The Worst of the MCU, but Still Average

Rating: Null/10 (15 November 2018)

After the events of the Avengers, one of the major questions most people had was what happened to Thor and Loki. Loki was being brought back to Asgard after attempting to take over Earth, supposedly getting ready to face Odin for his crimes. Thor: The Dark World was released to an astounding "eh" and was branded the worst in the franchise, but what about this film makes it so bad?
Marvel decided not to have Kenneth Branagh return to direct this film, instead hiring Alan Taylor. The film was going to be about the Dark Elves waging war against Asgard, and the introduction of another Infinity Stone, disguised as the mysterious Aether. Sounds like a pretty good plot, so what happened?
The cast is similar to the last film. Hemsworth and Hiddleston both do great in there roles once again. They have settled into the roles and are a blast to watch together. Hopkins is also good as Odin and Stellan Skarsgard is good as Erik Selving. Where the cast falls apart are the other supporting characters. Once again, Natalie Portman phones in her performance, even though she is much more important here. Kat Dennings is worse here than she was last time, being much more annoying than the previous film. Christopher Eccleston does fine for what he's given, which isn't much, seeing as how Malekith is the least interesting villain in the franchise. The cast is fine, a little worse than last time, but still fine.
The writing and plot is cool in concept, but it gets screwed in execution. They give Jane Foster the Aether, making her the center of the plot, but Jane isn't an interest character, on top of Portman's weak performance. They give the villain nothing to do, with a very weak motivation, and they fake-kill Loki for the third time. Although it has some bright spots, the plot really isn't good.
The effects are pretty good. Thor's introduction is amazing, though he will have better intros later on. The space battles are cool, and the final battle between Thor and Malekith is cool to look at.
Thor: The Dark World is average. It has a dull plot with some terrible performances, but the leads are good enough to carry it to the finish line, and it has some entertaining action scenes to boot.
5/10