"Thor: The Dark World" is a very fun movie.
The film commanded the box-office opening weekend with a huge $86 million.
We saw the film over the weekend, and while it’s not perfect, it is a very satisfying sequel with the latter half of the film being much better than the first.
We’re not convinced this film was Thor’s movie as much as it was Loki’s, and that's perfectly okay.
Though we were supposed to be focused on Thor and his quest to stop a dark lord from engulfing the universe in darkness, we often found ourselves more entranced with the God of Thunder's brother and his separate storyline.
Nothing against Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki) just nailed his role every time on screen.
Worst: The premise of the entire film is pretty dumb.
If an explainer at the very beginning of the film narrated by Anthony Hopkins didn't feel cliché enough (think "The Lord of the Rings"), the Aether, an object of power introduced to us at the film's start — one that was to be hidden in obscurity to never be found — is easily unearthed in the first 30 minutes of the film.
The worst part is that it's found in the most convenient storyline plot device to bring Thor back to Earth: Natalie Portman (who plays Thor's girlfriend, Jane Foster) is magically transported between worlds and ends up right at the Aether.
Wait ... it gets worse.
Worst: An alien form of dark matter takes over Natalie Portman's body in a ridiculous scene.
What is this "Spider-Man 3"?
The scene where the alien-esque Aether took over Natalie Portman's body was eerily similar to scenes where the alien Venom took over both Peter Parker and later Eddie Brock's bodies in "Spider-Man 3."
(Note: If you're a fan of superhero movies, you know the third film from Sam Raimi is heavily regarded as an embarrassment to the Spidey franchise and is a big reason behind the Spider-Man franchise reboot.)
Best: The movie easily could have been Loki's.
Sure, this was a Thor sequel, but we could have been fooled.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is both the first person to be seen after the title sequence and the last one before the credits begin to roll. In between the story about Thor, the dark elves, and his struggle with his father (the King of Asgard) to accept his Earth-girlfriend Jane, is a much better one about an adopted son, cast away by the only father he has ever known.
This is very much Loki's movie as much as — if not more than — Thor's. Though he tried to take over the Earth in "The Avengers," you can't help but feel his intelligence could have helped mold him into a great ruler if given the chance. There are a few scenes in the film where you're really rooting for the antihero because you see that underneath his cold, calculating, mischievous persona, is a person with feelings just like the rest of us.
Loki is really just the kid who never fit in, always in the shadow of his handsome, popular brother Thor, who grew up to be a resentful bully because of it. He just needs some TLC.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
