Good not great

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2014)

You can tell a lot of money was spent on this sequel to Thor (2011) but unfortunately as with tradition this sequel (like most sequels) does not live up to its original film and its sad because they had a very fleshy plot to play around with plus veritable villains to boot.
First things first, this is either the first film or at least the first film in my recent memory that I've seen where the main villain was given so little to do. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) the secondary villain did his part and shined doing so but Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) king of the the dark elves was just wasted in his role in spite of him seeming so sinister and ruthlessly wicked in his introduction and initial scenes.
Another footfall was the level of authenticity of Jane Foster's (Natalie Portman) possession, I mean she seemed possessed but if the great power within her was as strong as it was described by Odin (Anthony Hopkins) then it should have been shown to all but consume her and she should have been given some scenes in which she went over to the dark side and wreaked so much havoc. Sure she caused the death of Frigga (Rene Russo) but it wasn't an insidious act brought about by her possession. And speaking of Frigga, her funeral was one of the most beautiful send-offs ever captured on celluloid, just wish her sons would have mourned her properly and ruthlessly avenged her death.
Darcy (Kat Dennings) Jane's trusty sidekick was her usual funny self but there was something off with her acting and even her humor at times. Kenneth Branagh really did a great job in directing her in part 1 where she was on her top game but unfortunately Alan Taylor was unable to capture the essence of this funny and witty character, instead he made her look hapless.
Finally, for those who haven't seen 'Marvel's The Avengers' I suggest you do before watching this because there are so many references to the film during the course of 'Thor: The Dark World' that you might find yourself lost at times or at least wondering what they are on about. Though I will say that if you stayed for until the credits of 'Thor' finished rolling, you'll get a sense of why Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) is the way he is in this film.