Enjoyable! But Not as Good as Its Predecessor

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2015)

Let me begin by saying that I'm writing this review as part of my Marvel Cinematic Universe review series as I'm watching all ten of the MCU films in preparation for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" which is set to come out in a couple of weeks. That being the case, I was excited to watch "Thor: The Dark World" because of the fact that my memory of this movie was that I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the original "Thor" movie based on my experience of seeing each of the films in theaters upon their original release. When I watched the first "Thor" for this review series, I found that it had really grown on me. So "The Dark World" surely would grow on me too, right?
Sadly, I found that the second installment in the Thunder God's franchise was not as much of an improvement over its origin story as I recalled. Whereas the first "Thor" gained ground in my estimation, "The Dark World" came across a bit weaker than when I saw it in the theater.
Before moving on, let me quickly say that I nevertheless do like the film, and find it to be a strong movie overall. You'll see that I've given it 8/10 stars. I had given the first "Thor" 9/10 in this review series, so "The Dark World" is just barely less enjoyable based on those rankings.
That said, Thor 2 has its ups and downs. On the positive side of things, I really enjoyed the basic plot of this movie. We get to see Thor going back and forth between Asgard and Earth, just as we did in the first film. The relationship between Thor and Jane Foster is developed, Loki, Odin and the other Asgardians play crucial roles, and the time spent on Earth is much better used than in the first film. I found the Earth scenes in the first film to be a bit contrived, and almost came across as sort of an archetype of the standard "extra-terrestrials come to Earth and causes havoc" type of storyline. In Thor 2, the Earth scenes are much more developed, with the film's final Earth battle proving to be a robust climax of the film.
Where the film suffers, however, is its poor character development for its main antagonists. This stands out since said characters play such a critical part in the film, and also because they are basically the only significant new character additions in the film at all, as most of the characters have been carried over from the first movie. As such, it's easy to keep up with Thor, Jane, Loki, Odin, etc. But the villains have very little back story, and very little in terms of developing their characters as the plot moves along. None of this is to say that you won't be able to keep up or follow the storyline--it's simply to say that the storyline will seem a bit trivial because the villains are at one and the same time underdeveloped and yet also portrayed to be egregiously evil. That kind of lack of character development makes the story seem a bit hollow, in spite of the fact that it's nevertheless a strong plot overall.
All that said, I would again give the film 8/10 stars. This is another strong showing for the MCU, and a great film that is fun for anyone who is into the comic book genre of movies. It's also significant in that it foreshadows the already announced "Infinity War" direction that the MCU is headed in by showcasing one of the Infinity Stones, the Aether as a major part of the storyline. In summary, "The Dark World" falls short of perfection, but it's nevertheless fun and entertaining overall, and significant in the larger narrative of the MCU.