The Law of Averages - Marvel Style

At some point, the law of averages dictates that one of the current run of interlinked Marvel Comics movies will be terrible. By this, I mean not just something disappointing but rather truly awful. For now, though, the people running these shows have displayed an amazing aptitude for translating 50+ years of comic book continuity into crowd-pleasing spectacles that blur the line between art and commerce as well as any movies since the original Star Wars trilogy.

Though the new Thor movie The Dark World is not that inevitable dud, I nonetheless have mixed feelings about it. Usually, sequels are clearly better or worse than their predecessors, but this one managed the neat trick of being a bit of both. Ultimately, I prefer the tone of Shakespearean grandeur that Kenneth Branagh brought to the first one, but The Dark World probably fits better into the post-Avengers scheme of things, even if it is a bit uneven.

The most striking thing about the current run of Marvel movies, aside from how faithful they've managed to be to the comics, is the extent to which the actors are the key. Not surprisingly, the actors reflect the slightly uneven nature of the movie. In the plus column, we have Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and especially Stellan Skarsgård, the last of whom magnificently depicted the continuing repercussions from the events of The Avengers. On the negative side, Christopher Eccleston wasn't used quite enough, Natalie Portman was used a bit too much and we didn't see nearly enough of Kat Dennings' cleavage. 

After re-reading the above, I realize that it might not be clear that I really did enjoy the movie. Thor was never a favorite of mine in the comics, but the first movie made me a believer, and the second has done nothing to dampen that faith. With a nice balance of action, humor and heart, it felt like a good storyline from the comics, one that I would have enjoyed reading month or sitting down to read in one go as a "graphic novel". As it stands, though, it'll be an 18 month wait to see what he's been up to since the (now inevitable with Marvel's movies) post-credits scene. I'm not looking forward to the wait, but I suspect it will be worth it.