Trailer Trashin’: The God of Thunder Returns in Thor: The Dark World

At long last, the release of Iron Man 3 is upon us, and with it the beginning of the 2013 summer movie season. I’m ridiculously excited about this summer, and Iron Man 3 is just the first of many films I want to see. And this week’s new Trailer Trashin’ column examines our first look at the next part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Thor: The Dark World.

Premise: Set one year after The Avengers, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) battles to save all the Nine Realms from a mysterious enemy older than the universe itself. However, a primeval race led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who is out for revenge, intends to plunge the universe into darkness. Confronted by an enemy that even Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Asgard cannot overcome, Thor must reunite with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and set out on a dangerous journey that will force him to make the ultimate sacrifice.

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My take: As I have stated before in this column, I am a die-hard fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and like millions of other Americans, I will be checking out Iron Man 3 this weekend. That film will kick off what Marvel calls “Phase Two” of the MCU, which will cover all the films up to The Avengers 2 in 2015. But the next step after Iron Man 3 will be the sequel to 2011’s Thor. The teaser trailer for Thor: The Dark World has arrived, and I think it looks really cool.

A big part of why the original Thor worked was the great cast, and thankfully many of the actors from the first film are back for the sequel. Chris Hemsworth really gave a star-making performance as Thor, capturing the exact combination of heroism and hubris that the character needs. It’s great to see him playing the role again, and I hope he gets to take the character to new and different places. Natalie Portman, who plays Thor’s love interest Jane Foster, had great chemistry with Hemsworth, and I’m curious what will happen with her character, which I’ll go into more detail about later. The great Tom Hiddleston is also back as Loki, and after being the main villain in both Thor and The Avengers, it looks like he’s playing more of a supporting role this time. I’m guessing he’ll basically be like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), where he’s the creepy guy that’s been locked up, and the heroes go to him for advice. We only get a brief glimpse of Christopher Eccleston – probably best known as the Ninth Doctor on Doctor Who, as well as his villainous turns in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) – as our new villain Malekith the Accursed, ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfhein. Eccleston plays great bad guys, and it’s great to see him as part of the MCU. I’ll need to see more of what Eccleston’s makeup looks like, but I like it so far. We also get to see returning cast members Jaimie Alexander as Sif, who looks rather pissed that Jane Foster comes to Asgard, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, and Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, plus Zachary Levi taking over for Joshua Dallas as Fandral. It looks like both Sif and the Warriors Three will get more to do in this film, which is definitely a good thing in my opinion. Finally, we get to see Kat Dennings, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins back in their roles as, respectively, Darcy Lewis, Frigga, and Odin.

The action and scale on display here totally blows away what we saw in the first film. While we only got the Destroyer fighting Thor in a small New Mexico town in the last film, this one has the denizens of the Nine Realms coming to the human world in a much bigger and more destructive way, if the scenes in London are any indication. We see a big battle between Asgardian forces, including Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three, against what I presume are the Dark Elves; we see Thor brawling with some dudes near Loki’s prison cell; and I’m sure there’s plenty we haven’t been shown yet. British director Alan Taylor, who is taking the reins from Kenneth Branagh, is a great choice for tackling this kind of material that mixes fantasy with more grounded elements, because he’s best known for helming a number of episodes of HBO’s acclaimed series Game of Thrones, which takes a somewhat similar approach, albeit with much more emphasis on the gritty over the fantastical.

I’m also intrigued by where they’re going in terms of story. After the crux of the plot for the first film involved Thor being banished to Earth, many people, including me, hoped that the sequel would somehow involve Jane Foster coming to Asgard, and that’s clearly the case. From that one shot of her in the trailer, Sif does not seem the least bit happy about Jane’s presence in Thor’s life, and from what I’ve heard, Odin also does not approve of his son having a relationship with a mortal. And based on some of what we see and hear in this teaser, a lot of people online are speculating that Jane might die in this film. Personally, I hope that’s not the case, but we’ll just have to see.

So far, I haven’t seen anything to dampen my excitement for the film. With a great cast, awesome-looking action, and the promise of a darker story, I really believe this could be a sequel that surpasses the original. When it opens this November, I will definitely be checking out Thor: The Dark World at my local theater.

ANTICIPATION: Hear me, good people! Make haste to thy local house of cinema and partake of this moving picture!

Release Date: November 8^th, 2013

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, Clive Russell, Richard Brake, Chris O’Dowd, and Anthony Hopkins
Director: Alan Taylor
Writers: Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Don Payne