A Surprisingly Good Superhero Film

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2013)

I am usually not a fan of the superhero genre. However, I did watch most of the recent superhero films due to my sister being a huge fan of them. I'm usually unimpressed with superhero movies, even with the successful Avengers and the Batman trilogy. It is a massive challenge to create an entertaining storyline in a film that everybody knows the hero is going to win in the end. Recent superhero films (especially Man of Steel) failed at this and I was prepared to face disappointment upon stepping into the cinema hall.
Thor The Dark World was one that I can honestly say was entertaining. Surprisingly. I think I was generally happy with it because of the realism of the conflict that they face. In the Avengers, when alien beings attacked earth, humans on earth somehow decides to do almost nothing. No appropriate military action by earth's governments. It's the same with Iron Man 3, US military did nothing when the president was captured.
In Thor The Dark World, the threat was at Asgard. The whole of Asgard was ready to go to war. Due to the effects of the alignment of the Nine Realms, portals between worlds were opened but as it all happened too sudden, nobody from other realms was able to react on it. This is more believable than the Avengers' situation (where Loki was on Earth for a long period of time and Shield knew he was up to something having stolen the Tesseract yet no military action were taken when the aliens attacked).
You still have to ignore some plot holes and ridiculous logics (like why Asgardians still fight with swords and shields when their enemy who were in suspended animation for the last 5000 years had laser guns) but it was still very entertaining for a superhero film. The development of the main characters were done satisfyingly. Thor, who were a rash, short-tempered Asgardian prince with a thirst for war, is now more mature and sensible in making decisions. We also saw the other side of Loki despite his continuous mischiefs.
The balance of action, humour and "superhero realism" makes it fun to watch. It's not overly complicated but it's also not too dumb or predictable. Overall I'm quite happy with this film and I would recommend it to anyone who is starting to lose faith in the superhero genre.