Yep, they got the "dark" part right..

Rating: 2/10 (6 December 2013)

Well they got the "dark" part right. Does it distress anyone at all that somewhere deep in the bowels of Hollywood there are people who make many times what you make for coming up with the idea that watching a lot of banging and clanging in an alternate universe that -- at its best -- resembles Central Park at midnight is .... entertainment? If it does not, it should. The problem with sequels like this -- aside from the fact that they are actually produced in the first place -- is that they serve no useful purpose other than making the original in the franchise look better than it was. I promise you, IN THE NAME OF ODIN AND ALL THE 9 WORLDS, that half way through this exercise in controlled depression, you will long for Thor 1. (With its really clever opening -- essentially the story of a Boy and his Hammer, having been separated therefrom, and finally reunited). Tom Hiddleston steals all his scenes, in some places he is more interesting huddled in a corner reading a book than all the CGI flashbangs and associated pyrotechnics combined. Sir Anthony -- a man seemingly untroubled by how poorly this phase of his career pales in comparison to his prior work -- is lost behind his eyepatch and almost unrecognizable. Portman has never had better H&M (hair and makeup) and in the chatgroups there are fanboys prattling on about watching this with the sound off. A final factoid: In the 60s, in the days when Marvel was only comics, Thor was never top gun, it was the artwork (flaming yellow hair) and the pleasant predictability of the stories and the arcane language that carried the brand. So far, Marvel has yet to really translate this into film.