Escape to the Movies: Thor: The Dark World

[BehattedWanderer]

Not sure what scene Bob was talking about with the whole "you'll know it when you see it" thing, because I felt everything was addressed as far as these things can be addressed. At least this was an actual Marvel movie, unlike Iron Man 3's "LOL Fooled you we're totally not doing the Mandarin" bullshit. Everyone in this acted their part, and there was comedy and tragedy working together to make the movie work.

I did love the casual reminder that the Thanos clock is ticking, as well. "One down, five to go." It's got me excited for Avengers 3 before Avengers 2 has even hit the ground. I can't even think of another property that has managed something even close to that.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I thought it was okay, gravity was what I should have spent my money on and X Men: First Class is the best super hero film so far.

 

[Psychobabble]

LOKI! LOKI! LOKI! LOKI!

He owned so many scenes in this movie, which just made it even better for me. (Even though its stupid and wont happen, I want Loki to have his own movie. Even if its just him insulting people for an hour).

I swear to fucking god if there is a solo Loki movie before a female hero lead I will rage against everything in the known universe.

Yeah but who would they use? Most strong female Marvel characters are all either an integral part of a super team or are just female carbon copies of male heroes. IE She Hulk, Spider woman, Ms Marvel ...etc.

Black Widow might work well as a stand alone movie hero but since she doesn't have actual super powers it would be more like the Captain America films. Which wouldn't bother me, but might not appeal to the studio.

 

[TheUnbeholden]

Well hopefully they release a uncut version, 10-15 minutes longer. Glad thats its entertaining and actually delivers on story/characters.

 

[castlewise]

Did anyone else here watch the "invasion" scene in act 2 and immediately think of Star Wars? Because as I watched what were essentially evil B-Wings cruising through a gorge while being fired at by laser canons, I sort of got that impression. Anyone?

I think it was the sound the flying canoes made. Its very similar to a lot of the engine sounds in the first the star wars movies.

As for the film itself. The third act was fun and silly, but also kind of all over the place and it didn't hold together was well. I really liked it overall though

P.S. Bob should definitely do a big picture on the ending scene and the implications.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

I would like to say that I really enjoyed this movie, because I did. But I can't fully endorse it for one reason.

WHERE. IS. MY. BETA. RAY. BILL.

Damn, I was just thinking this. I really would like to see that character on the big screen, but I'm not sure where you would throw him in plot-wise. Anyway, still looking forward to watching Dark World.

I don't see how it would really be an issue. He could just show up and be like "I ART BETA RAY BILL." And everyone's all "Hey Bill, can you dial it down a bit; this whole all-caps thing is so last eon." and he's like: "ODIN GAVE ME MINE OWN HAMMER AFTER I BESTED THINE THOR, AH DO WAT AH WANT."

It would be the best movie ever.

 

[Saltyk]

This is out? I may need to go see it with some friends, then. The Marvel movies have all been reliably entertaining.

... flying laser armed canoes... probably the most amazing mental image inducing set of words ever spoken.
I am going to have to go see that film now, if only for that.

Sounds like something off a Metal album cover doesn't it?

 

[Jamous]

I actually really liked how they didn't touch too much on the 'rivalry for Thor's affections' between Jane and Sif. It seemed to make both characters more mature and it also avoided any 'cat fight' style tropes. Especially considering how one sided a fight between them would've been with one being human and the other Asgardian. I really enjoyed the whole thing. But now I have the shakes and need more.

LOKI! LOKI! LOKI! LOKI!

He owned so many scenes in this movie, which just made it even better for me. (Even though its stupid and wont happen, I want Loki to have his own movie. Even if its just him insulting people for an hour).

I swear to fucking god if there is a solo Loki movie before a female hero lead I will rage against everything in the known universe.

And yet it for some reason is probably more likely. Depressing state of affairs, considering we've already seen they -can- do really good female characters.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

I would like to say that I really enjoyed this movie, because I did. But I can't fully endorse it for one reason.

WHERE. IS. MY. BETA. RAY. BILL.

Likely Thor 3, since he ties in with Surtur, who is the logical Thor 3 villain, being one of Thor's biggest and baddest bad guys.

 

[walrusaurus]

I know Bob will never come down from the fanboy high of the avengers, but personally, i think that this movie was better than the avengers. Don't get me wrong i loved the avengers; but at the end of the day it was just an event film. A lot of spectacle, with fun character beats but not much by way of actual character development.

This movie on the other hand is easily my favorite out of all the Marvel movies, and i could not agree more that given another 15-20 minutes to breathe it would have been Great (caps intended). Theres just so much depth left tantalizingly unexplored, i can't wait for Thor 3.

 

[bobdole1979]

I think Marvel in general has a lack of decent villains. The villains have the been the weak link in almost all their movies. It hasn't been a dealbreaker, because most Marvel heroes are about overcoming their personal issues and flaws than fighting bad guys, but it can keep those films an inch away from greatness. And they're certainly not helped by the rights to their most interesting villains being in the hands of other studios. After Magneto, Doctor Doom, and the better members of Spider-Man's rogue's gallery, who's actually decent for Marvel? The only interesting one has been Loki, and how much of that is because of Tom Hiddleston?

So I read this and thought "No! Marvel has great villains." And then I did a web search for top villains. And then I did a web search for top Avengers villains. And then for Spiderman villains. So, yeah. You are right. All of the big hitters have been done. The exceptions are Ultron and Thanos. Galactus was a bit of a copout in Fantastic 4 numero dos. And Doctor Doom was a poor depiction in Fantastic 4.

So my votes to get some decent villains would be to:
[ol]Reboot Doctor Doom as the badass that he should be. (Can't-at another studio)
Use The Leader and hook him up with a ridiculously complicated plan and a ton of muscle: Rhino, Wrecking Crew, Shocker, Scorpion, Titania etc. We were already teased with The Leader in the latest Hulk. (Rogues may be at another studio with Spider Man)
Apocalypse
Moecule Man (not really a planner so much as a "I can screw with everything" type)[/ol]

They can't use Doctor Doom, Galctus, or Apocolypse as the movie rights for both of them are owned by Fox


The Rhino, Shocker, scorpion, and Wrecking crew are owned by Sony but they could do the Leader.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I loved the movie. I thought it was a good ol' time with some pretty awesome action sequences and genuinely funny moments. Did feel a bit rushed at times, but I can forgive that though.

I agree. I can't agree that this wasn't as good as "Avengers"... I thought "Thor 2" was the best Marvel movie yet, by far. The "Iron Man"s are pretty good, but I can't remember any of the characters apart from Iron Man and Pepper Potts from any of them. I hated "Captain America" (seriously, both it and "The Avengers" tried SO HARD to convince me that this was a honorable soldier, and failed so badly at it) and the Ang Lee Hulk movie.

Honestly, with "Thor" being the best out of "The Avengers", "Hulk", "Captain America" and the "Iron Man" movies, and now "Thor 2" coming along and removing the only bit that spoilt it (the annoying SHIELD guys), it feels as though the "Thor" franchise is the one thing Marvel has going for it that's actually really, really good. I want to see more of these.

 

[rayen020]

I saw this movie last night and mostly i agree with that last line. It's good and it's gets the job done. I really liked the first Thor and had high hopes for this one. I'm gonna be bluntly honest, this ranks really low on my marvel movies list. like i think last. Its good, don't get me wrong, but like pixar, i'm spoiled by such a long run of good movies.

This one has really weird pacing and is aware of that so they choose to address it by focusing on fan favorite villain Loki. Which i really don't think is needed.

Right now My ranking of Marvel Studios Films is this

Captain America; The First Avenger
The Avengers
Thor
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
Iron Man
Thor 2; The Dark World

The Hulk -> still need to see this.

 

[TwiZtah]

I saw this monday and while I still think Natalie Portman is mis-cast as Jane Foster (in a humour filled film, she tries but fails) overall its a lot of fun and a good reminder of why the Marvel films have been so successful. Bob is spot on when he says they're embracing the light, funny & downright crazy side of the comics instead of playing it down (like Man of Steel) and considering how a lot of focus recently in TV and film has been towards the grim and gritty its nice for a series to be bucking that trend.

Also, it wasn't just the 3D print that was like that. 2 out of the 3 main settings had the grey filter on high (though in fairness the London scenes deserved it) and the Asgard scenes seemed a lot duller then in the 1st film.

Natalie Portman was cast as Jane Foster because she can make anyone look like a giant, or so she said herself. She's really really small, and in many shots, she's on a ramp of some sort to make her a bit taller.

 

[walruss]

Before I watch, let me guess. Bob loved it.

 

[MB202]

Eh, I never understood the concept of "breathing room"... Or rather, I do understand needing moments of silence, and letting the weight of a scene carry out, I just don't seem to be bothered by it when people complain about stuff like this, as well as the season 3 finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic needing "breathing room", when I think it worked fine as is. Either way, some people seem to be very critical of it, but I had a damn good time. Probably as good a time as I had watching The Avengers, though like Bob said, this movie isn't nearly as good as that one.

 

[Kahani]

The difference is that comic books can't rely on ABC to run a marathon leading up to A2 and A3. Once Avengers 2 rolls around you can bet your butt Disney is gonna make it happen. Now with Netflix getting 4 shows and a miniseries you'll probably see some sort of presentation of all the MCU content at the appropriate time. Marathoning Netflix is something everyday people love to do nowadays.

But that sort of thing can only go so far, and people only have so much time. Iron Man, The Incredibly Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy. That's 10 films that need to be seen before Avengers 2, which would mean pretty much an entire day of uninterrupted viewing. You really think many people are going to be willing to watch even that much, let alone add in another 5 years worth of films to it in the future? And don't forget Spiderman, the X-Men and the Fantastic 4, which all have their own separate series to follow and which many hope will eventually join a single continuity.

A big difference that makes it remarkably more convenient however is wikipedia. You can't look up solo issues of comics, but you can look up separate and individual films. It's also not as if there's tons of info that predates the internet. Literally everything you could possibly want to know about these films can be found on the web. And, odds are, the MCU won't REALLY start branching off for years to come, and they'll likely still be following relatively linear paths for quite some time. While the issue of existing lore is present, I don't see the problem being totally unmanageable.

You may not be able to look up every single comic issue, but you can still get a good overview of the various stories and characters easily enough. The trouble is, that's not really the point. The vast majority of the movie-going public are not comic geeks. Very few of them will be willing to do hours of research into the background of a film they're going to watch. And that's ignoring the very big problem that simply reading a plot summary on Wikipedia is not at all the same as actually watching a film. A well written film makes you feel an actual connection to the characters. A couple of paragraphs of text that don't even let you know what they look like really doesn't.

Ultimately, it's not about what's possible. It's possible for people to go back and watch all the films. It's possible for them to research it all so they at least know what happened in them. But very few people will ever do either of those things. Hell, very few of them would even be aware that such a thing could ever even be necessary. They just want to see an entertaining film. If they're told they won't enjoy it without doing a load of work first, or if they think that based on previous experience, they'll simply go and see something else.

 

[cwmdulais]

i know relatively little about the marvel universe so can someone explain why the bad guys are "Dark Elves".
I wonder why because there doesn't seem to be any "normal" elves

 

[chibby]

We went to see it non-3D.Half of the crew I go to see these big blockbusters HATE 3D and the rest of us are pretty impartial. I think the regular version was fine although I noticed it was a bit drab. I think that was intentional keeping with the whole "Dark World" theme. The film had a lot of good belly chuckles, maybe even more than Avengers. I agree that the villain was kind of one-note,but,every concept has been done to death in cinema at this point, it really can't be helped.

 

[revjor]

The difference is that comic books can't rely on ABC to run a marathon leading up to A2 and A3. Once Avengers 2 rolls around you can bet your butt Disney is gonna make it happen. Now with Netflix getting 4 shows and a miniseries you'll probably see some sort of presentation of all the MCU content at the appropriate time. Marathoning Netflix is something everyday people love to do nowadays.

But that sort of thing can only go so far, and people only have so much time. Iron Man, The Incredibly Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy. That's 10 films that need to be seen before Avengers 2, which would mean pretty much an entire day of uninterrupted viewing. You really think many people are going to be willing to watch even that much, let alone add in another 5 years worth of films to it in the future? And don't forget Spiderman, the X-Men and the Fantastic 4, which all have their own separate series to follow and which many hope will eventually join a single continuity.

I don't think people will spend 10 hours on Netflix. I KNOW they will. They already do. Breaking Bad, Arrested Development, House of Cards have made sure of that. I don't think you realize how many people's main form of entertainment is their TV/Netflix/Roku or DVR. Marathon viewing is a thing. Add a splash page and auto play to a Marvel playlist and it'll work like gangbusters. Watching 10 movies by Summer 2015 is not some Herculean task.