Thor 2: The Dark World was released last week and we asked Denise Heard-Bashur, a marketing expert and founder of the Free Loki round robin petition, what she thought of the film. Heard-Bashur has a vested interest in the film, as her group, Free Loki, is helping to lead a movement to get Marvel to make a Loki-centered solo spin-off film, featuring Tom Hiddleston. SPOILER WARNING BELOW!
“I’ve seen Thor: The Dark World twice since its early release on November 7 here in the U.S. I’ve had many people ask for my personal opinion on it, I assume as someone who has spent the last few months talking about and promoting the interests of Loki, and by extension, Thor. Over the next few days, I’ll attempt to break the film down into the great, the good, the bad and the ugly.
The best part of these particular films continues to be the characters Thor and Loki, as portrayed by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.
Chris Hemsworth remains, in my mind, the perfect Thor even beyond the exterior (great as that exterior is). We find him wrestling with what he must do and what he’s expected to do all while trying to keep tabs on pretty much everyone and everything around him. This leads to some pretty intense emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other, which Hemsworth conveys like a veteran. He also laces it with his ability to make Thor appear masterful and bumbling all at once. With each new film in this series, you can see Hemsworth becoming increasingly confident in his armor. The timing is perfect, as we’re actually watching Thor become more aware of who he really is and what he wants. He’s no longer having tantrums and running on impulse. He’s been through his brother’s constant betrayal, saved three worlds and endured unrequited love by his own sacrifice. He now has maturity, patience and wisdom that only adds to his remarkable presence.
And while I love to watch Thor in action, it’s his candid moments that are his most memorable. Understandably, since Thor: The Dark World takes place in Asgard and other worlds in the Nine Realms, rather than mostly Midgard (Earth, for we mere mortals), we see Thor in his element rather than facing a new existence he hasn’t the first clue about handling. However they have still managed to work in some cleverly awkward scenes that the audience really reacted to. It’s when you see that Thor doesn’t take himself very seriously that he really endears himself to you.
Then there’s Loki.
While Tom Hiddleston executes his craft earnestly, he knows not to take his character seriously at all. Allowing himself that freedom, he’s managed to create a sympathetic sometimes-villain that takes almost nothing but himself seriously. Loki’s lofty sense of entitlement and victimization provides the perfect canvas for a very uneasy exchange between him and Odin. After that we see Loki shift anywhere from despair to resolve and everything in between. He delivers heavy emotion and tongue-in-cheek wit so seamlessly within the confines of his screen time, it’s pretty astonishing.
It seems almost elementary to state what nearly every critic has already said: when Tom Hiddleston is onscreen in these films he is Loki. The man is so sublimely talented and embraces this role with such devotion that the huge chasm that normally sits between the diabolical God of Mischief and painstakingly gracious English gentleman is utterly gone. They become one. Hiddleston at one point stated that some of Loki’s lines in the film were written by him. There are a few--ta da!--that seem to have his fingerprints all over them, but largely it’s difficult to pick them out. His understanding and communion with Loki is that strong.
It appears he can effortlessly bend a character who spent much of his time as a ruthless megalomaniac hell-bent on world domination in The Avengers (2012) into a near-defeated fallen prince devoid of anything to lose. Loki’s journey is utterly believable and understandable. His insubordination and impudence towards Odin sits perfectly above his pain, frustration and desperate need for approval. If you look at Hiddleston in any given interview, smiling that broad, generous smile and speaking with his signature elegance and courtesy you wonder how such a man can slither into Loki’s traitorous skin so absolutely. To quote Jon Lovitz as the Master Thespian on Saturday Night Live: “Acting!”
Now take what I’ve said, throw it all together, and you have what makes the Thor series so extremely compelling. The ebb and flow between Thor and Loki is downright fascinating. I think those of us who have siblings can largely identify with them on some level. My older brother was the Thor to my Loki. The thing is, no matter your birth order, it seems every person who has siblings feels they were the least-loved, least-accepted, whether it was true or not. We may cheer for Thor as he does his heroic deeds, but it’s Loki we understand and sympathize with.
This time around we actually get a decent chunk of time watching these two be brothers in every way possible. They bicker with each other, they threaten each other, they stand by each other, they sacrifice for each other. It’s really a very beautiful, at times hilarious and always incredible thing to see. The love story between Thor and Jane is great and all, but it’s the relationship between Thor and Loki that has most of us captivated. It’s a mutual love/hatred we know we can count on. No matter what happens, they will always be brothers.”
Denise Heard-Bashur
Founder of Free Loki
Twitter: @Free_Loki
Free Loki petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/free-loki
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