The problem with movie reviews is that there are so many of them posting online and so many different styles of them, too. In order to stand out in a world of so many movie reviews it's hard to figure out how to write one up.
But sometimes the movie itself lends to this answer. This is the case with Thor: The Dark World which was not a perfect movie but it was an impressive blend of so many genres it became evident this review needed to be about things I liked and the things I hated. Obviously, many will agree and disagree but let's start with your SPOILER ALERT, if you haven't seen the film yet.
Things I liked:
-As I mentioned in a previous post over the weekend, Stellan Skarsgård stole every scene he was in. Whether he was running around Stonehenge naked, teaching what he thought was a college class or working in his tighty whities, Skarsgård's performance of Dr. Erik Selvig was his best one yet. He was genuinely hilarious in dealing with the after effects of having the God of Mischief inside his head in The Avengers.
-The film was almost shockingly funny throughout and by far had the most comedy of any Marvel Studios movie so far.
-Loki. As was the case with Selvig, every scene actor Tom Hiddleston was in as Loki was fantastic. It really showed that Loki can hold his own if Marvel ever decides to give the villain his own solo movie down the road but the comic book panel-like ending of Loki sitting in the Asgard throne was evidence enough that he'll be back in a Thor threequel. Also, the scene where Loki was changing his appearances and became Captain America was absolutely brilliant.
-That mid-credits scene with Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan (The Collector). Talk about weird, strange and a bit "off." (It is supposed to be weird and strange.) Yes it was a tease to next summer's Guardians of the Galaxy but this scene was my personal favorite part of Thor: The Dark World because it connects the film and Marvel Cinematic Universe to bigger things that are coming (cough, cough... Thanos... cough!). Sure it could be considered not being a part of the sequel but it still dealt with the Aether. Now that Tivan has it, he wants the other five Infinity Stones, which includes the Tesseract that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has already confirmed as being the Space Stone.
Things I hated:
-Malekith and the Dark Elves were irrelevant characters who were just a mere plot element for the sequel's MacGuffin, the Aether. In the prologue, Malekith's Dark Elves were battling the Asgardians and Odin's father but before being completely wiped out, Malekith and his right hand man Algrim left the battle with what Dark Elves they could gather up to save the race. They disappeared and lost the Aether. Upon returning, Malekith re-acquires the Aether but is then killed by Thor and it appears the Dark Elves are completely wiped out as a race. A wasted use of villains who now appear to be gone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe entirely.
-Continuing the above point of the Dark Elves, Thor: The Dark World broke my 'Cardinal Rule No. 1' in super hero films. That is to never, ever kill off the main villain and this happened so Malekith. And don't get me started about Kurse's demise, who was really badass.
-Kat Dennings. Her expanded role was way too expanded and too campy. It is widely known Marvel Studios wants to bring more women to the forefront of their films and they did this with Pepper Potts in Iron Man 3, they will be doing this with the Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and they did it with Jane Foster's increased role in Thor 2. But Dennings' increase of screen time was too much and became annoying after a while.
-Speaking on the point of increased roles of women in Marvel films, Lady Sif just didn't have enough screen time. She managed to get a few more scenes and gave a few dirty looks to Jane Foster but she's one of Asgard's highly skilled warriors and this was not shown enough. I'll throw the rest of the Warriors Three into this complaint, as well, since they all needed more action.
Finally, this is more of an observation than a like or hate. The vague ending was obviously done intentionally, I get that. However, there were many questions raised about Loki's survival after battling and being impaled by Kurse. And what happened to Odin? Many unanswered questions. These should be answered in another Thor movie (in Phase 3) and at the same time it will be interesting to see how Loki leads Asgard as its new King.
A quick speculation on the threequel is to say Loki will be a great leader of Asgard—it is what he's wanted all along—but he will probably want to add all the other Nine Realms to his rule. This should get Thor's attention and he will leave Midgard (Earth) to stop his brother. But Thor will need some help. This would be a great spot to give the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three more action scenes as I mentioned earlier or... and this is a big or... maybe Thor will meet his match and another being worthy of holding Mjolnir will be introduced. For those who don't know who I am referencing, I am talking about Beta Ray Bill.
Anyway, Thor: The Dark World is an impressive mix of so many film genres like: sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, drama and comedy it makes sense why it has already brought in over $327 million worldwide in just two weeks of worldwide release since it has a bigger appeal taking on so many genres. Next up, it looks to destroy the first film's total worldwide box office take of $449 million next weekend. Now get out of the house and go see it again!
8 out of 10
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