REVIEW - 'Thor: The Dark World'

'Thor:  The Dark World' (PG-13) **1/2

Phase 2 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe continues as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) fights to restore order across the Nine Realms…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) returns to try and plunge the universe back into darkness with a weapon known as the Aether.  Thor's battle with Malekith reunites him with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and forces him to team up with Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who is sitting in an Asgardian prison after the events of 'The Avengers'. 

Simply put, I just felt kinda 'eh' about this movie.  Not exactly an uber deep analytical interpretation, I know, but that's how I felt.  It has some fun action scenes and good special effects.  Everyone does an adequate job in their roles, particularly Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  It's fun listening to their back and forth banter.  Malekith as a villain was kinda fun, kinda sinister, but also kinda 'eh'.  And while overall I just felt kinda 'eh' about this movie I will admit that it is a very funny, even funnier than some "comedies" I went to see this year (Here's looking at you 'Scary Movie 5', 'Hangover Part III', 'Incredible Burt Wonderstone').  Loki has some good one liners and there's even more fish out of water humor when Thor returns to Earth.  Stan Lee makes his usual quick, funny cameo appearance.  Another cameo caught me completely by surprise and was also very funny, but I won't reveal who it was.  It is a different director this time around (Alan Taylor, who has directed episodes of HBO's 'Game of Thrones', taking over from Kenneth Branagh) but other than a darker overall tone it doesn't feel to much different than the first movie.  It's hard to pinpoint exactly why I felt 'eh' about the movie, but one main negative that I actually can put a finger on is the romance between Thor and Jane.  It felt forced in the first one and guess what?  It's feels forced again.  Not quite forced to the point of eyerolling but it almost got to that point.  I saw this in 2D after being disappointed with the 3D while watching the original 'Thor' two years ago and it was fine.  And much like 'Avengers', this has two scenes after the movie.  One is during the credits and sets up another movie in Phase 2, and the other is just a very funny scene tacked on after the credits. 

Now how does it compare to the first?  It's funnier than the first 'Thor' but it's not necessarily a better movie, even though I also felt kinda 'eh' about that movie as well.  As far as comparisons within Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes, I liked 'Iron Man 3' a lot better.  It's also darker in tone, quite funny, but I was able to stay invested with that movie and there wasn't a forced romantic subplot.  'Thor:  The Dark World' had a few scenes that had me invested, but even those scenes and the sense of humor in the movie still couldn't shake off the 'eh' feeling I had.  I'll still go see 'Captain America:  The Winter Soldier' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy', but I'd much rather just fast forward to 'Avengers:  Age of Ultron'.
  

TRAILERS
All right, lots of trailers to talk about.

'Captain America:  The Winter Soldier' - This looks like it could be okay.  I was 'eh' about the first movie so I'm just hoping that this one will be better.  Much like all of the other Phase 2 movies, this looks to be a little bit darker in tone.  I'm sensing a pattern....

'X-Men:  Days of Future Past' - I know it connects the characters of the original X-Men trilogy with the characters from 'First Class' and it involves time travel.  I loved 'First Class'.  This looks like it could either be really good or really dumb. 

'Robocop' -Yep, the remake of 'Robocop'.  I haven't seen the original, so based on this trailer it just looks kinda 'eh'.

'The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug' - It look$ better than 'Unexpected Journey'.  'The Hobbit' $till didn't need to be $plit up in to three movie$.....can't quite put my finger on why Peter Jack$on would $plit it up.....

'The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire' - This actually looks great.

'Delivery Man' - It looks like it could be funny.  

'Ride Along' - This also could have potential.  I think Ice Cube can be very funny, but I don't think Kevin Hart is funny.  At all.  The episode of 'Saturday Night Live' that he hosted last season was honestly one of the most unfunny episodes of 'SNL' that I have ever seen.  I know humor is all subjective and I know plenty of people who think that Kevin Hart is hilarious....I'm just not one of them.