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In 2011’s Thor, director Kenneth Branagh set the stage for a grand, dramatic franchise. It couldn’t have been easy to pick up where such a skilled director left off—but Alan Taylor manages to hold his own with the epic follow-up, Thor: The Dark World.
The superhero sequel finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) trying to clear up the chaos caused by his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and return order to the nine realms. Meanwhile, on Earth, astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has relocated to London, where she’s struggling to continue her research as she waits for Thor’s return.
As the worlds begin to align, Jane discovers an abandoned warehouse where the laws of physics don’t seem to apply. And when she becomes infected by a deadly weapon that threatens to send the entire universe into darkness, Thor returns to Earth to save her from its power—and save the universe from eternal night.
Thor’s story isn’t an easy one to bring to the big screen. After all, it mixes modern-day science and other-worldly action with classic mythology and Shakespearian drama to create one super-sized superhero thriller. Fortunately for Taylor, the ground work has already been laid. The characters and their stories were established in Thor—and advanced in The Avengers)—so Taylor was free to move forward without having to spend precious time on development. Fans have already fallen in love with Hemsworth’s strong, noble, and irresistibly charming warrior. They’ve gotten to know Jane and her quirky crew of scientists. And they’ve become invested in the relationship between the brawny superhero and his pretty mortal scientist.
Taylor’s job, then, is to take the characters that fans already know and love (or, in Loki’s case, love to hate) and further the franchise by telling another action-packed story about a threat to the universe and the heroic quest to stop it. In doing so, he brings the two universes together in a manner that feels smoother and more even than the original. In Thor, the epic drama of the scenes on Asgard sometimes clashed with the silliness of the scenes on Earth—so, this time around, Taylor tries to keep things light in both worlds. That’s not to say that the scenes in Asgard are sillier or that the epic battles have been transformed into slapstick comedy—only that the film has a more consistently playful tone.
Visually, however, the sequel isn’t quite as breathtaking as the original. The story, too, is needlessly complex—and often difficult to follow. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the details—the history, the various supporting characters, and the techno-babble—and end up hopelessly lost. But if you’re able to overlook the picky details and focus on the overall idea of the story, you’ll enjoy the action and drama and good-natured thrills of this epic sequel. It may not be as dark or as edgy as some recent superhero adventures, but Thor’s latest fun-filled fantasy is sure to satisfy thrill-seeking fans.
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