Thor: The Dark World 2013: Alan Taylor

So I entered Thor: The Dark World with very high expectations, but I could not have been more impressed. If you have not yet seen it, I recommend you do. Now. Stop reading. Go. 

Back? Good, because the following may contain SPOILERS.  Thor 2 is in my opinion the best solo Marvel movie to date, and even as good as The Avengers. All the characters are represented, written, and acted exactly as they should be. The Warrios three, Sif, Freda, Odin and Heimdall all have improved characters and more screen time than previously seen. Natalie Portmans character Jane Foster is less pedantic and useless, and actually has purpose and a stronger screen presence. Christopher Eccleson's villain Malekith is worthy and and fantastically maked up. His Army of the dark elves have a creepy atmosphere with their emotionless masks and body armour. And even Kurse is a amazing piece of costume design, with a very threatening and imposing presence. I also feel even the smaller parts of Darcy and especially Eric Selvig provide big laughs as the comedy appeal for the film.

This said, their are laughs thoughtout the film from other characters, keeping it enjoyable, humorous, and often at the edge of your seat excitement. Loki is a highlight, forever untrustworthy, funny, and completely unpredictable. His character becomes deeper, using illusions and confidence to hide his true suffering and complex emotions for his adoptive family.

Thor's character is also more interesting, questioning his loyalties between Asgard, his father, and his love for Jane Foster. I also like how the literal World tree can be seen and we have a closer look at the 9 realms, giving an overall closer relation to the mythology of Thor. 

Ultimately Thor: The Dark World has improved everything about the characters and universe, creating well written story, in depth and realistic, relatable characters and incredible design to anything in the film. The best part of the film for me was the sequence set on Svartalfheim (the Dark World.) This is because it was totally captivating, surprising, unpredictable, contained the films strongest characters and costumes, and had the best set. Iceland provided the perfect set with the black ash hills and I even liked the yellow tinge to the sky. This said, I cannot fault any other set, or any element at all of the film, and highly recommend it to anybody. I would give it 5 stars, ten out of ten, and easily rate it the best film of the year.