Don't get me wrong: I sincerely doubt anybody went into Thor: The Dark World expecting to see Chris Hemsworth beheaded two thirds of the way through, or Natalie Portman on all fours being given a seeing to by a dwarf while Tom Hiddleston delivers some sinister exposition. But whilst Kenneth Branagh's origin entry into the Marvel God's mythos was a camp, fish-out-of-water comedy with some not-exactly-subtle Shakespearian undertones, Alan Taylor's (whisper it) superior sequel deviates from the conventions set by his directorial predecessor and the Game of Thrones veteran has, although not exactly delving into the NC-17 territory Thrones is known for, understandably brought along a fair few tropes from the HBO series that got him the gig in the first place. Here are 10 ways Thor: The Dark World is the cinematic Game of Thrones. Do note that
spoilers follow, so give this one a miss if you aren't up to date on either franchise...
10. Character-Heavy, All-Out Fantasy
Remember the first establishing shot of Asgard in Thor, as the camera pans up out of the water and we see the central palace in all its shiny, fantastic glory? Well, we didn't get to see much more of that gorgeous looking realm because, after a quick jaunt on Jottenheim, it was promptly back to Earth for a comedy runaround with Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings. As entertaining as Thor was, a lot of fans were aching to see more of Asgard, the man-God's native land so tantalisingly promised in Anthony Hopkins' exposition-y prologue. Praise the Lord, Thor: The Dark World seems to have been made by some of those fans because, while its opening and closing set-pieces (plus a couple of comic relief cut-backs) take place in the familiar 'Major Earth City In Peril,' Asgard this time around is given centre stage. And it turns out it isn't quite so shiny inside. The throne room is dim, vast and lonely. Odin is slowly decaying into Lear-esque dementia and Thor has no interest in being king. We see hearty banquets, epic battles rolling, fantasy landscapes, and that's in the first act alone. The Asgardians, bit-part players who stood to one side delivering the odd plot point in the first movie, are now fully fleshed out characters, some even with the luxury of their own subplots. The Dark World, like Game of Thrones and quite unlike Branagh's Thor, is not remotely afraid of taking the fantasy element in its stride. Confident in the faith of its fans to set the bulk of the action in the nine realms. There's one very striking, very Thrones-esque shot in particular during Malekith's first-act assault on Asgard. As the Dark Elf approaches the unoccupied throne, the camera pans around, showing off the throne at a candid angle that really gets across how coveted such a prize is. This kind of fetishisation of the throne is seen so often in the series, and for me this marked the moment where I could really tell we were in familiar territory.