Psycho's Movie Reviews #129: THOR: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Thor (2011) and the eighth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Alan Taylor from a screenplay by Christopher Yost and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, and Rene Russo. In the film, Thor and Loki (Hiddleston) team up to save the Nine Realms from the Dark Elves.

Development of a sequel to Thor began in April 2011 when producer Kevin Feige announced plans for it to follow the MCU crossover film The Avengers (2012). In July, Thor director Kenneth Branagh withdrew from the sequel. Brian Kirk and Patty Jenkins were considered to replace him as director before Taylor was hired in January 2012. The supporting cast filled out in August 2012, with the hiring of Eccleston and Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the film's villains. Filming took place from September to December 2012 primarily in Surrey, England, as well as in Iceland and London. Taylor wanted the film to be more grounded than Thor, inspired by his work on Game of Thrones. He hired Carter Burwell to compose the score, but Marvel replaced Burwell with Brian Tyler.

Thor: The Dark World premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on October 22, 2013, and was released in the United States on November 8, as part of Phase Two of the MCU. The film was a commercial success, grossing over $644 million worldwide and becoming the tenth highest-grossing film of 2013, but received mixed reviews. It received praise for the performances of Hemsworth and Hiddleston, visual effects, and action sequences, but was criticized for its generic villain and lack of depth. Retrospectively, Taylor has expressed dissatisfaction with the film, stating that Marvel substantially altered it from his original vision during post-production. A sequel directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok, was released in 2017, while a fourth film, Thor: Love and Thunder, is scheduled for release on July 8, 2022.

Plot

Eons ago, Bor, father of Odin, clashes with the Dark Elf Malekith, who seeks to unleash a weapon known as the Aether on the nine realms. After conquering Malekith's forces, including enhanced warriors called the Kursed, on their home world of Svartalfheim, Bor safeguards the Aether within a stone column. Unknown to Bor, Malekith and a handful of Dark Elves escape into suspended animation.

In present-day Asgard, Loki stands imprisoned for his war crimes on Earth.[N 1] Meanwhile, Thor, alongside warriors Fandral, Volstagg, and Sif, repels marauders on Vanaheim, home of their comrade Hogun; it is the final battle in a war to pacify the Nine Realms following the reconstruction of the Bifröst, the "Rainbow Bridge" between realms, which had been destroyed two years earlier.[N 2] The Asgardians soon learn that the Convergence, a rare alignment of the Nine Realms, is imminent; as the event approaches, portals linking the worlds appear at random.

In London, astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster and her intern Darcy Lewis travel to an abandoned factory where such portals have appeared, disrupting the laws of physics around them. Separating from the group, Foster is teleported to another world, where she absorbs the Aether. Heimdall alerts Thor that Foster has moved beyond his near all-seeing vision, leading Thor to Earth. When Thor finds Foster, she inadvertently releases an unearthly force, and Thor returns with her to Asgard. Odin, recognizing the Aether, warns that the Aether will not only kill Foster but that its return heralds a catastrophic prophecy.

Malekith, awakened by the Aether's release, turns Algrim into a Kursed and attacks Asgard. During the battle, Malekith and Algrim search for Foster, sensing that she contains the Aether. Thor's mother Frigga is killed protecting Foster, and Malekith and Algrim are forced to flee without Foster. Despite Odin's orders not to leave Asgard, Thor reluctantly enlists the help of Loki, who knows of a secret portal to Svartalfheim, where they will use Foster to lure and confront Malekith, away from Asgard. In return, Thor promises Loki vengeance on Malekith for killing their mother. With Volstagg and Sif stalling Asgardian soldiers and Fandral assisting their escape, Thor, Loki, and Foster head to Svartalfheim.

There, Loki tricks Malekith into drawing the Aether out of Foster, but Thor's attempt to destroy the exposed substance fails. Malekith merges with the Aether and leaves in his ship as Loki is fatally wounded while killing Algrim. Thor, cradling Loki in his arms, promises to tell their father of his sacrifice. Afterward, Thor and Foster discover another portal in a nearby cave and reunite in London with Lewis and Foster's mentor Dr. Erik Selvig—who was briefly institutionalized due to the mental trauma he suffered during Loki's attack on Earth. They learn that Malekith plans to restore the Dark Elves to dominance by unleashing the Aether at the center of the Convergence in Greenwich. Thor battles Malekith through various portals and across multiple worlds until one portal separates them, leaving Malekith unopposed on Earth. Thor returns in time to help his mortal comrades use their scientific equipment to transport Malekith to Svartalfheim, where he is crushed by his own damaged ship.

Thor returns to Asgard, where he declines Odin's offer to take the throne and tells Odin of Loki's sacrifice. As he leaves, Odin's form transforms into Loki, who is alive and impersonating Odin.

In a mid-credits scene, Volstagg and Sif visit the Collector and entrust the Aether to his care, commenting that with the Tesseract already in Asgard, having two Infinity Stones so close together would be unwise. As they leave, the Collector states his desire to acquire the other five Stones. In a post-credits scene, Foster and Thor reunite on Earth, while somewhere in London, a frost monster from Jotunheim—accidentally transported to Earth during the final battle—continues to run amok.

Production

Development

In April 2011 before the release of Thor (2011), Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige stated that following The Avengers (2012), "Thor will go off into a new adventure." Kenneth Branagh, director of Thor, responded to his comments, saying, "It is kind of news to me. Here's what I would say to that: It's that I'm thrilled they're that confident. I shall wait for the audience to tell us whether there should be a second one, and then if that's a nice conversation to be had among all of us, that'd be thrilling. But I've got too much Irish superstitious blood in me to assume that Thor 2 will happen. But if Marvel says so, then I guess it must be true". Feige later explained that Marvel Studios would gauge how well Thor did at the box office before announcing sequels, but stated, "Don Payne is working on story ideas for a part two. We've got various options with Ken Branagh to discuss coming back, but right now the focus is on the first one. Don is, slowly but surely, thinking about where to take the character next should we be so lucky".

In June 2011, Walt Disney Studios set a July 26, 2013, release date for the Thor sequel with Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as the title hero. It was also reported that Branagh would not be returning as director but would likely be involved in a producing capacity. The Los Angeles Times cited the long commitment necessary for a special effects-heavy epic and the pressure to start the script process right away as reasons for Branagh's departure, although he was initially enthused by the chance to direct the sequel. Branagh noted, "It was a long time [making the first film] and they were way too quick for me to get straight back into another, but it was a pleasurable experience and a film I'm very proud of." The following day, Marvel formally hired Payne, one of the credited writers of the first film, to script the sequel. In August, Brian Kirk entered early negotiations to direct the Thor sequel. The film would have marked Kirk's first time directing a big-budget motion picture, after having directed television series for HBO, Showtime and the BBC, including Game of Thrones.

In September 2011, Tom Hiddleston confirmed he would return in the sequel, speculating that in the film, "Loki will have to take responsibility for what he's done". Patty Jenkins, the director of Monster and the pilot episode of AMC's The Killing, entered early negotiations with Marvel Studios and Disney to direct the film, after Kirk had passed due to contractual sticking points that arose during negotiations. Later in the month, Feige stated the sequel would "take Thor literally to other worlds" and would "primarily be the journey of that character, of he and Jane Foster and how the new dynamic with his father is working out, as well as what are the broader stakes for The Nine Worlds". On October 13, 2011, Marvel confirmed that Jenkins would direct the sequel and Natalie Portman would return to star. Disney also moved the release date for the film to November 15, 2013.

Pre-Production

In December 2011, Jenkins exited the project, citing "creative differences". She stated, "I have had a great time working at Marvel. We parted on very good terms, and I look forward to working with them again". Jenkins felt she could not have made a good film "out of Thor 2 because I wasn't the right director... I could have made a great Thor if I could have done the story that I was wanting to do. But I don't think I was the right person to make a great Thor out of the story they wanted to do." Jenkins had intended to create a film based on the premise of Romeo and Juliet, where Jane was stuck on Earth with Thor forbidden to come save her. After Thor eventually does travel to Earth, he and Jane would have discovered that Malekith was "hiding the dark energy inside of Earth because he knows that Odin doesn't care about Earth, and so he's using Odin's disinterest in Earth to trick him".

Three days later, it was reported that Marvel was looking at Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan as prospective directors to replace Jenkins, and were also in the midst of hiring a writer to rewrite Don Payne's script, with the shortlist of possible writers consisting of John Collee, Robert Rodat and Roger Avary. At the end of the month, Alan Taylor, best known for directing episodes of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, was chosen to direct the sequel. Feige mentioned Taylor's work on the series Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones as reasons for his hiring, saying "With Alan's direction we got a few more layers of patina, of texture, of reality into our golden realm." As Feige looked at what worked for the first Thor film and thought what he could retool from that, Taylor decided to "bring some Game of Thrones to it" in order to make a darker and more grounded sequel in comparison to Branagh's work in the previous film. By January 10, Marvel Studios had commissioned screenwriter Rodat to rewrite the sequel and Hiddleston stated that filming was expected to begin in London in the summer of 2012. Hemsworth later confirmed that filming was scheduled to begin in August. Hemsworth also revealed that the film would have a more Viking-influenced feel, elaborating "I think the science fiction element to Thor … the danger is it falls a little bit into the world of it's 'tough to throw a light to.' I think of big waterfalls and mountains and a Viking influence, where the Norse mythology kind of grew from. Having that in Asgard is going to make it all the more special and that's what Alan Taylor wants to bring to it." Feige said "while the relationship between Loki and Thor certainly has changed [after the events of the movie The Avengers] and has progressed, a lot of Thor 2 is picking up where it left off in terms of Jane, who you just saw for a moment on a computer monitor, and also what's been going on in the nine realms without the Asgardians being able to use the Bifrost." Feige also said that while Loki has a part, "there will be a different villain, another big villain".

In May 2012, Mads Mikkelsen began talks to play one of the villains in the film and Anthony Hopkins, who played Odin in the first film, committed to returning in the sequel. Benedict Cumberbatch, who eventually joined the film series as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange, was also in the running to play Malekith the Accursed. At the end of the month, Disney moved up the release date for the film a week ahead of the previous date to November 8, 2013. By June 2012, much of the first film's supporting cast was confirmed to return, including Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson and Stellan Skarsgård. Also in June, Joshua Dallas announced that he would not be reprising the role of Fandral. Dallas had initially intended to return, but had to bow out due to his commitment on the television show, Once Upon a Time, and Zachary Levi was cast in his place. Levi was originally up for the role in the first film but scheduling conflicts with Chuck forced him to drop out.

In July 2012, Mikkelsen stated he would not be appearing in the sequel due to prior commitments, "That's not happening unfortunately. I had a meeting with [the filmmakers], but it was a bit too late and then Hannibal came in...It's just not happening". At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, it was announced that the film would be titled Thor: The Dark World. At the end of the month, residents near Bourne Wood in Surrey, England were notified that a film going by the working title, Thursday Mourning would be filming in the area. In August of that year, Christopher Eccleston entered final negotiations to play Malekith, and the film was scheduled to shoot in Iceland, where Taylor shot parts of Game of Thrones. By August 22, Kat Dennings was hired to reprise her role as Darcy Lewis and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was cast as Algrim. At the end of the month, film crews for Thursday Mourning began set construction at Stonehenge near Amesbury, England.

Post-production

In April 2013, McFeely said that "a lot" of writers had contributed to the film's script, and he and Markus were uncertain if they would receive final screenwriting credit on the film; Markus and McFeely along with Yost received final screenwriting credit, with Payne and Rodat receiving story credit. In July 2013, Dennings told reporters that the film was about to head into reshoots. In August, Taylor said he shot extra scenes with Hiddleston and was about to shoot more with Hopkins. Taylor explained that it was all a part of the "Marvel process" saying, "We're doing full scenes, scenes that were not in the movie before. We're adding scenes, creating scenes, writing scenes for the first time. The one involving Loki was a fun connective scene... We realised how well Loki was working in the movie, and we wanted to do more with him. So it was that kind of thing, it was like, 'Oh, we could do this, we could jam this in here' because he's such a wonderful guy to watch do his stuff." Also in August, IMAX Corporation and Marvel Entertainment announced that the film would be digitally re-mastered into the IMAX 3D format and released into IMAX 3D theatres internationally beginning October 30, 2013.

Taylor said Marvel's The Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon rewrote several scenes in the film explaining, "Joss came in to save our lives a couple of times. We had a major scene that was not working on the page at all in London, and he basically got airlifted in, like a SWAT team or something. He came down, rewrote the scene, and before he got back to his plane I sort of grabbed him and said, 'And this scene and this scene?' And he rewrote two other scenes that I thought had problems." In October 2013, Tony Curran tweeted that he would be portraying Odin's father, Bor, in a flashback sequence. In November 2013, Feige stated that the film was intended to be the conclusion of the "Loki trilogy", which examined the relationship of Thor and Loki throughout Thor, The Avengers and this film. Loki was originally intended to die in the film, however, after test audiences did not believe he was actually dead, Marvel Studios decided to alter the character's ending. The film's mid-credits scene was directed by James Gunn, the director of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy. The film underwent multiple changes during the reshoots and editing process, with Taylor believing his initial version "had more childlike wonder", including starting the film with children, and an overall "more magical quality". He noted the reshoots "inverted" the original plot in certain ways, such as Loki no longer dying.

The film's visual effects were completed by seven special effects studios, including Double Negative and Luma Pictures. Blur Studio was the lead studio behind the film's prologue sequence taking place 5,000 years before the start of the film, on the Dark Elves homeworld of Svartalfheim. The sequence consisted mostly of computer graphics with live-action shots interwoven throughout. The use of CG allowed for greater freedom of movement by the characters as the live-action costumes were too constrictive.

Taylor wanted Asgard in this film to have a more natural look than its predecessor. To achieve this, crews filmed the coast of Norway with an Arri Alexa camera for three days in a helicopter, capturing six hours of footage. Double Negative then embedded their CG rendering of Asgard on shots of the natural landscape. Double Negative visual effects supervisor Alex Wuttke said, "The benefit of that is that you have some real-world terrain to work with – so you have buildings that have to convey natural features. Then from there we went in there populating the terrain with different buildings." For scenes taking place on Svartalfheim, production filmed in Iceland with Double Negative adding ruins, mountains, Dark Elf ships, and skies.

For the shot of the levitating truck, which was used in the film to demonstrate the strange phenomena brought on by the coming of the alignment of the worlds, filmmakers attached a cement truck to a large hydraulic rig, which could be programmed to change speed and movement. In order to create Algrim's transformation into Kurse, Double Negative morphed live action performances of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as both Algrim and Kurse. Double Negative then added in smoke and lava-like effects.

The film's climactic battle sequence takes place through the nine worlds by the use of portals. Visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison said, "We ended up calling this 'time toffee', so as you punch through from one realm to another it's almost like cling film or a slightly gelatinous membrane you have to pass through. It bends a little bit then rips and spits the person out. The other thing we wanted to do was to make sure it was quite fast from an editorial point of view. In the fight scenes there are times when Thor and Malekith are portaling all over the place, quite frankly. We made sure we always kept up the momentum and never stopped the fight. It was a way of making sure the audience weren't conscious there was an effect going on."

Music

In August 2012, Patrick Doyle said that he had discussions with the director about potentially returning to score the film. By April 2013, Carter Burwell had been hired to compose the score, but by the following month he left the film over creative differences. In June 2013, Marvel hired Brian Tyler, who scored Iron Man 3, to replace Burwell. Tyler said the previous film had an "attitude and was grounded in limitations" whereas the Thor film allowed for "all-out regal themes that could be as epic as I could make them." The composer described The Dark World as "science fiction meeting classic medieval war", leading to a score that drew from works of both genres such as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. Azam Ali is a featured vocalist on the score. The soundtrack was released digitally on October 28, 2013.

Release/Reception/Box Office

The world premiere of Thor: The Dark World took place on October 22, 2013, at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. The film was released theatrically in the UK eight days later, on October 30. The film held its North American premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, and was released into U.S. theatres on November 7, 2013. Thor: The Dark World is part of Phase Two of the MCU.

Thor: The Dark World was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for digital download on February 4, 2014, and on Blu-ray Disc, 3D Blu-ray, and DVD on February 25, 2014. The physical media release includes deleted scenes, extended scenes, a gag reel, audio commentary by the cast and crew, and a Marvel One-Shot short film entitled All Hail the King, featuring Ben Kingsley reprising his role as Trevor Slattery from Iron Man 3.

The film was also collected in a 13-disc box set, titled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection", which includes all of the Phase Two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was released on December 8, 2015.

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 66%, with an average score of 6.2/10, based on 285 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It may not be the finest film to come from the Marvel Universe, but Thor: The Dark World still offers plenty of the humour and high-stakes action that fans have come to expect." It was the lowest-rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes until the release of Eternals in 2021. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 44 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A−" average, based on a grading scale ranging from A+ to F.

Ben Child of The Guardian said, "Thanks to Hiddleston and Hemsworth's impressive collective charisma, Thor: The Dark World is far from a franchise killer." Justin Chang of Variety wrote, "This robust, impersonal visual-effects showpiece proves buoyant and unpretentious enough to offset its stew of otherwise derivative fantasy/action elements." Alonso Duralde of The Wrap said, "Thor: The Dark World delivers the goods—action, otherworldly grandiosity, romance, humour—above and beyond its predecessor". Simon Abrams, writing for RogerEbert.com said, "There's just enough tension and humour in Thor: The Dark World to make the film's otherwise listless proceedings worth watching, but only just."

Conversely, Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph said, "It feels entirely made by committee—the definition of house style, without a personal stamp in sight." Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Although director Alan Taylor manages to get things going properly for the final battle in London, the long stretches before that on Asgard and the other branches of Yggdrasil are a drag, like filler episodes of Game of Thrones but without the narrative complexity, mythical heft or all-pervading sexiness." Michael Phillips of the Los Angeles Times described Thor: The Dark World as having the "same old threats of galaxy annihilation spiced with fairly entertaining fish-out-of-water jokes". Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times said, "the battle scenes are as lacking in heat and coherence as the central love story".

Taylor expressed dissatisfaction with the finished film and blamed its mixed reception on changes Marvel Studios made during post-production, which he felt conflicted with his creative vision. In 2015, he called working on The Dark World a "particularly wrenching" experience, and said in 2021 that the experience made him hesitant to continue directing. Taylor expressed interest in creating a director's cut similar to Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), though he observed that Marvel was likely not interested in it.

Thor: The Dark World earned $206.4 million in North America and $438.4 million in other markets for a worldwide total of $644.8 million. It surpassed the gross of its predecessor after just 19 days of its release. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $139.4 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film.

Thor: The Dark World made an estimated $7.1 million in Thursday night showings, more than double the midnight gross of its predecessor. On Friday, November 8, 2013, the film topped the box office with $31.9 million (including Thursday night earnings), which is 25% higher than the original film's opening-day gross. Through Sunday, the film remained at the No. 1 spot with $85.7 million, which is a 30% increase over its predecessor's opening weekend. This was the largest November opening for a film distributed by Disney, surpassing The Incredibles. Thor: The Dark World topped the box office in North America during its first two weekends, before being overtaken by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in its third weekend.

On its midweek opening day of Wednesday, October 30, 2013, Thor: The Dark World earned $8.2 million from 33 territories, including the United Kingdom and France, where it opened higher than its predecessor. During its first three days, the film earned $45.2 million, and by the end of the weekend, after expanding into three more territories, it totalled $109.4 million over five days, finishing in first place in all 36 countries. Its largest openings were recorded in China ($21.0 million), the United Kingdom ($13.8 million), and France ($9.94 million). It topped the box office outside North America on its first three weekends of release. In total earnings, its largest markets are China ($55.3 million), Russia and the CIS ($35.7 million), Brazil ($27.7 million), and the United Kingdom ($26.2 million).

Budget $150–170 million

Box office $644.8 million

My Review

I enjoyed the first Thor film more than I was expecting, but I enjoyed this one even more. This is probably due to the fact that Thor had all his godly powers throughout the entire film. In fact, the first film played out a lot like a second superhero film as many times in the sequel to a comic book character the superhero will lose his powers at some point. The second Superman with Christopher Reeves and Spider-man 2 are examples of this. This one simply had Thor with all his powers on display and more scenes in Asgard and a unique Earth setting of London rather than the standard New York that made me enjoy this one more the the previous film and a bit more than the third Ironman released earlier this year.

The story has some strange race of beings called the Dark Elves being awoken by a strange event that could spell the end of all realms if the Dark Elves have their way. Thor's love interest Jane Foster, comes into contact with this strange power and is soon the target of Malekith, leader of the Dark Elves. Thor takes Jane to Asgard despite opposition from his father Odin, but this will prove a costly move as the elves invade Asgard. Soon Thor must work with his brother Loki to lure the elves into a trap and save not only Earth and Asgard, but all realms in the universe.

Once again the action is great this time and there is a lot more of it. My favorite parts though involved the scenes with Loki and Thor's uneasy alliance. This was interesting and funny at the same time. Anthony Hopkins returns as Odin and does a superb job as he usually does and Jane Foster's friends return in this one too, though with varying degrees of success as both are merely used for comic relief here.

This is in no way a knock on the first Thor because I enjoyed it a lot, but, as said with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World impressed me more. The look of the film is wonderful, Asgard is just as colourful as it was in Thor yet also darker too, matching the darker, bolder tone very well. The photography and editing are stylish and the locations, especially Iceland, are stunningly vivid. The special effects are even more dazzling than in Thor and the same can be said for the stunts. The music score by Brian Taylor is dynamic and never repetitive or pedestrian, adding to the action sequences rather than detracting. Speaking of the action sequences, they are packed with thrills with battles almost on scale of Lord of the Rings and smack-downs that are enough to crush the bones. But Thor: The Dark World is not just about action and spectacle, it has substance too (or at least it did to me), laden with humour that will genuinely make you laugh but doing so without over-powering the dark nature of the story or the tense sparring between Thor and Loki. The story is compelling with the right doses of action, humour and drama, it's bigger in scale and bolder in tone than the first Thor but also more expansive in characterisation. The acting is top-class with most of the cast getting more to do, Anthony Hopkins is always dependable and Natalie Portman brings a touch of class and Stellan Skarsgard has some very funny moments but the acting honours do go to Chris Hemsworth, who's more robust and poised than he was in the first Thor, and especially Tom Hiddleston, who is terrific as Loki and pitches his mellifluousness and serpentine-like malevolence perfectly. My only complaints here are Christopher Eccleston having very little to do so he gives a somewhat one-dimensional performance that exudes moody menace but not much else and Loki surrendering and Thor forgiving him too easily and quickly. All in all however, a truly excellent follow-up that improves even more over the first Thor. 9/10

{Also this is the best movie in the series, up until the Loki series, that best shows Loki's powers, and just Loki himself. Here's some clips of Loki being iconic}.