Thor: The Dark World

Is this a huge stepup from the original "Thor" movie. No, unfortunately not. Is it another watchable, fun superhero movie; yes, definitely. It's a really good movie and if we look at the way Alan Taylor directs this movie, it's actually not that much different from what Branagh did back in 2011. Chris Hemsworth is good as usual and Tom Hiddleston is more wonderful than ever as Loki, but the villain Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston, unfortunately, is a bit of a disappointment, mostly because of the lack of motivation.

Thor The Dark World is brilliant and completely tops the first film. There are a lot of extremely funny bits in it as well as some dark and moving moments. Probably a much funnier movie than it had any right to be given the subject matter. Loki is done perfectly and the dialogue between him and Thor is superb.

If you're a fan of the first, this certainly won't disappoint at all. Without spoiling anything, the scale of this film is very Avengers-like in that the action pieces are amazing. During a sequence halfway through, I literally turned to my friend and said, "this is freakin' awesome".

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Each frame is packed with action, heartfelt emotion, humor, drama or intensity. I was expecting to simply see crazy mythology with monsters destroying the landscape of the nine realms for two hours. Instead, I was shocked at the depth and complexity of this film. You definitely need your brain and your heart turned on for this one, unlike other CGI mishmashes. If you want a movie with just dumb action and no plot then stay away from this exceptional film. The performances are top tier and the visual effects may be the best I've seen this year. I have to join the majority of people and even critics that are praising this film. It's a true joy and such a pleasant experience.

Infinitely better than the first (which I liked) because of better action, humor and emotion. All those people who were worried about Thor being underpowered are going to be pleased. The effects are wonderful and it is indeed a very funny and a very moving movie in places. I'm happy to report that neither factor is overused or gets in the way of the feel or story. It's the right amount of humor and right amount of angst. Cinematography is great and the score is amazing. Whoever scored this film should do so for the rest of the Marvel movies in my opinion.

I knew they would nail the pathos but was pleasantly surprised by the creative fight sequences. They are phenomenal. Not overly long but when they rage, THEY RAGE. Also, Kurse can rival the Hulk in terms of scary power. He was better utilized than the Destroyer was in the first film. Loki is the scene stealer that was all hoped to see! Jane and Sif add more than eye candy but you would expect no less from Marvel. Hemsworth has cemented his legend as Thor with this effort. My only real disappointed is a minor one. They didn't really show the nine realms in any real detail. It seemed a cop out that hey're just open landscapes. Yet, maybe they didn't want to commit to anything for future movies.

Overall, this is a wonderful movie and maybe Marvel's best solo film.

The acting was solid. The production value was superb. Everything else was really poor.

The back story and character motivations are laughably sparse. Most of the characters are completely one-dimensional, with the possible exception of Loki. The plot is the most boring and typical of all action plots - some "bad dudes who happen to be really ugly" decide to "destroy the world for no reason other than being evil" and "only our hero can save us all", etc. Moreover, it was lazy writing - whenever an absolute miracle needed to happen, it conveniently did, every time.

Of course this is a mindless blockbuster Marvel movie so we shouldn't expect much. But the thing is that these kinds of films CAN be made with a reasonable plot, pacing, and character development. The writers were obviously just going through the motions to cash in on the surefire moneymaker sequel, and from a business perspective it is hard to fault them. But it says a lot about the sad state of Hollywood in 2013 that this film currently has a 7.7 on IMDb.

It's a good movie. Like that Natalie Portman was still in it. Too bad she wasn't in Thor Ragnarok. The bad was they tried to go funny at parts. It wasn't very funny.