The hammer fell to sometimes pounding boredom

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2018)

The second instalment of the adventures of Thor is something of a let down comparatively. The first film had some interesting backstory but this time we are weighed down by over-explanation, a convoluted plot, and editing which is too fast for the viewer to enjoy the splendourous CGI worlds artists have gone to so much trouble of imagining. This time the characters are in London and the plot shifts with preposterous coincidence to London too, and then used as a finale for supposedly the end of the universe. Its tongue-in-cheek, to which I will give it credit, but the main problem is the feeling that Thor is not vulnerable enough that he is not going to win the day. It's an overwrought production, engaging only by its pounding music and incessant battle scenes and spacecraft kinetics. It's good fair but when you've seen the 'high striker' a couple of times at the fair you need something new and Thor lacks dimension when he's the lead character expected to carry the whole film without much new backstory extended to him. There is some saviour and that is, once again, Tom Hiddleston in wide-eyed mania who gave us an interesting villain with perfectly pronounced threats with a trace of unsettling sibilance.