Thor proves sad fact about 3-D and dim pictures

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One of the common complaints about 3-D films is the darkness of the picture. Movies — all by themselves, without 3-D technology — have been getting darker the last decade or so. Think back to No Country For Old Men, 70 percent of which takes place at night in the shadows. Now add in 3-D, which requires you to sit in the dark movie theater wearing of sunglasses on your face. If the trend continues moviegoers in 20 years might be staring at empty screens.

Of all the recent 3-D movies to come out — from Crash of the Titans to Alice in Wonderland — one of the darkest might be Thor, which opens in theaters this Friday. Some of the film takes place on an ice planet that seems to be orbiting around something other than a sun, which makes the world like it's in a constant state of late-dusk. As if that weren't enough, there's more: on this world are tall ice-crystal formations that cast long shadows over the action. The whole movie isn't this dark, but these scenes aren't going to be selling many people on the future of 3-D filmmaking. 

But what do you think? Here's a still provided by the studio from Thor. Below it is the same scene with the 3-D glasses that I have mocked up.