Autumn Views...

Thor : The Dark World - 4 stars ****

On Thursday I went to see Thor: The Dark World at Parrs Wood cinema with Mo. We weren't too bothered about it being in 3D, so opted for the 9pm showing to avoid it (and the expensive tickets!). I haven't seen the original Thor film, or The Avengers, so was a little dubious as to whether I would be missing out on some vital information to enjoy the film, but this was not the case. Though some things were a bit over my head, having only seen a few comic book based films, and read no original books, I understood the majority of the action and storyline, and would recommend it to others whether they are fans of Marvel or not.

This instalment (said because the ending of the film suggests there will be a third film) copes with the build up to what is known as the Convergence, where once every 5000 years all nine realms of Asgard (including Earth) align, creating portals between them. Jane Foster (love interest Natalie Portman) discovers one of these portals, and is sucked into it, and given exposure to a dark substance called Aether, hidden for thousands of years. An evil elf called Malekith (Christopher Eccleston in very good makeup!) senses the find, and awakes in order to capture the Aether to destroy Asgard. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has to join forces with his shady war criminal of a brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to defeat Malekith and restore peace to the nine realms.

One of the things I can commend Thor: The Dark World for, is the depth of plotline despite the brilliant special effects, as in previous films of this type I have seen, one takes a focus to the detriment of the other. I could have coped with it being a bit longer actually, as there were certain aspects that I felt could have been expanded upon, though these may have been explained in the first film.

There is quite a lot of comedy in this film too, which helped to lighten the scenes that were pretty heavygoing and fantasy based. It doesn't take itself too seriously, which is refreshing from a film of this genre. Worth a watch.