Watch it for Hiddleston, the rest is comical

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2014)

As the "pre titles" - history section - to the story tells you, the bad guy - Malekith the Accursed - creates an ultimate weapon to rule the universe, gets stopped, and goes away plotting his revenge.
That should give more than enough scope to have large scale battles between the protagonists, plenty of opportunity for Thor to run around smashing righteous thunder into anything he encounters. Like Gimli in Lord of the Rings, but with Legolas's hair. Yet the battles are more one on one. The acting may be strong in parts (which is to be expected with Portman, Hopkins and Skarsgård), yet it would have been good to see some more of Eccleston as the main protagonist. And you can tell that Malekith has spent his time not only plotting, but also in R&D, while the Asgardians haven't learnt much from the previous film. Not to mention the number of pillars that get destroyed, no wonder the world is dark!
Hiddleston shines as the tricky Loki, with the rage of a son betrayed by his father, the despair of a son lost to his mother and the contempt of a betrayed and lost brother. He may have been the obvious figure head of evil in Avengers Assemble, but here he gets to play a full range of roles and comes out as the real star of the show. And despite knowing Zachary Levi was playing Fandral, if I hadn't I wouldn't have recognised him with the blonde hair!