First Full Reviews For THOR: THE DARK WORLD Hit

But effective thought the humour is, it's clumsily placed at times alongside the moments of real darkness and loss – there's an emotional gut punch in the second act, but its impact is immediately blunted by a curt segue into wacky hijinks with the gang in London. With the final cut coming in at a taut 112 minutes, there's a distinct sense that a brutal editing process is to blame for these tonal swings. Despite its occasionally bipolar quality, Thor: The Dark World is a hugely entertaining and sharply written continuation of Marvel's Phase 2, combining heart, spectacle and a shrewd lightness of touch.

There are flaws. There are always flaws. There are signs that the story may, at one point, have been in flux (a potential love triangle between Thor, Jane and Sif goes nowhere, for example) and it’s also packed with a Smegload of fridge moments, those pesky plot-holes that will keep you awake at 3am, while its grasp on science (or, as Thor would have it, magic) is fairly flimsy, with respected actors spouting nonsense about gravitons and wibblyflibs like they’re in a 1950s B-movie. We’re no Prof. Brian Cox, but it’s almost certain to take this year’s Bad Movie Science award. But the whole thing clips along at such a brisk rate — at just over 100 minutes (not including credits, or post-credit stings, or post-post-credits stings) it wraps up when most blockbusters are grinding their gears — and is so entertaining that it doesn’t seem to matter. Now that’s magic-science. As confident and assured as its lead character, Marvel’s great run continues. We give this Thor out of Thive. (Sorry.)

In much the same way as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine or Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, Hemsworth has taken such ownership of Thor that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else playing him. He is an engaging presence throughout, but it’s when he is paired with Hiddleston’s Loki that we get the film’s best moments. Elsewhere Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster is smartly given more to do without her screen time feeling forced, but it’s a shame we don’t get to see more of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three, who are restricted to fleeting, if entertaining moments. Nonetheless, Thor: The Dark World is an ambitious, thrilling and often hilarious superhero sequel. Iron Man got things off to a great start, but now Marvel’s ‘Phase Two’ is in full swing. ANOTHER!

Nobody gives good sneer like Tom Hiddleston, back once again in the pleather leggings and goat-horned helmet to play bad guy Loki in Thor: The Dark World and pretty much upstage the whole show. Amiable hunk Chris Hemsworth may play the title character in this sub-set of Marvel’s meta-Avengers franchise, but this well-intentioned “witless oaf,” as his evil foster brother describes him at one point, is practically a guest at his own party here, as scads of new characters and millions of dollars worth of CGI crowd the screen. Most of it pales into insignificance when Loki takes the stage, which isn’t often enough given how wildly uneven the sections are without him. Although director Alan Taylor manages to get things going properly for the final battle in London, the long stretches before that on Asgard and the other branches of Yggdrasil are a drag, like filler episodes of Game of Thrones but without the narrative complexity, mythical heft or all-pervading sexiness.

Thor: The Dark World is as funny as it is exciting. A slick balance of action, humor and comic book sensibilities. Fans are going to find so much to like about this movie, not only because it’s fun, but because of its place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Besides the two credits scenes, Thor: The Dark World has ramifications that’ll be felt for years to come. So while the film might not have the psychological complexity or sheer scope of the previous two Marvel movies, it’s more balanced and feels weightier.

The result is a film that is enjpyable in spots, but haphazard and ultimately unsatisfying. As with "Iron Man 3," these films are increasingly feeling like episodes of TV shows or, perhaps more appropriately, issues of comic books. For all the good gags and eye candy, this ultimately boils down to yet another quest to find a magical MacGuffin that will stop a portal in the sky from opening (seriously, has that become one of the Seven Basic Plots at this point?). And while the hardcore geek crowd may eat that up, the rest of us need these films to distinguish themselves a little more if we're going to have one every six months.

Filmmakers haven’t put a lot of new ideas between Chris Hemsworth and his hammer, but there are enough thrills and laughs to keep it aloft. In the current onslaught of superhero movies, we get a lot of Terrible, some very occasional Excellent and a decent amount of Entertaining Enough. “Thor: The Dark World” falls squarely into Entertaining Enough, with plenty of excitement and panache to make it lots more fun than the first one. This time around, we get no ticky-tacky small-town sets, and director Alan Taylor (an HBO vet whose “Game of Thrones” credentials no doubt got him this gig) strikes just the right balance.

Early on in “Thor: The Dark World,” the latest slab of briskly amusing, elaborately inconsequential 3D entertainment from the Disney/Marvel comicbook factory, an evil Dark Elf announces his sinister plan to “unleash the Aether.” What sounds at first like an arcane euphemism for breaking wind turns out to be just another way of stating what you probably already suspected: The megalomaniac of the month is about to activate the latest all-powerful weapon capable of triggering mass annihilation, necessitating yet another intervention by a popular superhero and his ragtag band of sidekicks. Still, as helmed by Alan Taylor, this robust, impersonal visual-effects showpiece proves buoyant and unpretentious enough to offset its stew of otherwise derivative fantasy/action elements.