If you didn't like MAN OF STEEL or THE DARK KNIGHT, then this movie might be....

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2013)

If you thought MAN OF STEEL or THE DARK KNIGHT movies were way too serious and earnest, then by all means go see THOR: THE DARK WORLD, which contains more than enough humor, action, and engaging characters to satisfy fans who get what comic books are all about.
As a followup to THE AVENGERS, THE DARK WORLD hits it out of the park with epic characters, great special effects, and a plot that could be lifted straight from the best work of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It comes in just under two hours, which makes some people complain that the movie felt rushed, is just about right for me.
The first order of business for a superhero movie is to get the heroes right; and Chris Hemsworth does nothing if not improve upon his work in the first THOR film and THE AVENGERS. Thor this time around has learned from his experiences in battle and begun to think like a king.
The second order of business for a superhero movie is to get the villain right. This time around the Big Bad is Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, who wants to wipe out the Asgardians and take the universe back the darkness before creation. He is one of those Marvel tropes: an ageless evil who lives for nothing but revenge. Played by Christopher Eccleston, he's all ugly and grim, while his right hand man is the Kurse, played by Abewale Akinnouye-Agbje, who played Mr. Echo on LOST. Their main weapon of mass destruction and the McGuffin of the story is the Aether, a WMB once hidden away by Thor's grandfather, but now discovered by Jane Foster, the Thunder God's main squeeze.
While Malekith and the Kurse are pretty one dimensional, they are more than offset by the glorious return of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, imprisoned on Asgard after the events of THE AVENGERS. He offers his help to his half brother after grief makes them allies-at least for the moment; but we are never sure of his motives and that tension drives every scene Loki is in.
The third order of business of a superhero movie is the special effects. And while THOR has plenty of CGI, it does not overwhelm the characters or the story. Certain aspects of the plot clearly were clearly lifted from scriptwriter's's template: there is a battle before the first third is done where the good guys have their butt's kicked and setting things up for a comeback at the climax. For at least the third time this year, we get to see a giant alien space ship lay waste to an Earth city. There's always the pertinent exposition shoehorned into the script, but at least it's not a drag on the story.
Lot's of familiar faces are back this time around: Stellan Skarsgard is back as Dr. Selvig, his mind addled after his encounter with Loki in THE AVENGERS, while Kat Dennings's Darcy gets a boyfriend. Natalie Portman's Jane Foster is the perfect match for Hemsworth's Thor. Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Jamie Alexander, Tadanobu Asano, and Rene Russo are fellow Asgardians. Anthony Hopkins is grim and grumpy as Odin and following in the steps of Michael Caine and Richard Burton: talented British actors who really liked big paychecks and weren't particular how they earned them. Stan Lee gets his cameo and there's an amusing one by Chris Evans's Captain America. Somehow, Chris O'Dowd turn up as Jane's blind date.
There's also a very pertinent cameo by an Academy Award winning actor in one of the after credit sequences; it's worth staying for and sets up the action for films yet to come.