Big Picture Big Sound

"You're Thor? How Do You Think I Feel?"

With "Iron Man," Marvel awoke a deep-seated need in the American -- perhaps the global -- psyche: in uncertain times, we need a protector. Since then, Marvel has been cranking out blockbuster superhero movies, with more hits ("Iron Man," "Thor," "The Avengers") than misses ("Iron Man 2," "The Incredible Hulk"). Who will save us next time? Next time is here, and our saviour is our old friend Thor.

Sequels can be tricky ("Iron Man 2," I'm talking to you), so director Alan Taylor had his work cut out for him with "Thor: The Dark World." Known more for his talents on the smaller screen (directing episodes of "Game of Thrones," "Deadwood" and "The Sopranos") Taylor manages to tell a compelling story here, without being burdoned with explaining who the characters are. Viewers who are familiar with the Marvel universe, and the films that have come before this one, will get more out of it, but newbies will be entertained as well.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth), wielder of Mjölnir, the hammer of the gods, has been busy since we last saw him. What with the destruction of the bi-frost (the link between worlds), and that whole mix-up in New York in which his brother Loki played no small part, as well as the chaos that followed in the nine realms, Thor has had his hands full. Would-be girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has been pining for the norse demigod since his departure from Earth (and with abs like those, who would blame her?) though she has been keeping herself busy doing science stuff. This science stuff leads her, her assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and their intern Ian (Jonathan Howard) to a warehouse in England where a gravitational disturbance has been detected. As luck would have it, the disturbance is caused by the Convergence -- the alignment of the nine realms -- an event that occurs only once every 5,000 years.

The last time the Convergence happened, an evil race of dark elves nearly plunged the universe into darkness, and would have succeeded if it weren't for those meddling kids, er, I mean if it weren't for Thor's grandfather, Bor, then king of Asgard. King Bor wiped out the dark elves (or did he?), recovered and hid away their powerful weapon, the Aether. Fast forward 5,000 years, as Dr. Foster investigates the gravitational disturbance on earth, she is pulled to the world where the Aether is hidden and becomes an unwitting human host to the dangerous substance. She makes her way back to earth, as does Thor, and after a couple of hearty slaps on the cheek -- "where have you been for the last two years?" -- the two resume their romance.

But if you're looking for relationships, it's the complicated one between Thor and his mischievous brother Loki that commands attention. With seemingly no way to escape his planet, Thor enlists the help of Loki, now a prisoner in Asgard's dungeons, to defeat their common foe, the re-awakened dark elves. The surviving elves were brought out of slumber by the reappearance of the Aether and are now hell-bent on obtaining it, so that they can... you guessed it, plunge the universe into darkness.

The film is a bit predictable and has some pacing issues. Long periods go by without much happening and the final battle is rather anticlimactic. But there are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. And there are some seriously funny moments that will elicit a few chuckles: Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) running around naked at Stonehenge and Loki impersonating Captain America are but two of the highlights.

With a few exciting battles, a hint of romance, a dollop of sibling rivalry and liberal doses of humor, "Thor: The Dark World" proves a worthy entry in the Marvel canon. Recommended.

Note: I saw the film in IMAX 3D, and highly recommend you do the same. Although the live action 3D shots were converted from 2D in post-processing, the enhanced visuals and sound of the IMAX 3D version provide an immersive experience that can't be matched in regular theaters.