Welcome back to Marvel Movie Minute! Today we’re diving into minutes 71 through 75 of Thor: The Dark World, otherwise known as “The Beige Abyss.” These are what Hollywood calls “bridge minutes”—the bits of connective tissue that move us from sadness and grief into the big climactic battles. Except here, instead of an emotional campfire scene that actually deepens the story, we get Loki saying “trust my rage” (which, let’s be honest, should be embroidered on a Hot Topic throw pillow) and Thor nodding along as if this is a perfectly reasonable foundation for brotherly trust.Meanwhile, Erik Selvig staggers back into the plot with one of the best lines in the film: “There’s nothing more reassuring than realizing the world is crazier than you are.” It’s brilliant. It’s relatable. It’s also immediately undercut by the writers seemingly forgetting that the god in Erik’s head—the literal cause of his trauma—was Loki. So, while Thor’s deciding whether to forgive Loki, we’re watching the human cost of Loki’s villainy walk out of an asylum. And the movie just… shrugs. It’s like the film itself has amnesia.Darcy is once again the saving grace, bringing humor and compassion, while Ian continues to be cinematic wallpaper. The visual of starlings swirling into a portal is genuinely cool, but someone should have told the writers that audiences might confuse them with Odin’s ravens. Missed opportunity! And then we arrive at the Dark World, which looks less like an alien realm and more like a Welsh quarry on an overcast Tuesday. You’re Marvel Studios—why does your Dark World look like the set of a mid-budget Doctor Who episodeSo, if you enjoy script malpractice, wasted Natalie Portman, and production design that screams “we spent the budget elsewhere,” these five minutes are for you. If not, at least you can count on Stellan Skarsgård to save the day by reminding us that sometimes, yes, the world really is crazier than we are.Film Sundries

• Watch this film: Apple • Amazon • Letterboxd
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 8 Music by Martin Puehringer
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