Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Directed by Alan Taylor
Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos… but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
13 connections found
View:
13 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Thor: The Dark World to
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a few mis-steps (how did we make it through Thor: The Dark World anyway?), but early indications are that Captain Marvel isn’t one of them.
There will be a lot of debate over whether or not Captain Marvel is Marvel Studio’s first major misfire since Thor: The Dark World in 2013.
Back in the heyday of superhero films, movies at this level — Thor: The Dark World comes to mind — were at least fun to watch to see characters we like go on an adventure that helps tee up further appearances in potentially better stories.
Tapping television folks like Alan Taylor (“ Thor: The Dark World “) and Anthony and Joe Russo (“ Captain America: The Winter Soldier ”) to helm $150 million tentpoles has afforded Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige the appearance of inspiration, if not the real thing.
Frequent series director Alan Taylor, whose career is far more distinguished on television ( Homicide: Life on the Streets , Mad Men , Game of Thrones ) than in film ( Thor: The Dark World , Terminator Genisys ), doesn’t evoke this vital Jersey history as vividly as he could, despite a soundtrack that’s full of deep rock and R&B cuts.
Written by showrunner David Chase and series writer Lawrence Konner, and directed by Alan Taylor—consistently solid on TV, winning an Emmy for “Kennedy and Heidi,” and consistently underwhelming on the big screen, winning my scorn for Thor: The Dark World—The Many Saints of Newark tracks the major moments in Moltisanti’s life in order to explain how Tony Soprano came to be, and to show that nothing has changed since the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Handsomely crafted by director Alan Taylor, easily his best feature film work after the disasters of “Thor: The Dark World” and “Terminator: Genisys,” the journeyman filmmaker does his best to make scenes look evocative, sinister, and one particular scene on the beach involving a murder—strangely beautiful in its confusion—but the craft on display can’t save the picture.
(Since the show, Taylor went on to helm horrid Hollywood blockbusters like “Terminator Genisys” and “Thor: The Dark World,” so we should probably be amazed that “Many Saints” is as good as it is.)
Taylor, who’s alternated high-profile HBO gigs with the big-budget franchise maintenance of Thor: The Dark World and Terminator Genisys , gives the film’s period setting a handsome museum sheen, while staging the shoot-outs and tense encounters with anonymous proficiency.
Advertisement
The last Marvel-related film that Sony produced, “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” is arguably one of the best Marvel films to date, but on the Disney/Marvel scale, “Venom” ranks somewhere between “Thor: The Dark World” and “Iron Man 2,” and possibly below both of them.
Honestly, Venom is on-par with the mediocre MCU flicks like Thor: The Dark World or The Incredible Hulk.
Those of us who’ve been keeping up with the Marvel universe will recall that Loki faked his own death in Thor: The Dark World and is, by the power of illusion, impersonating Odin ( Anthony Hopkins , who gets to channel his inner Loki as he once again reprises the Odin role) on Asgard.
The plot is about Thor (Chris Hemsworth) stopping Ragnarok in the first few minutes, and then resolving his cliffhanger endings from both Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron in the next few minutes afterwards.
Instead, director Taika Waititi (2016's "Hunt for the Wilderpeople") and screenwriters Eric Pearson (TV's "Agent Carter"), Craig Kyle, and Christopher L. Yost (2013's " Thor: The Dark World ") embrace the power of the quirk.
Hitting UK screens on October 24 before making its way to the US on November 3, Ragnarok will try to top the $645 million grossed by 2013’s Thor: The Dark World.
2013’s Thor: The Dark World went darker, but was hampered by perhaps the single worst villain in the Marvel film canon (poor Malekith, nothing personal buddy) and the increasingly obvious lack of any chemistry between Hemsworth and erstwhile love interest Natalie Portman.
And Patty Jenkins left Thor: The Dark World for similar reasons — and then went on to direct Wonder Woman .
The ingratiating supporting cast includes Rene Russo (2013's " Thor: The Dark World ") as in-house masseuse (and Ben's possible love interest) Fiona; Anders Holm (TV's "Workaholics") as Jules' husband Matt; Andrew Rannells (2012's " Bachelorette ") as close colleague Cameron; Zack Pearlman (2010's " The Virginity Hit ") as younger intern Davis, and very funny newcomer Christina Scherer as Jules' increasingly harried assistant Becky.
Jenkins—who was replaced early on while directing Thor 2—stepped in to make her first feature film since Monster, 14 years ago.
Advertisement
As a counterpoint, look at Loki in Thor: The Dark World , tasked with a similar “do it or else” mission after languishing in prison.
It’s the sort of vague and emotionally meaningless villain plot that we’ve seen before in bland and/or awful superhero movies like Thor: The Dark World and the latest Fantastic Four reboot, and Suicide Squad doesn’t do it any better.
And some fans of the original two films might like the various bits of homage that director Alan Taylor ("Thor: The Dark World") handles, and the variations thereof (including watching old Arnie fight a younger version of himself).
Directed by Alan Taylor (“Thor: The Dark World”) and scripted by two Hollywood vets best known for things other than writing (producer Laeta Kalogridis and editor Patrick Lussier), the film admissibly uses Cameron’s original as a jumping-off point.
Alan Taylor shines by bringing his experience from orchestrating massive set pieces on Thor 2 to a more grounded realm of earthly familiarity.
Like Rise of the Machines and Salvation , Genisys was directed by a competent journeyman (TV veteran Alan Taylor, who also helmed Thor: The Dark World ) rather than a visionary like Cameron.
Director Alan Taylor is best known for his work on prestige cable dramas like “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos” and the lesser Marvel entry “Thor: The Dark World.”
The film, directed by Game Of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World alum Alan Taylor, tries to wangle its way into the James Cameron canon by pretending the two films that were released after he parted ways with the franchise — Terminator: Salvation and Rise Of The Machines — don’t exist.