Thor: The Dark World
Just saw Thor. I think I can say this without it being a spoiler: after two movies in which my reaction to MCU!Loki was "yes... almost", this movie finally gave me the Loki I wanted :) Plus I think it's a cooler movie than the first Thor movie.
I liked everything about this movie, seriously, right now I can't think of a single thing I hated. I still don't LOVE Jane, but she was okay, even if her chemistry with Thor remains non-existent (even Tube Lady had more chemistry with him) and I think Star Wars has made me forever :/ about Natalie Portman. This time I got why people liked Darcy a lot after the first movie - she is cool, and the only person Jane has any chemistry with - and I cared about Erik Selvig, too. Poor guy.
The really cool parts about this movie were again the Asgard bits. One major improvement, imo, was that we got to see more of everyday Asgard, with people in the streets, ordinary houses, kids, books (loved the mix of modern, comic-style aesthetic and medieval illuminated manuscript), healers (I'm actually okay with the sexism of them being all women because this movie did code science/magic as women's work on Asgard, which is GOOD because it's in tune with mythology), technology (best thing: the winged-boat!spaceship... of course. Of course Asgard has winged boat spaceships. Seriously, these guys love style, practicality be damned) - a lot of visual worldbuilding that made this setting less sterile. Plus we saw some of the other nine realms! All very exciting.
Obviously the best thing about this movie is Loki. MCU!Loki so far wasn't bad, I liked him in Thor, and I'm ready to fan-wank his actions in Avengers as either a long game or Thanos-induced craziness, but my problem with his portrayal so far was that MCU!Loki is so angsty and serious that you have to forcibly remind yourself that this guy is supposed to be a trickster. But Thor 2 delivers - finally some manic grinning and evil glee! Tom Hiddleston actually has the perfect grin for Loki, so I never got why they didn't have him smile more in the other movies. Also this felt like Loki reached a low point while imprisoned, and finally got to a point where he didn't give that much of a shit about having been lied to by his family, or being a Jotun, or conquering the world - he just seems genuinely delighted to be out and about and doing crazy stuff that might get him killed. He's still arrogant, but not nearly as prideful as before - probably on purpose, to make people let their guards down around him, but that's okay in my book. I think Loki shouldn't be the Doctor Doom type of pathologically arrogant bad guy (see: Avengers), he should pretend to be weak and harmless and ingratiating and funny right until the moment when he turns on you. On an emotional level, this Loki is both sadder and lighter at the same time, which, again, I love.
I don't think Loki's playing anyone in this movie, though, because he couldn't have anticipated or influenced most of the events. He doesn't know what the Dark Elves are up to when they start the prison revolt, he's surprised and dismayed by Frigga's death (it's great that they made it canon that Frigga is the good parent and still cares about Loki), and I think when Thor says, "I wish I could trust you" on the boat, Loki himself is surprised by how much that gets to him.
I loved the fake!betrayal complete with actual stabbing and villain speech(because it was very obviously fake, yet Loki's "I never cared about you/Frigga/anyone!" could very easily have been a line in Thor or Avengers) and the fact that Loki pretends to die tearily in Thor's arms (he calls himself a fool! YES. Even if it's all fake) - this is a guy who loves drama. A lot.
His fake death and return to Asgard are probably improvisations, and he most likely didn't think this through - Loki on the throne of Asgard is always a disaster in the comics, and with good reason. There was a very true line about him in the movie: being content with things isn't something he does. We don't see what he did to Odin, maybe he killed him, maybe he hid him somewhere, but either way I don't really feel sorry for Odin because let's face it, even though I like myth!Odin, that guy is a massive dick in every universe. Loki may be a horrible disappointment, but still, telling your kid that he was meant to die freezing to death as an abandoned baby? Harsh. Comparing your other son's beloved to livestock? Also harsh.
The conversation at the end between Odin!Loki and Thor is ridic awesome - Thor telling his brother how valiantly he died and how much better a king he would've made etc., Loki being all "Nooo you don't really care about me - er, I mean, your deceased brother... all you care about is Jane" and his "one son who wanted power too much and one son who wants it not at all"... is that a tiny bit of insight and growth I detect? This is the kind of thing I love in fic, where two characters inadvertently reveal their feelings about each other and one or both goes, "Wait, what do you mean, this is how you've felt all along?" except that this scene can't end with them making peace with each other because Loki is pretending to be dead. For stupid reasons. Dramatic irony gold.
Also I love that the audience reaction to Loki on the throne wasn't "Oh shit!" but "*laughter*". That's a trickster done right.
I liked everything about this movie, seriously, right now I can't think of a single thing I hated. I still don't LOVE Jane, but she was okay, even if her chemistry with Thor remains non-existent (even Tube Lady had more chemistry with him) and I think Star Wars has made me forever :/ about Natalie Portman. This time I got why people liked Darcy a lot after the first movie - she is cool, and the only person Jane has any chemistry with - and I cared about Erik Selvig, too. Poor guy.
The really cool parts about this movie were again the Asgard bits. One major improvement, imo, was that we got to see more of everyday Asgard, with people in the streets, ordinary houses, kids, books (loved the mix of modern, comic-style aesthetic and medieval illuminated manuscript), healers (I'm actually okay with the sexism of them being all women because this movie did code science/magic as women's work on Asgard, which is GOOD because it's in tune with mythology), technology (best thing: the winged-boat!spaceship... of course. Of course Asgard has winged boat spaceships. Seriously, these guys love style, practicality be damned) - a lot of visual worldbuilding that made this setting less sterile. Plus we saw some of the other nine realms! All very exciting.
Obviously the best thing about this movie is Loki. MCU!Loki so far wasn't bad, I liked him in Thor, and I'm ready to fan-wank his actions in Avengers as either a long game or Thanos-induced craziness, but my problem with his portrayal so far was that MCU!Loki is so angsty and serious that you have to forcibly remind yourself that this guy is supposed to be a trickster. But Thor 2 delivers - finally some manic grinning and evil glee! Tom Hiddleston actually has the perfect grin for Loki, so I never got why they didn't have him smile more in the other movies. Also this felt like Loki reached a low point while imprisoned, and finally got to a point where he didn't give that much of a shit about having been lied to by his family, or being a Jotun, or conquering the world - he just seems genuinely delighted to be out and about and doing crazy stuff that might get him killed. He's still arrogant, but not nearly as prideful as before - probably on purpose, to make people let their guards down around him, but that's okay in my book. I think Loki shouldn't be the Doctor Doom type of pathologically arrogant bad guy (see: Avengers), he should pretend to be weak and harmless and ingratiating and funny right until the moment when he turns on you. On an emotional level, this Loki is both sadder and lighter at the same time, which, again, I love.
I don't think Loki's playing anyone in this movie, though, because he couldn't have anticipated or influenced most of the events. He doesn't know what the Dark Elves are up to when they start the prison revolt, he's surprised and dismayed by Frigga's death (it's great that they made it canon that Frigga is the good parent and still cares about Loki), and I think when Thor says, "I wish I could trust you" on the boat, Loki himself is surprised by how much that gets to him.
I loved the fake!betrayal complete with actual stabbing and villain speech(because it was very obviously fake, yet Loki's "I never cared about you/Frigga/anyone!" could very easily have been a line in Thor or Avengers) and the fact that Loki pretends to die tearily in Thor's arms (he calls himself a fool! YES. Even if it's all fake) - this is a guy who loves drama. A lot.
His fake death and return to Asgard are probably improvisations, and he most likely didn't think this through - Loki on the throne of Asgard is always a disaster in the comics, and with good reason. There was a very true line about him in the movie: being content with things isn't something he does. We don't see what he did to Odin, maybe he killed him, maybe he hid him somewhere, but either way I don't really feel sorry for Odin because let's face it, even though I like myth!Odin, that guy is a massive dick in every universe. Loki may be a horrible disappointment, but still, telling your kid that he was meant to die freezing to death as an abandoned baby? Harsh. Comparing your other son's beloved to livestock? Also harsh.
The conversation at the end between Odin!Loki and Thor is ridic awesome - Thor telling his brother how valiantly he died and how much better a king he would've made etc., Loki being all "Nooo you don't really care about me - er, I mean, your deceased brother... all you care about is Jane" and his "one son who wanted power too much and one son who wants it not at all"... is that a tiny bit of insight and growth I detect? This is the kind of thing I love in fic, where two characters inadvertently reveal their feelings about each other and one or both goes, "Wait, what do you mean, this is how you've felt all along?" except that this scene can't end with them making peace with each other because Loki is pretending to be dead. For stupid reasons. Dramatic irony gold.
Also I love that the audience reaction to Loki on the throne wasn't "Oh shit!" but "*laughter*". That's a trickster done right.