Thor - The Dark World: Hard Forged Edition

Thor - The Dark World: Hard Forged Edition is a great example of how editing can change the pace of a movie.

Thor - The Dark World theatrical release was the first marvel movie that felt...off. The story flow was off, the jokes where off, and most glaringly obvious, the pacing was off. TM2YC has done a wonderful job picking up the pace of the film and making it more engaging. Removing the prologue was a great choice. It allowed us to immediately get on with the story that was left off at the end of the Avengers. This new beginning really sets the tone of the rest of the story.

The editing was pretty spot on. I only noticed one cut and that was probably because I was looking for cuts. And now that I'm talking about I can't even remember where it was so it wasn't that awful.

I hope Marvel/Disney asks TM2YC to take a look at their next Thor movie before it's released. It may just make all the difference.

Thanks for the edit, I must say it flows pretty well, much better than the original!

I'm not sure what to think of the ending concerning Loki, I thought it was much more ambiguous than the theatrical cut. Is that a good thing? I don't know. However, the official canon is the less ambiguous part that's why I'm uncertain of this one. Still, it works and the end credits scenes are definitely in the correct order now.

As far as the editing, it was seamless throughout. Had I not watched the original, I wouldn't even notice what got cut. The added scenes blended perfectly with the theatrical ones. I did notice a small drop in picture/audio quality but maybe that's just because the blu-ray is uncompressed and maybe has a better bitrate overall, which would be unsurprising. However, it's definitely good!

I noticed that you removed 1 or 2 Loki lines here and there, most notably a line with Odin, and I'm not sure I can agree with this. Loki's actor kills it in this movie and I'm not sure that removing any of his scenes is worth it, even if it's just 1 bit of dialogue. That's the only thing I wouldn't remove, in my opinion.

Apart from that, the movie paces so much better in the early parts it's an incredible bump from the theatrical cut. The "exposition" scenes are placed in a way better position in the movie and leaves a lot of surprise/suspense to the early parts, a kind of "what's going on?" feeling instead of already knowing because of narration. This movie is a great example of why avoiding narration is often the right choice: you removed it and placed the exposition where it made more sense and the movie was greatly improved by it.

So, a very great edit, I'm glad I have this now and I strongly suggest people to get it. I would hope for a slightly tweaked version restoring the removed Loki dialogue but that's just nitpicking. I don't think it's much more than 1 or 2 lines of dialogue in all. I was thinking specifically of "Give or take 5000 years" and such.

Have a nice day!

This is the 2nd time I have watched this edit! I never thought the original was that bad, but this will always be my preferred cut.

*Minimum Spoilers*
TM2YC took a muddled mess of a film and edited it into a much better one. That's the aim of the majority of fan edits, I know, but if you take the main three MCU heroes' Phase Two films, the only well-regarded one is The Winter Soldier. Iron Man for all of it witty dialogue and funny moments, is ruined by BS character decisions and nonsensical motivations, as well as ignoring SHIELD entirely. Thor: The Dark World not only fails to balance its comedy with its drama, but opens with pointless exposition and removes all mystery from its villains. Basically, by introducing its villains before its heroes and preventing you from learning with the heroes about the villains, you're that one step further away from fully associating with the movie's protagonists. What TM2YC does with this edit is takes that burden of having forcing the audience to pay attention to the opening lesson and carry that knowledge throughout the rest of the film, you are able to discover the Aether with Jane and experience her confusion WITH her, instead of being brought out of the experience when you think to yourself "Hey, I think that's the thing from the beginning; I think I'm keeping up with this movie even though I'm not quite sure how any of this works." Instead of frustrating the viewer with giving things they half-understand, the viewer is encouraged to trust the movie to explain things eventually; and TM2YC does. The pacing is saved with this edit! The humour in the latter half of the film feels earned! Loki doesn't quip along and claim he hates his mum (which we know is a lie since his character progression relies on this connection). The weird post-credits scene in the theatrical cut has been inserted into the body of the film, where it belongs!!!

The editing is brilliant and seamless. The changes to the subtitles are well-written and a massive improvement. The ONE PROBLEM I have with this edit (EDIT: aside from the occasional dip in quality in darker scenes, which was easy to look past)...is the removal of the film's final shot. Even though it gives the movie a better ending that doesn't leave the viewer with a sh**-ton of questions, it's a grand bloody shot and deserves at least some place. I mean you have a perfect space for it in the post-credits montage! Nonetheless, a great edit that elevates the hell out of previously mediocre movie.

I really enjoyed this! The narrative is so much better, and I liked the humorous moments that were left in. I just wish the video quality was higher, but that is a small gripe.