a pretty decent addition....

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2013)

Well, I liked it better than I did the first Thor (my problems with the first being that I didn't find the time allowed for redemption believable, and there was a lot of unnecessary CGI.) And i'm a nerd, especially a big Marvel nerd.
While it's true that this movie had a little more going on, my main issue was with how rushed the scenes that were supposed to be emotional, poignant and devastating were.
The death of Frigga, the "death" of Loki, and the scene where Thor visits Loki are great examples of this. Now, I've read contradictory things on the IMDb message boards with some blaming the director, others, the editors. I don't know who the blame lies with, but not allowing the full emotional impact of this scene to ride out so everyone- in movie and audience could be allowed to feel this was a mistake. Yeah I know that Frigga's tribute is a grand Viking funeral, but this comes after those personal to her are gathered around her.
As far as the "death" of Loki is concerned, I just believe extending that scene an extra minute would have been more powerful, especially seeing as he is a major and popular character.
The elves looked menacing, and like a force to be reckoned with, sadly there's no dimension to them or any dimension to Malekith. They're the bad guys, and we're given little more to their motivation other than wanting the universe in darkness. Hardly any time is spent on them.
I'm still not sold on Natalie Portman as I still think her part could've been played by anybody, but at least she's less frumpy here, and boy, does she know how to slap people in the face, oh boy does she ever. A little too convenient that she find herself the one infected by the Aether out of a planet full of billions, but I guess for the sake of the story i'll buy it.
Why does Selvig have no pants? And why is he "crazy"? What drove him to these things, what's the point of it.
(What happened to Odin ultimately? Was he killed? was he sent into suspended animation? cast off to a different planet/dimension completely?)
Why wouldn't they be gods and immortal? Why would Odin say that? You mean to tell me they can fly, conjure magic, get beaten to a merciless pulp by the Hulk, stabbed, shot with fire balls/flames, hit by cars, endure apparent space travel by falling into the void, and battle with countless entities including but not limited to frost giants, but a mere impaling into the chest would be enough to kill them? or they would simply die after approx. 5,000 years? I felt that line was out of place and unnecessary.
Sometimes the CGI was a little overwhelming, and some "landscapes" were awful dark and drab, almost to the point of the darkness interfering with me seeing/understand what was happening.
Some of the dialog at times I found corny.
Now the great:
LOKI. so glad he's a big part of this movie too. I highly anticipated seeing what had become of him post Avengers. Every second he's on screen he steals the show. Loki consistently remains the only one in this series with any dimension, development or understandable motivation. Hiddleston is a great actor and has done an outstanding job, The scenes between him and Thor make the movie.
Thor: he's grown on me. It took me a while to warm up to Thor, something that didn't start happening for me until the Avengers. Thankfully he's starting to have a personality, and thinking wisely. And yes, his physique is something to behold!
Sif and The Warriors Three: They were great, glad we had the opportunity to see them in action again. It will be interesting to see what happens with Sif.
There were lots of little moments sprinkled throughout this film, clever little happenings (ie: Thor hangs the hammer up on the coat hook, the subway, the Captain America cameo.)
The end scene was great...people cheered in my showing (including myself), and left for a pretty good Asgard cliffhanger.
Also, thank you Del Toro, now i'm psyched for a "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie.
Overall not a bad addition, and yes, I'll be buying on Blu-Ray.
PS- Studios, yes, give Loki his own movie. But only if you do it right, don't change the character for monetary reasons, and don't take him out of character, you can find some decent script writers who understand what this is all about.