The God of Thunder Returns

To start things off I saw Thor 2 in 3D and got a sneak preview at the new captain america movie. It was awesome/spoilery. I won't tell you the details but its the scene where cap faces off with a bunch of guys in an elevator, its pretty damn cool. One of the guys in the elevator does have a close working relationship with him. Shocked that he would turn on him. Then we get some new footage from the movie, especially of Sebastian Stan as the Winter Solider and a quick cameo of Emily VanCamp (Revenge) as the grand daughter of Roger's love, Carter.

Now, with Thor: The Dark World I loved the prologue. Odin tells of how the universe was born, how the dark elves tried to take over and how his father had defeated them. Its a very grand sequence, bettering the one done in the first Thor movie. We are then treated to Loki's imprisonment. I love these actors, Tom, Reene, and Anthony. They fit their characters well. There is also a huge improvement in environments in this one. The sets are bigger, the visuals are better. Hell, even the casts are larger.

Since The Avengers film was made and released I love the fact that the studio has went and turned the new films in there solo series into different styles. Both Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 were grittier takes on the material, and worked better for it.

Thor : The Dark World is a darker movie but it works. The first film really felt like a fantasy comic book movie, while this film feels more like a real fantasy film along the lines of Lord of the Rings or Game of thrones. Dark World is just as good as Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth, this movie is no Clash of the titans.

The cast is so amazing. I loved the cameo roles of my favourite funny man Roy..I mean Chris O'Dowd (The It Crowd, Brides Maids) and my favourite character actress Alice Krige (Silent Hill). The action scenes are a huge lift up from Thor. I just love the choice in director here. Alan Taylor gives life to this franchise and creates a well crafted fantasy epic. The human elements (those based on planet earth) don't feel lame or unintentionally funny, they felt real. One big thing about the film is it is not small. Everything has expanded, and thats the best thing this film offers, a huge expansion on the Thor mythology.

There is also a lot more character development given to the human characters. I loved all of Darcy's scenes, played by Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls). Her character got a huge uplift from the first film. She even gets her own intern in this. I thought from the trailers that her intern was her boyfriend, I was eventually right. Kat just nails each scene she's in. When the movie opens and Jane (Natalie Portman) is on a nerve raking date with Chris O'Dowd, she comes in and breaks the tension. And when the shit hits the fan, I love her reactions. Her first witness to Thor's power "Holy Shit!". I really found her character great and loved that they gave her a bigger role in this. Her role is expanded due to Jane being taken to Asgard to undo what had been done to her, Jane accidentally entered an alternate dimension and came into contact with a dangerous artifact.

 Since the events in Avengers all the characters in these movies have gone though a lot of changes, especially Eric Selvig. He's much crazier here, running around stone henge naked, working with his pants off, and jumping for joy when a certain someone has died. I loved how the characters are affected by the events of that movie, it now makes the films feel more real.

Now, on a final note there are some scenes that procure before and after the main credits. I believe I know why Alan became annoyed by the studio with one of these scenes. The scene that plays at the end credits is more of a continuation of the actual film while the one before the credits is a scene that will excite those eager to see anything on the upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy. The scene after the credits I do not know who, if anyone, stayed for it. I hate to say but I am glad I did not and that's probably why Alan got annoyed with the studio over these scenes. Maybe the scene after the credits was meant to be cut, I don't know. If not, he probably would have liked it before the credits, cause believe me, it just finishes the movie off, it doesn't give reference to future films.

As far as cameos go there are a couple funny/good ones. I character from the first Thor movie makes a reappearance and gets stuck on earth and Loki actually impersonates Steve Rogers at one point, its quiet funny.

A great Marvel movie that stands perfectly along side Iron Man 3. It renews Thor's world with a more realistic feel. Its both funny and dark, visually astounding and the action scenes are intense and perfectly choreographed. The villain, Malekith was pretty creepy with his dark elf army as well as his
wiliness to sacrifice his own, which comes to an ironic point when Odin (Anthony Hopkins) seeks to do the same when battling his enemy.

Thor: The Dark World takes its characters on a well put journey, its funny, epic, dark and emotional. I loved every minute of it.

It gets a 4 1/2 out of 5.