A Few Thoughts on Loki

Many Avengers fans take Loki’s status as the franchise’s most successful villain as a matter of fact rather than opinion.  Between his love/hate relationship with Thor, his penchant for scheming, his flair for the dramatic, and Tom Hiddleston’s engaging performance, his acclaim is easy to understand.  Also reasonable is Marvel’s eagerness to take advantage of his popularity (especially considering his devoted legion of acolytes.)  Today’s post isn’t so much about Loki as a favorite character, though I do like him – more so, it’s a comparison of his three film appearances in the Avengersverse.  (Loki-related spoilers for Thor and The Dark World.)

For my money, Loki’s first appearance is easily his best.  Yes, the daddy issues loom large, but understandably so; the revelation that Loki isn’t from Asgard but Jotunheim, taken by Odin as a baby, is massive, and it has a believably profound effect on him.  When he discovers the truth, you can practically see him breaking, and it’s that damage that fuels his actions.  He’s a perfect storm of paternal betrayal, sibling resentment, and self-loathing paradoxically mixed with a superiority complex – it’s just ripe for drama.  Besides that, though, he’s one smart cookie.  He’s playing everybody, shades of Iago.  His many-layered plan incorporates the unpredictabilities that arise, and each layer presents a motivation that feels true to the character.  Each time I think I know what he’s up to, it makes sense and I get why he’s doing it (evil though it is.)  Then, as another layer gets peeled back and I see he’s doing a different thing for entirely different reasons, it makes just as much sense.  I love that.  Finally, while there’s a lot of sympathy to be found in Loki’s situation, it’s still clear that he is wholly unjustified.  Having learned that he’s really a Frost Giant, his next course of action is to kill everyone in Jotunheim with all-but-literal fire from heaven, purging them from the nine realms, and in turn, somehow, from himself.  That’s as horrible as it is twisted.  The world-shaking truths he finds about himself don’t make him any less of a villain, and as much as it kills Thor to do it, he needs to be crushed.  This keeps him from veering too far into woobie territory, despite the tragic catalyst that propels him.

Now, I adore The Avengers, and I still find Loki pretty entertaining in it, but for me, it’s actually the least successful of his three appearances.  The menace, sneakiness, and ability to hit someone where it hurts are all intact.  However, the film skimps on his intelligence and does a poor job explaining his motivations, both of which are so essential to my appreciation for his character in Thor.  After seeing the movie multiple times, I still can’t exactly pinpoint why Loki does any of what he does.  It’s a confused hodgepodge of revenge, blackmail, and power-hungriness.  Oh, and insanity – Bruce observes that Loki’s brain “is a bag full of cats” and that “you can smell crazy on him.”  It takes a halfhearted stab at assorted motivations and adds a heaping dose of “‘cause he’s evil and crazy.”  Like I said, still entertaining, but not nearly as intriguing.

Thor:  The Dark World falls somewhere between the two.  Loki is again less effective than he is in Thor, and his plotting isn’t that careful web of intricate malevolence.  Additionally, Frigga’s death lends itself a bit too well to “poor Loki!” cooing, and in general, it’s noticeable that his part was beefed up due to his popularity.  Yet, it’s a step back in the right direction – it remembers that Loki doesn’t just do things Because Reasons, and it mostly keeps focus on his fraught relationship with Thor, always a winner.  I tend to prefer the loftier Loki of the first film to the snarkier version that follows, but the latter offers one of The Dark World’s biggest laughs, the fantastic scene of Loki magically “disguising” himself as Cap that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Thor: The Dark World (2013, PG-13)

 

This Avengersverse review is in honor of the leaked trailer for Age of Ultron (Marvel released the official version after a “Dammit, Hydra” tweet; love it) and the nerdish flailing that ensued.

 

Objectively, it’s probably fair to say that Thor:  The Dark World is the weakest post-Avengers film.  It’s hampered by a generic villain with nonspecific evil motives, and some of the humor veers a bit too close to wacky – given the high drama of the Asgardian royal family, it makes sense to have some comic relief, but the tonal shift here can get jarring. 

 

Not that it’s a bad film.  Not at all; imperfect though it is, I enjoy it a lot.  As I’ve said before, the growing maturity of Thor is terrific, and this installment does a nice job on that front.  His cockiness has softened into a less showy self-assuredness, and he’s more willing to admit out-and-out confusion or fear, or even ask for help.  His impulsive streak, though, is intact – this time, he presents his argument to Odin before openly defying him but still ultimately defies him.

 

And what has him going against dear old dad?  After reuniting with his human love, Jane, Thor discovers that she’s been infected by an ancient power known as the Aether.  Not only is it strong enough to kill her if not excised, but it’s attracted the attention of baddie Malekith and his army of Dark Elves.  Thor is understandably pulling for a solution in which Jane lives and the Elves don’t get the Aether, but Odin feels his methods are too reckless and uncertain.  So, Thor takes matters in his own hands, enlisting his brother Loki as an extremely slippery ally.

 

I find the Thor movies are the most visually arresting in the series.  Asgard looks fantastic, and we get the chance to see a lot more of it here.  I continue to love everything about the Bifröst, and I dig the flying boats.  Also, there is some cool, topnotch action in this film.  The Dark Elves have these amazing mini-black-hole grenade things, and the big final battle is augmented by a lot of physical and gravitational anomalies that differentiate it from many of its fellow films.

 

I’m still lukewarm on Jane.  I like that she’s smart and scientific (and I love that Thor loves that she’s smart and scientific,) her curiosity and wonder is great, and I enjoy seeing her take a more active part in the plot here.  However, she borders on damsel-y, and her tendency to go giggly-schoolgirl around Thor seems disingenuous for a brilliant physicist.  I get that she’s a little socially awkward, but come on – she’s still an adult.  As for Thor’s other major relationship, I love that, while he knows he can’t trust Loki and keeps that thought at the fore of his interactions with his brother, he badly wishes that he could.  It’s a desire that’s come back to bite him before, and no doubt it will again, but their dynamic continues to be the Thor movies’ strongest quality.

 

All the usual suspects are back for this film.  I really enjoy Jaimie Alexander as Thor’s comrade-in-arms Sif, and Rene Russo gets a chance to shine (and kick some butt) as Thor’s mother Frigga.  Christopher Eccleston does a fine job as Malekith, but his talents are pretty wasted in a commonplace bad-guy role.

 

Warnings

 

Comic book violence, some swearing, and a little implied nudity.