
Viewers
really trying to pick fault with the film, could find an easy target in one
time Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston's portrayal of Malekith, who despite
rolling his tongue around the fictional Elven language (created by the chap who
invented Dothraki for Game of Thrones), often comes over as unmistakably
Mancunian and mostly looks like he's just going through the motions.
But the
design of the Dark Elves' aesthetic is fantastic and even gives a nod to The
Doctor as they boast a look that is pure Whovian villain.
Their great
warrior The Kursed, brings about the most destruction in the film and brutally
kicks Thor's arse, before Loki comes to his aid with another intricate
illusion.
A challenge
for all directors stepping up to the helm of a Marvel Studio's movie is tying
all the extended plot lines from the other comic films together.
This can
often be seen in the now unmissable end credits scenes, which sets up plot line
for Guardians of the Galaxy, due out next year, and introducing Benicio Del
Toro as The Collector.
Alan Taylor
is reportedly unhappy with the mid-credits scene. And fans at large might be
unhappy to wait right til the bitter end to see Thor bound back to a very
domestic scene on Earth. Roll on Avengers 2!
And fans who
have journeyed to The Dark World are in for an extra treat this week as
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is promising a tie in as Agent Coulson's Earth bound
team deal with the after effects of the Dark Elves' assault on Greenwich.
0 comments:
Post a Comment