The director's chair has been taken over from Kenneth Branagh by Alan Taylor, who directed several episodes of the much-acclaimed HBO series Game of Thrones. He took a few cues from the previous film and reinvented a few things, and finally Asgard isn't just interiors, but we get to experience many exteriors that allow us to see the godlike planet from multiple perspectives.
The writers of the second installment used the negative character of Malekith, a dark elf who intends to use a dark substance to destroy the entire universe. This character appeared in the comics back in 1984 and inhabits one of the nine worlds of Svartalfheim. I don't know if the producers managed to choose the right actor for the main villain, but I personally think not. Christopher Eccleston is known as one of the 11 reincarnations of the Doctor in the Time Lord series. This is the ninth reincarnation, which started a new era of Britain's most famous TV series. Unfortunately, this actor has no charisma, and so is much overshadowed by the other characters.
It may be that I praised Tom Hiddleston's power in being able to play negative characters in the Avengers review, and that I was really worried about the main characters. Unfortunately, the film is more humorous and less dark compared to the first installment. Loki is no longer an evil character, just a humorous one. I had more fun with Stellan Skarsgård, who managed to play his Dr. Selvig more realistically than Tom Hiddleston. Natalie Portman is only there for beauty and gradually becomes more of a fragile scientist who needs protection from God. I think you can see at times when Joss Whedon has finished filming a few scenes that fit into the film, but also stand out in their conception. Two cameos are memorable, both the usual Stan Lee cameo, but Chris Evans also added his part with the funniest part of the film.
It's also good to see Alan Taylor filming more in real life. The Ilandian wasteland was a very appropriate choice for Svartalfheim, where everything is grey in the dust. British London is also well chosen, although I don't get the scriptwriting ideas, as the main final fight takes place in Greenwich, which may have the zero meridian, but all the geographical divisions and latitude and longitude (geographical coordinates - WGS 84) are made in modern times, so they couldn't possibly have been known 5000 years ago. I'd rather the finale was set in, say, Egypt (buildings many thousands of years old), or northern Europe (where the comic book theme comes from).
It may be unnecessary that the film is being shown in 3D as well, unfortunately I haven't seen any 3D effect with my glasses, so I consider it very much a waste of money. Unfortunately, thanks to the 3D technology, many scenes are also dark, but thankfully not like the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean so dark that you can hardly see anything.
It's a shame that even Marvel as a producer couldn't have gotten better composers who could have given the film a few easy-to-remember themes to hum after the movie. All the music is really so hard to remember, almost routine, so I hope they find more suitable composers for the best films the producers promise. Come to think of it, who I personally would want as a composer, I'd probably keep Marc Beltrami or Danny Elfman. Hans Zimmer certainly wouldn't be a good fit, as he's a court composer at rival DC Comics, and my dream John Williams chooses his projects carefully and has only been composing for his court directors lately (J.J. Abrams would be an exception).
As for the dub, with a few exceptions, I liked the dub. Unfortunately, the sound engineer probably forgot a few little things at the beginning, and so one voice stands out in the film. The vast majority of the Czech dubbing actors blend in with their American counterparts. Except for the newly chosen Peter Pelzer for Anthony Hopkins. Compared to Jiří Plachý, who voiced Odin in the first episode, this voice is more "sickly" and less demonic, thus it is more emphasized that Odin is at the end of his rope and that it is necessary for him to pass his rule to his descendants.
Original article October 20, 2018 – Kritiky.cz
