A little better.

Rating: 6/10 (3 November 2017)

First off, I wasn't crazy about the first Thor film. It could have been a lot worse. The film peaked after the Frost Giant fight. I'd rate it a 5/10
That being said, Thor: The Dark World, is super flawed, but it is leaps and beyond better than the first Thor film. I say that because there are less scenes of Earth, and a lot more Asgard and the nine-realms. I loved the impressive visuals of the Asgardian world that Marvel created and it was pure eye-candy.
Hemsworth and Hiddleston truly shine in this film. I loved watching their brotherly banter and how Frigga's death cause them, mostly Loki to undergo some character transformations. I also liked Loki's little "redemption" path, and there is a touching scene with him and Thor when Loki is supposedly "dead." Surprisingly there was a lot of humor, some of which where the jokes landed, but most of the time it was very annoying. Natalie Portman is wonderful as Jane, Stellan Skarsgard is mostly used for gags, and Kat Dennings as Darcy is used for comic relief, very overused might I add. I disliked her character a lot in the first film, and that hasn't changed since. The Captain America cameo though, that was so awesome.
There's much more action in this film than the first Thor film. As I previously stated, the action in the first film peaked when they fought the Frost Giants, but here there's plenty. I loved every action set piece, especially the climax. Director Alan Taylor does a good job blending in fantasy and sci-fi all together, also adding a touch of Game of Thrones in there. As a matter of fact I think he did a better job than Kenneth Branagh in introducing the world of Asgard.
My biggest complain in this film is the villain. I wanted more of Malekith in this film. Christopher Eccleston portrays an awesome Malekith, but however there really isn't much character development over him. He's just shown as an evil dude who wants to bring the world to darkness. Nothing more. Aside from a brief introduction told by Odin at the beginning about who he is and what his plan is, there isn't any other character development for Malekith and he really suffers because of this. He doesn't interact with enough characters only Thor and he never goes into any detail about why he's doing what he's doing without a clear motive or reason.
Even though they had their own action moments, certain characters like Lady Sif and the Warriors Three that were promised larger roles instead were minor which was sort of a bummer.
This film has some re-watch ability factor, where as the first Thor didn't. Thor: The Dark World is just pure popcorn entertainment. 6/10