Thor: The Dark World
Thor: Ragnarok received overwhelmingly positive reviews when it arrived last year, with many citing it as an immeasurable improvement on the prior movie starring the God of Thunder, 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. While there’s no denying that Ragnarok is the much superior effort, it’s worth pointing out that Dark World is not that poor a film.
Much like Iron Man 2, it’s a weaker entry in the grand scheme of the MCU, but it’s a perfectly well made superhero flick. If we ignore the problems with its villain, which isn’t hard to do as Malekith is so forgettable, there’s much to enjoy – particularly in the banter between Thor and Loki, as the warring brothers are forced to team up to stop the Dark Elves. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston have terrific comic chemistry and it’ll never stop being fun to watch them bounce off each other.
The Dark World also deserves a bit of credit for somewhat subverting the tropes with its big climax, moving the action out of New York and switching to London, something that makes the MCU feel like a bigger place. We’re glad the Thor franchise got a shake-up with Ragnarok, but let’s not forget the previous movies happened in the process.