Completely forgettable

Rating: 4/10 (15 February 2017)

Of all the films in the MCU, this is definitely one of the weaker installments, which I hate to say, because the film brings a bunch of ideas into the mix. The problem is the execution. Thor reunites with Natalie Portman and her scientist friends who witness random spatial displacements on Earth. Natalie Portman then gets possessed by the 'Aether', some legendary substance and the most forgettable Marvel villains, the Dark Elves try to overthrow Asgard.
Tom Hiddleston returns in this film as the cunning Loki, which I'm thankful for, because he's easily the most popular Marvel villain. However, the story seems to go all over the place in terms of pacing and focus. And at the end of the day, you know there aren't going to be any lasting stakes because they need to produce more sequels at the end of the day.
It's disappointing that the Thor films aren't quite to the standard of some of the other Marvel films, because he's practically a god. And yet the majority of this film is bogged down in a forced love story between Thor and Natalie Portman which is reminiscent of Attack of the Clones.
The worst thing about this film is that it introduces one of the Infinity Stones, yet the way they handle it is so clumsy. You only find out what it is in the mid-credits sequence, for God's sake.
Kat Dennings was quite unbearable in this film also. The awkward humour that comes from her character is cringeworthy at the highest degree. I know that Marvel films like to mix up the drama with a bit of lighthearted humour, but it really seems that in this case, the writers had all the drama established in the script and then at the eleventh hour, they realized "Damn it! There's nothing funny here! Quick, let's make yer wan from 2 Broke Girls be the only source of comic relief!" To conclude, this film tries to be epic, and while there are interesting ideas and concepts here, it ultimately falls flat.