★★★★☆
Thor the dark world is sequel to 2011's Thor and takes place after the Avengers. In my opinion this is the third best film that Marvel has made[Apart from the Avengers and Iron man 3]. It may not reach the level of the darkly humorous Iron man 3 or the awesomeness of the Avengers but it's a fun night out at the cinema for all ages. One of the things I liked was Loki. Tom Hiddleston brings charm, wit, charisma to the role of Thor's evil half-brother. There is a lot of humour in this film. There are some huge laugh out loud moments coming from the characters, especially Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis and Loki. The action scenes are gritty, loud, dirty and awesome. Director Alan Taylor[director from HBO's Game of Thrones]brings epic cinematography, dark and gritty action scenes and awesome slow mo shots. Thor is a stronger character in this film and Antony Hopkins brings a father-figure quality to Odin but this film does not succeed at everything...
The villain Malkeith[Played by Christopher Eccelston] is a weak villain, the length of the film not giving him enough time to develop into a three-dimensional character. Malkeith has no strength of his own he relies on his soldiers and henchman Kurse also many of the other character relationships are underdeveloped thanks to the film's runtime. Just to mention Jane Foster(Thor's girlfriend) is an unnecessary character but even as the writers try to develop her character they make her even more unnecessary. They waste Erik Selvig on nude jokes and the film relies on Loki to make the film better. The pace of the film made it feel predictable but there are some unexpected moments but they seem out of place. Some humour is dire and all the villains are wasted.
Overall the film may not be Marvel's best film but it an improvement on Thor 1 with its startling action pieces although character relationships are underdeveloped and there is a weak villain. Thor 2 deserves 3.5 stars because it is an epic action sci-fi adventure that provides huge laughs for the audience.