Marvel’s movie media premiere of Thor: The Dark World in 3D was held at the Arc Light Theatre in Hollywood this week. Marvel comics and Thor fans have been waiting for this highly anticipated movie which continues the adventures of Thor, The Mighty Avenger. The Dark World starts off in London where Jane Foster is working and still waiting for Thor to return. Back in Asgard, Thor (starring Chris Hemsworth) continues his battle to end a war across the cosmos and restore peace and order to Earth and the Nine Realms .
After two long years, it appears, he has almost achieved his goal, unaware that Malekith (played by Christopher Eccleston) leader of the ancient race, known as the dark elves has awoken from his hibernation to create a vengeful path of destruction. What results is a battle to end all battles that will take all of Thor’s powers and resources to stop the evil Malekith. Against Thor’s better judgement but desperate to stop Malekith, Thor helps the equally evil and treacherous, Loki (portrayed by Tom Hiddleston) escape from prison, and forms an uneasy alliance that culminates in a surprise ending that left me speechless.
Thor: The Dark World immediately placed the audience into the epic adventures and struggles the main character, Thor is going through. His personal inner battles between the loyalty and love for his family and his world and his love and future with Jane, are as difficult to fight as the enemy threatening the Nine Realms . There were several edge of my seat moments during the movie where I wanted to reach out and pull Thor out of danger as well as some hilarious ones including a scene involving a cell phone incident that had the audience laughing out loud. The scene where Thor and Jane (the role reprised by Natalie Portman) reunite was the perfect reaction after a two year separation. I also enjoyed Kat Dennings’ character, who once again returns as Darcy Lewis, Jane’s assistant, this time with her own assistant to boss around. Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) provided his fair share of comedic moments, in between all the destruction and mayhem.
My experience with Marvel Heroes movies did not prepare me for the spectacular special effects Thor: The Dark World had to offer. The fight scenes and there were plenty, were fierce and realistic to the point of making me cringe during some of the violent attacks. Every scene where Thor flung his hammer had me ducking in my chair. To quote Visual Effects Supervisor, Jake Morrison, referring to a cement rig suspended in mid air “the cement rig is a wonderful example of special effects at it’s best”.
Background into the making of Thor: The Dark World:
In 1962 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced The Mighty Thor, the hammer wielding Norse god to Marvel Comics readers. The cinematic success of Thor inspired the film makers to dig deeper into not only comic history but also Norse mythology. Unlike the Greek and Roman gods, in Norse mythology the gods have their powers, but also have a more human aspect. This allowed the target audience to relate easier to Marvel heroes.
In creating Thor: The Dark World the Marvel Team worked very hard to respect the fans and origins of the film while still trying to entice new Marvel fans. Producer Kevin Feige, executive producer Craig Kyle, screenwriters and the rest of the team at Marvel took a long look at where Thor ended in “Marvel’s The Avengers,” and gave us an older, more mature character, whose journey to be king is filled with personal sacrifice and conflict. The introduction of Malekith was an early decision and was the number 1 choice, not only because he had the look the visual development wanted in a character to transfer from comic book to screen. But also because he was the most famous and popular evil character in the Thor saga, since his initial appearance in Walter Simonson and the Surtur Saga.
The Warriors Three and The Lady Sif as the peacekeepers of the Nine Realms and work closely alongside Thor to fight the wars and regain peace. The nine realms are also deeply explored giving more depth to the Thor’s background and heritage.
Director Alan Taylor was not a comic book fan but with Marvel’s help quickly became familiar with the world of Thor. Taylor had the uncanny ability to bring humanity and realism into a film of epic proportions,while still maintaining the hallmark humor of Marvel films. Marvel’s decision to have Taylor come in and direct played a key role in what is sure to be the movie’s box office success.
Thor: The Dark World includes the talents of Chris Hemsworth( Thor), Academy Award® winner Natalie Portman (Jane) and Tom Hiddleston ( Loki). It also stars Stellan Skarsgård (Dr.Erik Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Christopher Eccleston (Malekith), Adewale Akinnuoye (Algrim,) Kat Dennings (Darcy), Rene Russo (Frigga) and Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins (Odin).
Don’t miss next week’s article – The Making of Thor: The Dark World.
Thor: The Dark World in theatres now!
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As with almost every Marvel movie, stick around after the credits! 🙂