Thor: The Dark World

Get ready for one of those plot descriptions that will make me feel like a complete and utter nerd.

A couple years after The Avengers saved the world, it’s time for their nemesis to pay for his evil deeds. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has brought Loki (Tom Hiddleston) back to Asgard to dispense justice, which means the evil brother has been sentenced by his father, King Odin (Anthony Hopkins), to a lifetime in the dungeons. Of course, that’s where all of the action begins.

An old adversary of Asgard (I giggle every time I type that word), Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), has been seeking The Aether - some evil force that can turn matter into dark matter and plunge the universe into darkness (it would be a Dark World if you will). It turns out, through a complete twist of fate and incredible coincidence, Thor’s old flame, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), accidentally has found The Aether, and it has merged with her (lucky Aether).

When Malekith comes looking for Jane to get his Aether, will Thor be able to save his main squeeze and the Universe?

When it turns out Loki could be the only one who can help, how will Thor manage that?

If you were even the slightest bit confused by that summary, just count yourself among the majority. Even with director Alan Taylor dedicated to spelling out every single piece of background information, new character and plot development from the three person writing team, Thor: The Dark World gets a bit overloaded and murky. It’s complicated, but not necessarily always in the good way. However, you have to be glad Taylor and Co. took this much time to fill us in, because the movie would have been incomprehensible without it.

Taylor and the team also keep the movie lively with some well placed and perfectly timed comedy to break up the long periods of exposition. These are not jut throwaway lines for comedy sake. Most of it helps the audience learn something about the characters and their personalities, which is why you enjoy Thor: The Dark World so much.

Hemsworth seems to have resigned himself to being the straight man in this operation, complete with stoic heroic behavior, and that’s the way it needs to be. Thor is not Tony Stark. We need the big buff blonde dude to swing his hammer and save the world, while his glorious mane of locks blows in the wind and those around him get most of the laughs. Consider him the Action element of an Action Comedy movie, and Hemsworth is well suited to being the brave, commanding hero (who gets a few moments here and there to impress).

Plus, Hiddleston is so great as the smirky, evil, sometimes over-the-top villain, Hemsworth doesn’t need to do much more. While Malekith is, for lack of a better term, the lead villain, Hiddleston steals the show with his ferret-faced grin and the shifty personality he instills in Loki. He looks like he is having fun being bad, and the rest of us enjoy it as well, or even more.

Get ready for a movie with a few too many convenient ways for the heroes to escape disaster, but also one with a couple mind blowing moments for fans. Most of all, it’s a fun movie.

Thor: The Dark World is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some suggestive content.