10:00-15:00
Stilted father and son heart to heart occurs. Followed by a shirtless scene.
Then the celebrations. But Thor isn’t having much fun. He talks to Sif.
There was a deleted scene that gave more time to Volstagg and Fandral.
Then we’re in London. In particular, the restaurant Oxo Brasserie, located in Oxo Tower, on London’s Southbank, east of Waterloo Bridge. The amazing view is looking over the Thames.
Hiding behind her menu is Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman.
This is Portman’s 2nd appearance in the MCU as Jane Foster. We last saw her in Thor (2011). Portman told IndieLondon:
It was exciting to get to come back and work with everyone and people who were joining this time. And because Jane gets to go to Asgard this time, I was lucky enough to get to work with Tom and to have scenes with Anthony Hopkins and Renee Russo… they were amazing and I got to admire from afar. Also, continuing the fun rapport with Kat [Dennings] and Stellan [Skarsgard] and Chris – there was definitely a lot of laughing, maybe too much laughing on set!
With her is Richard. He’s played by Chris O’Dowd.
O’Dowd is a huge star in Britain. He is known for the acclaimed comedy The IT Crowd and Bridesmaids.
Richard was created for the film, as far as we can tell.
Here’s Darcy. She’s played by Kat Dennings.
This is the 2nd time Dennings has portrayed Darcy in the MCU. We last saw her in Thor (2011). She talked about her comic relief role to MovieWeb:
I think it is super important, especially when there is so much fantasy and so much action going on, its nice to have a little comic-relief… because this movie gets very dark, and it’s called The Dark World … but really like emotionally dark, and there is a lot going on, so I find her like a breath of fresh air; a nice kind of break. And from the fan perspective and the audience’s perspective, I think she is a kind of fun person to watch.
15:00-20:00
Jane leaves and gets into Darcy’s car. It’s a Volvo 240.
She’s actually not very close to the restaurant. She’s on Battle Bridge Lane, walking south towards Tooley St. It’s about 30 minutes walk east of the Oxo Tower. Film magic, huh?
Then a shot of the Thames with the London Eye very present. The bridge closest to us is Blackfriars.
In the car is Ian Boothby, intern. He’s played by Jonathan Howard.
Howard starred in the UK series Dream Team, and would go on to appear in more TV such as Episodes. Howard talked about his newcomer status with Starburst:
He’s the eyes and the ears for the audience in a way, because every other character has experienced this other world before, and he doesn’t have a clue about it, so I’m a rabbit caught in headlights. He didn’t sign up for any of this, he’s not prepared to see any of this, so he spends the movie playing catch up as the events unfold..
Ian’s GPS says we are on going north along Moorgate. It says they are near Kings Avenue – no such intersection exists.
Then Darcy’s sudden turn. She’s going south along Basinghall St, right onto Gresham St, then left into the tiny Ironmonger Lane. They drive past the restaurant The Anthologist, 58 Gresham St EC2V.
It is in the wrong direction from where they’ve been driving just a scene earlier.
The ITV news report. ITV is a real U.K. Channel.
The reporter is played by Sam Swainsbury.
They are at Stonehenge, the mysterious, and some consider mystical, monument made of stones in Wiltshire, England.
And here’s Erik Selvig. He’s played by Stellan Skarsgård.
This is Skarsgård’s 3rd appearance in the MCU as Selvig. He last appeared in The Avengers (2012).
Then the warehouse. They are at the site of an old vinyl factory. It is now a modern business park actually called The Old Vinyl Factory. It’s on Blyth Road, Hayes, UB3, just north of Heathrow.
Jane’s ringtone is a track by Young De AKA Demrick called Cake’n Up released in 2012.
Let’s stop for a second and remember Portman’s and Kenneth Branagh‘s rule for Jane Foster in Thor (2011) that she’s not an idiot, that she’s a smart person, she’s not a damsel in distress. Now for this film she can’t even change her own ringtone and worse still, asks for help. Either way it doesn’t endear her to the audience, it makes her look both stupid and bossy.
Also note that Alan Taylor has said a lot of thought went into the choice of the song, one that disappears too quickly to get annoying.
Is that supposed to be two ravens that fly past as they enter? Again, very vague for an Easter egg.
The kids. They are played by Ramone Morgan, Obada Alassadi and Imaan Chentouf.
The truck belongs to Norman Emersons And Sons, a real trucking company in the U.K.
The kids show Jane and co a portal where they drop a bottle. The bottle catch is amongst the least convincing cuts in a very unconvincing film.
The bottle is a bottle of Lucozade. Then a can of Vimco – not a brand we recognise.
Darcy refers to New Mexico – the events of Thor (2011).
20:00-25:00
And Jane, wandering off on her own like a good Damsel in Distress, is taken away to the land of the Dark Elves.
She sees the Aether. You know, one of the all powerful Infinity Gems. Just there. Someone teleported her there, and left her alone with it. It’s fine.
The Aether also wakes Malekith and the Dark Elves.
We see the Bifrost Bridge – familiar from the first film. It’s is the Asgardian mode of transport.
Here’s the gatekeeper – Heimdall. He’s played by Idris Elba.
This is Elba’s 2nd appearance in the MCU as Heimdall. He last appeared in Thor (2011).
Heimdall‘s line here, about being able to see trillions of souls, has led to speculation that he is connected to the Soul Gem.
Then a shot of Jane, as if she crossed over into the title sequence for Netflix’s Daredevil.
25:00-30:00
Jane awakens at the factory. Darcy has called the police and Jane is worried it will attract SHIELD, the all purpose government agency in the MCU.
And Thor appears. No rainbow bridge thing, and no reason why there’s rain. There’s just rain because of a gag.
The police officer played by Justin Edwards. He was wonderful in the series The Thick Of It, and films such as Paddington and Bill.
Gruffud Glyn is the other cop.
Thor bifrosts Jane the hell out of there.
A deleted scene sees Jane waking in Asgard.
We then go to Slavartfheim. Malekith is complaining about having lost the Aether. It seems ambiguous what happened. Was it really clear that Jane had taken the whole thing? And why Jane, and not Darcy?
The Asgardians treat Jane. Odin is typically caring and warm.
30:00-35:00
Odin banishes her without asking any questions about the situation. People get hurt because of it.
Odin then drops all the exposition. He says the other relics are stones, our first clue the Aether is an Infinity Gem.
Malekith makes a sacrifice for some reason. He creates the Kurse.
Kurse is taken from the comics. He was created by the all powerful Beyonder to attack Thor. This all happened in Secret Wars II #4 (October 1985).
Why doesn’t Malekith just create an army of Kurses? What are the rules?
Kurse just happily wanders into Asgard, with the captured Marauders. He just manages to hid amongst them, looking like a massive badass, with no one noticing. Also, great work Heimdall.
35:00-40:00
We see Loki in his prison, and he is visited by Frigga.
A deleted scene hear features Thor and Frigga discussing Loki.
Kurse breaks free from his prison. He kills other prisoners and a couple of Asgardians.
40:00-45:00
Thor joins the fight. He catches the hammer as it flies to the battle.
Can the hammer do that? Thor can call on the hammer and it goes to him. He can throw it in a way to fly. This seems weird.
The Warriors Three are already there. Thor fights the Marauders. He snaps at least one neck.
Heimdall can see every soul, including the ones that pass him right by. At least he gets a pretty cool action scene.
Some CGI space ships fight other CGI space ships. Not a single character on any of these ships is anyone we know, or care about.
Heimdall raises the slowest shield ever around the palace. Yet, one Dark Elf ship is so stupid it couldn’t fly up just a little to get past it.
There is however no shield around the shield generator. The Kurse takes it down.
One elf ship gets past the top of the shield. Seems surprising it didn’t dive downwards and crash into the shield.
The ship crashes into the palace. People just stand there. One Asgardian seems to fall in its path.