Flashback: MCU Edition: Thor: The Dark World

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle and the latest edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We’re continuing Phase Two today with 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. The film releasing about six months after Iron Man 3 and people worried about Marvel. The film was still a hit earning $644.8 Million total, but that was an enormous step down from Iron Man 3’s box office. While the reviews were overall positive, it’s still to this day the worst received movie critically in all the MCU. So does it deserve this reputation lets look back and see?

    Sadly, this movie earns its reputation as the worst received MCU movie. It’s still not the worst one for me, but this is bottom three easily. That’s not to say this movie is irredeemable by any means I like this movie overall but there is a massive abundance of flaws. Chris Hemsworth is still a fantastic Thor, he is one of the few reasons this movie works at all. But he is not the savior of the film that belongs to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. This character is beyond brilliant and boosts every single scene he is in. Anthony Hopkins is still good in the role, but the way his character got written feels off. Rene Russo got a few moments to shine as Thor’s mom before getting killed off. Idris Elba, who is sadly still getting underutilized, is awesome every time he’s on screen. In terms of our human characters, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, and Stellan Skarsgard all return to mixed results. Natalie Portman still gets enough moments since she spends most of the film with Thor. Skarsgard and Dennings along with the addition of Jonathan Howard are very hit and miss. Sometimes their comedy is as good as the first film, the other half of the time it falls totally flat. Now we get to arguably the biggest issue of the film, which is the villains. They are atrocious and easily the worst villains of the entire MCU. Considering how many terrible villains this universe has, that’s honestly impressive. Christopher Eccleston and Adewale-Akinnuoye-Agbaje are both talented actors, but they have zero motivation and their dialogue comes down to generic evil dudes. 

So Alan Taylor takes over directing duties this time and overall does a good job. I missed Bragana’s Shakespearean style, but this tone made much more sense for your general audience. The action sequences are plenty of fun, and he gets to shine in one part. Frigga’s funeral is beautiful and one of the best scenes of the MCU. The script is a mixed bag, the overall story works fine and in retrospect after Endgame fits in nicely. The humor is so hit and miss here, everything with Thor and Loki lands and is legitimately hilarious. Their escape from Asguard is my favorite sequence in the film, with one classic moment where Loki becomes Captain America. The humor with the human characters though not so much. The story arc they try with Anthony Hopkins feels out of place with his character from the first film. As I mentioned earlier, the villains got terribly written and any scene they’re in without a hero threatens to kill any goodwill the film builds up. Still, I do like where the overall story lands and the film ends on an enjoyable note with a twist that made me excited for the future. The musical score is actually really strong here. The music played over Loki’s fake death is emotional at the moment and made an iconic joke in later films. 

So overall Thor: The Dark World is still a fun film, especially in the second act. Still, its reputation of being one of the worst MCU movies gets sadly well earned. The reception to this movie led to them doing a full 180-degree turn with Thor’s character in his next film. So, guys, that’s it for this edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We made it through the dark age year of this universe! Let me know your thoughts on the film in the comments below and if you liked the article, maybe share it. Next time we’ll be covering Captain America: The Winter Soldier. See you all next time!