Heroes, Villains, and Antiheroes in Thor: The Dark World

A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to see the new Thor movie.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and while I thought it was better than the first one, there were some issues with the movie that kept it from being a truly great superhero movie.

First I would like to mention what the movie did really well.  Like the first Thor film, Dark World took advantage of the cosmic scale of the universe it presented in beautiful cinematography and awe-inspiring panoramic shots of the nine realms.  The use of  “the convergence,” a series of gravitational anomalies that allowed instantaneous travel between the realms, allowed the film to portray a wide variety of planetary and stellar landscapes.  The audience was treated to incredible worlds of fire and ice, of forests and caves and barren wildernesses of shattered rock.

 Not only was the film beautiful, but it was also humorous.  Kat Dennings was hilarious as Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster’s hapless friend and assistant.  The Asgaardian characters were also very funny in their interactions with each other and Thor, with a special shout out to Zachary Levi as the suave and sarcastic Fandral.  While his accent was a bit absurd at times, his charming performance left me wishing that the movie had more time to get to know him and the other Asgaardian characters.

The best thing about Thor: the Dark World, without a doubt, was Tom Hiddleston’s performance as Loki.  In both of his previous appearances, Loki has been the villain of the story, first in Thor, and later in The Avengers.  Dark World gives the viewer the opportunity to cheer for the god of mischief without feeling guilty, as he teams up with Thor to save the world and (spoilers) avenge their mother Frigga, who was killed early in the movie.  Hiddleston does an excellent job of winning over even the most bitter Avenger's fan, by balancing Loki’s broken image with his sarcastic wit.  Loki draws in viewers as he struggles with his loss of power, his jealousy of Thor, and his grief for his mother; the one person in the film who showed sympathy for his position.  Even as he attempts to maintain a façade of indomitable will, it is obvious to the viewer that his loss in The Avengers has shaken the once cocky trickster, and with the death of Frigga, the last bit of stability and control is lost.  Loki has hit the bottom, which enables him to confront his issues with Thor and begin to act as a hero rather than a villain.  Even as this redemption is going on internally, Hiddleston still allows Loki to keep his external image as a trickster; from quirky uses of his magic to disguise himself and Thor as recognizable characters from the movie and previous films, to his constant sarcastic needling of those around him, Loki is as fun, or even more so than he was in the previous two movies, taking full advantage Hiddleston’s British sense of humor and comedic timing.

On to the problems.  While it was brilliant seeing the relationship between Thor and Loki develop, every good action movie needs a really good villain, and The Dark World is sadly lacking in this area.  The difficulty lies in poor writing and insufficient exploration of the primary villain, Malekith’s motivations.  In a story, there is a major difference between a villain and a monster.  Both can be terrifying, but in a different way.  A monster is scary because there is no rationalization for its actions; it simply is.  The shark in Jaws is the perfect example of a monster.  The shark is not evil.  It is simply acting according to its nature, but that nature is what is threatening to the protagonist.  A villain is different.  Normally much more human, a villain can vocalize his motivations and has the ability to act out of choice.  A villain chooses to act in a particular way, out of reason not simply instinct.  A villain must be human (or at least able to function within humanish perameters).  An example for this might be Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes.  Moriarty is brilliant, like Holmes, but he chooses instead of fighting crime, to play the criminal consultant.  He chooses to act as a villain, not because it is his nature to do so, but because it is the path to power.  The problem in Thor is that Malekith is neither entirely a monster, nor a compelling villain.  As a dark elf, he is humanoid and able to verbalize his motivations, so presumably he should fall into the category of a villain.  Those motivations are never given a voice however.  All the viewer gets is a vague mytho-historical statement that he wants to destroy all light in the universe.  The question remains- why?  If Malekith is a monster, the answer would be simple; the light in the universe is physically harmful to dark elves and thus they attempt to destroy it out of a sense of self-preservation.  This does not seem to be the reason, however.  The dark elves had survived since the beginning of the universe without physical harm.  Thus, his motivations must be villainous in nature.  But what are they?  Does he desire some form of ethnic cleansing; the dark elves alone can survive in a universe without light, and so his quest to destroy all light is a form of elitism?  Does he simply seek power through control by creating a situation in which the dark elves would be supreme?  Is he a religious fanatic caught in a centuries long quest to restore a primeval paradise?  All these motivations are hinted at within the movie, but never brought to the light.  Instead, Malekith remains aloof from the viewer, who, being unable to identify with the struggle of the villain, is neither frightened by nor sympathetic to his actions.  Malekith’s henchman, Algrim is a much more intimidating and compelling villain.  His motivations are made clear; he is a soldier who obeys his commander with mindless devotion and loyalty, and he is also a man bent on revenge for the death of his comrades in arms.  His absolute devotion, and his willingness to destroy his own life for the cause created a real and compelling threat; we are all familiar with loyalty, and so it is easy to imagine loyalty transformed into an evil counterpart.  Algrim became the much more terrifying villain because he willingly forsakes his “humanity” for the sake of a misplaced virtue.

While my major issue with the film lay in the development of the villain, one other issue with the story was in Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jane.  Jane Foster is supposed to be a brilliant scientist, an intellect capable of understanding even the nuances of Asgaardian magic/science.  For all that she is supposed to be a bright, capable woman, Jane turns into a giddy schoolgirl every time she sees Thor.  Her IQ drops every time he walks into the room.  It is aggravating to see such a potentially interesting character reduced to a gawping ninny at the sight of a handsome face.  Can a woman only be intelligent when there is no man around to distract her?  Jane  has such potential as a character to provide the thoughtful counterpart to Thor, and to come up with solutions to potential problems.  Instead, much of this role is designated to Eric Selvig (who has gone crazy from his encounter with Loki in Avengers), with Jane only serving as a sounding board for his ideas.  She is reduced to a pretty face in need of rescue: useless in the battle against the dark elves and in the attempt to stop Malekith from destroying the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed Thor: The Dark World; the story was entertaining, well acted, and the effects visually stunning.  Tom Hiddleston gave a genius performance, and the development of the relationship between Thor and Loki was compelling.  The issues with the movie lay in the portrayal of Malekith and of Jane Foster.  The first was failed to be truly terrifying because the poor writing and development of the character left his motivations ambiguous.  The latter was disappointing because of her relative uselessness throughout the film, and her inability to function as an intelligent human being when in the presence of Thor.  As action movies go, the film decent.  If you are looking for a deeply thought provoking movie, do not waste your money, but if you want a fun superhero movie with lots of action, cool effects, and a dash of humor, then Thor: The Dark World is definitely the movie for you.

Well, back to reality.