Thor: The Dark World (2013)

[Nic]

saw it Friday. I liked it well enough, but the story didn't really felt like it came into focus until

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Thor set out to break Loki out of prison[

, and I really hope the DVD/Blu-Ray comes with enough deleted scenes to help flesh the story out more. And the post-credit sequence REALLY has me looking forward to more of the Marvel Studios movies. Speaking of, I think this is the first time they didn't use the standard "MARVEL" production company logo, but "Marvel Studios." I don't know if this is the first time this logo popped up, but it's a really good move to make.

 

[Bookbase]

On an off-note, funny how the film posters seem to portray the primary female protagonists in a lesser position. Take for example the posters for the new Thor, Iron Man 3, and even Spider-Man 2 awhile back - the girls are clinging to the guys as if helpless! I know you don't see this kind of cover theme on all posters, but it is really tiresome to see women in films being "damsel-in-distress" all the time. Pepper became Stark Industries' competent CEO and even wore the suit. Save the submissive roles for old Disney princesses or something, because women don't deserve retaining that image anymore.

Wait...Marvel, Disney...ah, crud...

 

[bionicbob]

I saw this yesterday, as others pointed out, the basic plot, villain and resolution was completely by the numbers and unoriginal but it was very entertaining over all. I felt the movie didn't quite gel until the third act. Definitely missing some much needed reintroduction character beats. Also, was it just me, but did it feel like Anthony Hopkins was just phoning in his role... he lacked his normal intensity and gravitas.

But I did love the look of the film and the world of Asgard. It was really fun seeing many of the Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson designs popping up. I would give the film an 8 out of 10.

Mostly this movie makes me look forward to AVENGERS 3, as they are clearly setting up their version of the INFINITY GAUNTLET.

 

[Gaith]

On an off-note, funny how the film posters seem to portray the primary female protagonists in a lesser position.

Well, that isn't really false advertising for this franchise, is it? I look forward to a clear-cut female-starring MCU flick, but we ain't there yet...

 

[Sunarep]

Right now it doesn't seem likely that we will get a solo female movie in the MCU in the next years.. which is why i really hope that warner brothers considers a wonder woman movie like this article: http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-new...-bros-should-make-a-wonder-woman-movie-happen

The only recent o.k.-ish female comicbook character was Hathaway's catwoman so there is a real need for woman who are more than wanking-material in comic book films

EDIT: and Pepper Potts in Iron Man 1 also fits the bill

 

[theslime]

Most of those having a problem with Wonder Woman have not read recent comics, or even the runs before the most recent ones. You can pick and choose any one of several interesting ways of dealing with the character, just like Grant Morrison's Batman differs quite a bit from Christopher Nolan's Batman (but both are still identifiably Batman). Gail Simone pitched a version on Twitter that seemed like more or less a subversive princess story, with Disney princess motifs combining with the warrior motif that usually applies to the prince of the family. The current Azzarello story has very cool elements too (with a heavy emphasis on Greek mythology), and I like how Geoff Johns portrays her as a badass speaking stilted Shakespearean (fish-out-of-water-style) in Justice League, kinda like the MCU Thor.

There's so many ways you can go with WW, and once the people who read comics in the 60s, 70s and early 80s (when only bad WW comics were coming out) are out of the decision loop, it will happen. Gail Simone sums up the generation gap well.

 

[Gaith]

The only recent o.k.-ish female comicbook character was Hathaway's catwoman so there is a real need for woman who are more than wanking-material in comic book films

EDIT: and Pepper Potts in Iron Man 1 also fits the bill

What about Pepper in IM2 and 3? And ASM's Gwen Stacy is awesome. Mystique in X:FC wasn't at all bad either... but I disagree about Selina-don't-call-her-Catwoman. She only had two traits to speak of: be so terrified of Bane she didn't even think herself capable of escaping his influence, and shacking up with Bruce. Sure, she looked great and purred nice, but I don't think there's any more to her character than Jane Foster.

Most of those having a problem with Wonder Woman have not read recent comics, or even the runs before the most recent ones. You can pick and choose any one of several interesting ways of dealing with the character

Maybe, but at this point, I refuse to long/wish for a WW movie just because she's got a famous name. And I even tried her first New 52 TPB, and couldn't make heads or tails of practically anything in it, least of all why I should care about her.

I think at this point, our best hope is for a female-starring superhero movie is a Captain Marvel MCU Phase III flick. But if the rumors are true and there's a WW in Bats vs. Supes, DC obviously gets no points for merely bringing her to the screen in a supporting role.

 

[Sunarep]

True I forgot Mystique.
Pepper in Im2 and 3 really suffered. in iron man 2 she was reduced to shrieking and screaming (as with the end of iron man 1) and in Iron man 3 she was the damsel in distress whose only hero moments were because of the help of either stark or extremis

And yeah Hathaway is called catwoman and the reason i love her so much is that she has her own agenda and motivation, making her far more than the eventual love interest, she betrays batman and is after her own goals and has a genuine storyarc in the movie. Plus the way she uses the stereotypes to her advantage and switches between her personalitites is fantastic.

Not really a fan of stacy as she is pretty much the hottie who falls for spiderman and does one minor thing at the end to make her seem more important.

 

[theslime]

[MENTION=6357]Gaith[/MENTION], I agree the new 52 Wonder Woman would not work at all in a film, but I found it really fresh and wonderful, and not just because it really used the weirdness of Greek mythology to its advantage. And, like I said, in Justice League, she's really more of a Thor-like presence, a weird ass-kicking outsider whose stilted language is a source of amusement (the "I need sustenance!" mode of dialogue, if you will). Her gender is really never an issue there, outside of a general sense of "hotness" (which can definitely be argued is true of male superheroes as well). My point is that with the right amount of asskickery and with a backdrop of mythology, legacy/heiress-to-the-throne issues, and fish-out-of-water elements, Wonder Woman can be just as relevant as Superman or any x-man you'd care to name - provided the writing is good enough. Even if the first Thor film was pretty bad (I haven't seen the second one yet), if nothing else it proved the point that you can do silly mythological gods on screen.

 

[Hymie]

Speaking of, I think this is the first time they didn't use the standard "MARVEL" production company logo, but "Marvel Studios." I don't know if this is the first time this logo popped up, but it's a really good move to make.

The logo did say Marvel studios under the traditional Marvel logo used since Spider-Man, but since the deal with Paramount is over, they decided to upgrade the logo and have it be a little more grand. I'm guessing the Marvel movies made by other studios will still use the old one, if only to differentiate.

 

[bionicbob]

The logo did say Marvel studios under the traditional Marvel logo used since Spider-Man, but since the deal with Paramount is over, they decided to upgrade the logo and have it be a little more grand. I'm guessing the Marvel movies made by other studios will still use the old one, if only to differentiate.

Agents of SHIELD premiered a version of this new logo too last night.

 

[matrixgrindhouse]

Fun movie. Not the best of the Marvel universe by any means, but far from the worst. Entertaining. Good in just about every respect, just not great. Except, of course...

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Loki's awesome manipulation. And that ending. Glorious.

 

[Gaith]

True I forgot Mystique.
Pepper in Im2 and 3 really suffered. in iron man 2 she was reduced to shrieking and screaming (as with the end of iron man 1) and in Iron man 3 she was the damsel in distress whose only hero moments were because of the help of either stark or extremis

And yeah Hathaway is called catwoman and the reason i love her so much is that she has her own agenda and motivation, making her far more than the eventual love interest, she betrays batman and is after her own goals and has a genuine storyarc in the movie. Plus the way she uses the stereotypes to her advantage and switches between her personalitites is fantastic.

Not really a fan of stacy as she is pretty much the hottie who falls for spiderman and does one minor thing at the end to make her seem more important.

IMHO, a character's overall context can be as important as what she actually gets to do with her screen time. Pepper is shown to capably run Stark Industries, which I think keeps her awesome, and Gwen Stacy is wicked smart, and neither of them act like bimbos. Granted, Jane Foster does, a bit, in spite of her brains, so I don't defend her as much, but I stand by my not thinking much of Nolan-Selina.

 

[Ironman]

I rather enjoyed Thor 2 - so much better than the first movie.

HOWEVER ......... there are a number of flaws. Some of the humor needs to be removed (particularly in the final battle sequence as it really jolts you out of that). Also, many scenes felt like they had been cut for time and, sure enough, I stumbled across an interview with the director stating that was exactly what happened due to studio demenads. Also, some character development scenes were hacked out at the behest of the studio. Some of these scenes will apparently appear as extras on the Blu-ray.

This COULD have been a really great film - there are moments where it really shines. I feel that a fan edit (using the Blu-ray scenes if possible/relevant) could really enhance it. Does anyone plan to do such an edit?

 

[bionicbob]

Bought the blu-ray today and just watched the Marvel One-Shot ALL HAIL THE KING.

Very funny.

I think it will make most Marvel fans happy with it's explanation of the MANDARIN and The Ten Rings.

In fact, if Agents of SHIELD survives for a second season, I think The Ten Rings would make a great ongoing adversary.

 

[TM2YC]

Just watched the Thor2 BR (Missed it at the cinema).

A fun movie but the pacing, scene placement and narrative focus is all over the shop. It almost felt as though the whole first hour was exposition scenes on an endless loop. As in, they kept taking so long to explain everything that they had to show you the same scenes again to remind you 20 minutes later. e.g. Odin explains the Malakith situation - 20 minutes of stuff with nothing to do with Malakith - Odin explains Malakith again... or crazy naked scientist subplot is explained - 60 minutes of no scientist involvement in the plot - scientist subplot explained again with the EXACT same footage.

Very strange, but seems easily fixable with a few simple (But large) trims of many earlier scenes. Haven't watched the deleted scenes yet. Oh and without any spoilers WTF was the post-credits scene doing post-credits anyway?

 

[DominicCobb]

Please do a fan edit for this. I thought it was cool but rather disappointing. My second least favorite of the MCU.

 

[TM2YC]

Please do a fan edit for this. I thought it was cool but rather disappointing. My second least favorite of the MCU.

I am quite tempted. Watched the roughly 5 mins of deleted footage and should all have been kept in the film. I always find it really baffling that 5 minutes of character moments would be cut from a film with so much action. Would an audience really miss a random 5 minutes of crashing and smashing being trimmed to make room for it?

Probably the only subtle change it needs (Beyond large scene removals) is silencing Loki's dialogue after Thor releases his chains. It makes absolutely no sense and the fact that we don't see Loki say the lines, suggests they were unwisely dubbed on in post.

Oh and the post credits scene would become the end and the end would become the post credits scene... as it should have been.

I rather enjoyed Thor 2 - so much better than the first movie.

HOWEVER ......... there are a number of flaws. Some of the humor needs to be removed (particularly in the final battle sequence as it really jolts you out of that).

Couldn't disagree more.

I thought the big strength of the first film was the humour and likeable characters. Branagh is an actor's Director afterall but he didn't handle the set pieces very well IMO. So I thought Thor2 would be perfect since they could take all the wonderful character's Branagh worked hard to develop and match them with some quality SF&F action (And Thor2 has fantastic action in spades!). But I think they rested a little to much on Branagh's work and didn't devote enough time to just having fun with our Thor universe friends this time around. In other words, they took the audience for granted a little. I suspect anybody who hadn't seen Thor1 and Avengers, wouldn't give the tiniest sh*t about the people in Thor2.

The inventive humour of the final battle (Thor on the Tube especially) was the only part of Thor2 that could match the side-splitting moments from the first film, like Thor smashing a coffee cup or asking a pet shop owner to sell him a bird "Big enough to ride" :lol:.

 

[Nic]

Since we learn what the Aether is later on, how about replacing Odin's monologue at the beginning with an opening credits montage that sums up Thor 1 and the Avengers?

 

[TM2YC]

Since we learn what the Aether is later on, how about replacing Odin's monologue at the beginning with an opening credits montage that sums up Thor 1 and the Avengers?

Yes as I mentioned above this is one of the biggest redundancies in a film full of redundant exposition. Just remove it completely and start with the extended war on the forest world (blahblahheim or whatever it was) so we have Thor kickin' ass within about 90 seconds of the film starting.