THOR: THE DARK WORLD - Grading & Discussion

[stj]

^^^Look at the number of people involved in producing the script. Every plot becomes an unfinished subplot, even the interesting ones, like Loki/Odin. For me, this is why the sequel simply is not as good as the original. The sequel is not really written. (I gather that things like this happen because the director is mistakenly regarded as the primary creator, so he's allowed to interfere at the wrong stage.)

I think lots of people are really saying that Loki and Thor are so much better here than in The Avengers. Well, that is certainly true.

 

[ChowdaHead]

ITS BEEN STATED BY ALL INVOLVED THAT THAT WAS THE ENTIRE POINT. I get that many of the differing scenes after the Marvel films have been in tone of the movie before it. BUT THEY ARE ALL GROUNDED, EARTH BOUND marvel movies. this is guardians of the galaxy. its space bound. and not in the way that Thor is, just in case you cough up that argument, because Thor involves plenty of Earth. and the next one could arguably involve only earth. and Asgard has its own vibe as well. maybe vibe isnt the word but you catch my drift. if it were on par with thor it wouldn't feel right. the comic and its characters are not of the same "vibe" that we have been accustomed to thus far. Marvel intentionally separated the tone of this scene from the movie to tease what GUARDIANS would be like next year. please, TRY to wrap your head around this. its really not as difficult to grasp as you are making it.

You seem dead set on not only completely misunderstanding my point, but calling me an idiot as well. If you can't be civil, then get the hell out of here.

I know full well that Guardians of the Galaxy will have a different tone than the rest. It's a movie with a talking gun-toting raccoon, for crying out loud. How could it not? If the intent of this scene was to set people up for that, it fails. Regardless of whether or not it captures that tone, it's just an odd and awkward scene. Del Toro is speaking in an odd pattern dressed like Mugatu from Zoolander.

I've been to Marvel movies with my non-comic book friends before. Their reactions to the previous stingers has often been along the lines of "I don't know exactly what that is, but it's interesting." Their reaction to this one was "the fuck was that?"

LOL. now this made me laugh. the panic attack subplot was just god awful.

Tony suffering from PTSD after fighting an alien invasion alongside a god, a supersoldier, and a giant green monster makes perfect sense. He was struggling to find his place after that. He's seen these amazing things, and here he is just a man in tin can. It was handled very well, and was a natural place for the character to go. He had to be at his weakest and most vulnerable first in order to find out who he truly was.

Never said youre an idiot. And that about sums up how much you know about the character the Collector. He has always been a very strange dude, being one of the oldest beings in the universe who has an obsession with collecting PEOPLE as well as other things. He spoke strangely because he was mocking his guests. “oooooooo Asgardianssssss” while also showing a hint of admiration, almost as if he wanted to put them in a cage with the rest of his collection. Most people who I have talked to, especially comic fans loved this scene. Its fresh and different. And regarding the panic attacks, it wasn’t the fact that tony had panic attacks, it was the fact that they were ultimately unbelievable. It wasn’t done well, especially the one while he is in the small town and has one after the little boy mentions the portal in new York. It just didn’t feel natural.

 

[Trekker4747]

See, I really liked the Asgard stuff, how everyone treated and reacted to Jane and all of that. That stuff was great and seeing Asgard and their culture (the "funeral" service they had for Frigga and the other fallen Asgardians was beautiful and just other worldly. Does Thor now Frigga is not his birth mother? Or are they touching on that in the MCU?)

And the stuff with the other Realms was really well done, even if I don't understand it or how it lines up with real-world astronomy. So... there's these... portals to other world floating around that sync up every 5000 years? I don't get it! These five words in ALL THE UNIVERSE are the only important ones? Arghhhhhhh!!!!

The stuff on Earth (Midgard) was okay, but the other stuff more fun. Though I did like how the final battle was done. I liked some little things like Thor interacting with our Earthly ways like getting into Jane's trashed Volvo awkwardly, awkwardly using the Underground since he didn't have Mjolnir, stuff like that was pretty fun.

Again, great, great use of Loki and I actually felt for him when Frigga died and that he seemed genuinely hurt when she suggested Loki didn't think of her as his mother. I also really believed him when he "died", protecting Jane, protecting Thor and avenging his mother. Great, great stuff.

D'Arcy didn't bug me as much in this movie as she did the other one, but she's still a clueless twit. Given Jane's theories have proven correct, she has some backing from SHIELD and such you'd think she could get better interns now than a PoliSci student who in two years hasn't learned to pronounce "Mjolnir." (Seriously, D'Arcy, go to Wikipedia.)

And getting an intern to do her grunt work? Who is she? Kramer?

A already mentioned my feelings on the slight character assassination on Selvig, I guess I see the "reasoning" behind it but it also seems extreme. I mean, sure, he wants to protect/prepare for the Alignment. Does he need to do that naked and without pants?

On the ending: I do think Loki as Odin was acting... odd. Not very Odin-like. He almost seemed to calm and nice and forgiving to Thor in the wake of events. Just being all, "Sure, it's fine Thor. No, it's okay, go to Midgard and be with your mortal, we'll be okay. No, no, keep Mjolnir we don't need it."

And did Loki plan on sending the Aether to The Collector? Or did Volstag and Sif do that on their own? Why wouldn't Loki want to keep two of the Infinity Stones himself and collect the others? Hell, the Infinity Gauntlet is already in Odin's Vault!

On the "feel" of that mid-credits scene, it didn't jive with the rest of the movie but I wouldn't argue "out of place." I liked it as it's obviously there to set-up a future movie. (GotG)

Still a solid, good, movie. Better than the original as the stakes were higher and wasn't bogged down too much with dealing with the origin myth and much grander use of Loki.

 

[ChowdaHead]

Kyos-
"To me personally going from TDW to GOTG and putting the noble Asgardians into the outer space weirdness that is the Collector's place worked waaaay better than some of the stuff from the movie itself. It was nice to see that there's a bigger picture even for the Asgardians, and that there are places and beings out there that are very different from what we got to know of the MCU so far.

On the other hand going from "truly dramatic and emotional scene in another realm" to "oh look, although we're not on Earth my cellphone is ringing with it's ridiculously awkward ringtone I couldn't figure out how to change and this random guy from the beginning is on the other end" completely took me out of the movie. I'm truly glad if it worked for other people, but it didn't for me."

Still it's good to know that Taylor and Gunn are cool!
Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=89814#1LzvJT00Vm4JzW7k.99

 

[Shazam!]

Also, I really don't understand the scene either. Why would they trust this character with one of the Infinity Gems? Is he supposed to be the Swiss bank of the cosmos or something?

Spoiler: Well...

As Loki is impersonating Odin, presumably it was he who ordered the Asgardians to take it to the Collector and who are they to question the King's orders...

 

[Trekker4747]

It's possible The Collector is just trusted, maybe seen as eccentric but otherwise trusted.

And I like the cell-phone bit in the cave. At first I was like "WTF?!" but then with the explanation of the portal it made sense and I liked the idea of it, plus it got Jane and Thor back to Earth. I do agree Jane should know how to work the ring-tone on her phone. If my 60-year old mother can do it on her phone with a standard numerical key-pad I'm sure a 20/30-something woman with an iPhone can manage.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Also, I really don't understand the scene either. Why would they trust this character with one of the Infinity Gems? Is he supposed to be the Swiss bank of the cosmos or something?

Spoiler: Well...

As Loki is impersonating Odin, presumably it was he who ordered the Asgardians to take it to the Collector and who are they to question the King's orders...

That's an interesting theory, and entirely possible.

My dad asked me, "So, what happened to Odin at the end?" I laughed, and said, "Good question! Perhaps he's off mourning somewhere?!?" But that might not really cover it....

 

[Trekker4747]

I assume that either Loki killed Odin or locked him up in the dungeon/prison. Maybe even sent him into another deep Odinsleep.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Who chose to give the stone to the Collector?

The trustworthy and noble and honourable Odin, King of Asgard!

(Think about it.)

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I gave the last one a B+ and I gave this one a B+. I could be convinced to go to A-. I liked it quite a lot. I liked Thor's companions better in the first movie, but this one works better by being more strict fantasy (with less of a heroes journey). On the other hand, it's weakened a bit by a weak villain. Loki, of course, steals the show in every way.

The post-credits scene was good, imo, but a bit jarring. I think it makes sense for the Asgardians to be involved with the Collector based on the rules the movies have established, but it still seemed odd. So is the Tesseract the Cosmic Cube, is the Cosmic Cube an Infinity Stone/Gem? Is there anything in the comics about this?

 

[Mr Light]

I would imagine he dumped Odin in another dimension, probably with the Frost Giants.

 

[CaptainCanada]

The cosmic cube is definitely not an Infinity Gem the comics.

I would guess the Tesseract is meant to be the Space Gem, given its transporting capabilities (though it also has some similarities with the Power Gem).

 

[Alidar Jarok]

No one's called it the Cosmic Cube, right? Is there any reason to actually think it is besides that it is cube shaped?

 

[DarthPipes]

Loki didn't take Mjolnir because he wouldn't have been able to pick it up. Remember, you have to be worthy of the hammer to pick it up. Odin, the All-Father could do it and Thor but Loki couldn't. Taking the hammer would have exposed him.

 

[Shanndee]

I would imagine he dumped Odin in another dimension, probably with the Frost Giants.

That was my first guess.

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was great fun. My friend, however, did not. She got a little nit-picky about details. I couldn't argue with many of her points, because she was right. However, I go to comic book movies to be entertained and have fun. This movie delivered oodles of fun.

Is it really so wrong to go to a movie just to be entertained and have fun?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I didn't find any plot holes egregious enough to warrant nitpicking. The only real plot hole I noticed is that Malekith seemed to sense where the Aether was an act accordingly, but got fooled into thinking fake Jane Foster was a real Jane Foster. But that was a cool scene, so I can't possibly complain.

 

[Trekker4747]

I don't think on-screen the Tesseract has ever been called the Cosmic Cube, but most on-line sources call it that. Even though I don't even think the Tesseract in the movies does the same things the Cosmic Cube does. It's just your normal, ever-day, four-spatial dimensioned hunk of glowy blue.

What makes up the Infinity Gems/Stones in the comics is obviously going to be very different in the MCU.

Loki didn't take Mjolnir because he wouldn't have been able to pick it up. Remember, you have to be worthy of the hammer to pick it up. Odin, the All-Father could do it and Thor but Loki couldn't. Taking the hammer would have exposed him.

Yes, I know. It was a joke.

On the actual post-credits scene I do find it odd how close Jane was able to stand by the Bifrost effects without ill effect. And in that scene I was partly expecting someone else other than Thor to be there. Like maybe Sif there, slapping Jane and saying "Back off! He's mine" and then we get a bout of cat-fighting between Sif and Jane.

I didn't find any plot holes egregious enough to warrant nitpicking. The only real plot hole I noticed is that Malekith seemed to sense where the Aether was an act accordingly, but got fooled into thinking fake Jane Foster was a real Jane Foster. But that was a cool scene, so I can't possibly complain.

To be fair, we don't know how these illusions work. It's possible that it's multi-sensory (not just visual, lacking only tactile) and that the sense of the Aether was coming from vision Jane just as much as it was real Jane.

Along those lines, usually when we've seen Loki do HIS illusions and tricks they're non-tactile as well. This sort of makes me wonder how he faked the illusion of his death since he was in Thor's arms at the time. (I guess he could have been lying there and made the illusion from himself but it still seems somethings here another case of the magic needing to do what the plot needs it to do.)

 

[Guy Gardener]

I had a really weird thought that Odin and Loki switched places much earlier, just before the jail break, because "the plan" any plan would only be believable if Loki was on board but Loki couldn't be absolutely trusted and Odin wanted to spend sometime with his boy before the Universe was destroyed....

Somewhere in this comic Thor says somehting like "The Sons of Odin together again!"

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm just disappointed this movie didn't feature Thor turning into a frog trapped in Central Park.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^That's the next movie.