Thor: The Dark World

**A long format review from 2013** Despite a virtually non-existent (comparatively) promotional campaign for Marvel’s latest effort, Thor: The Dark World has crushed its competition box-office-wise. Though receiving less critical acclaim than Captain Phillips or Gravity, it did clean up in the finance department. I’ve made no secret of the fact that in the MCU, my favourite Avenger is Thor, so a new film was always going to be an easy ticket from me. And I can’t work out if that bias is making me more critical of the film because I care so much, or less because I’m just happy it got made? I’ll try to be as above board as possible. Thor 2 is a spectacle, make no mistake. It has the appropriate mix of explosions, attractive people, monsters, humour, fighting, mesmerising visuals, sweet symbolism and heart-wrenching sorrow that can be expected from a decent super hero film. But beyond that, it doesn’t really have much. I know it sounds like it has a lot, and it honestly does, but I just couldn’t help feeling in a quite a number of moments that the thing felt hurried. Maybe if there wasn’t such a mad rush to get a Thor sequel out by the end of 2013, they could have spent a little more time fleshing out and filling in the script (not that it’s a short movie, I mean the pre-production feels rushed) and better utilising director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones, Rome, Carnivale). There was a hint of the generic, amongst this otherwise splendid film. 73% -Gimly