Thor’s arms remain swollen in inescapable sequel Thor: The Dark World. When scientist Natalie Portman is possessed by evil cosmic blood, hunky Thor sweeps her away to Planet Viking just in time for a madcap invasion by tacky Dark Elves. Tom Hiddleston remains everything as tricky-dick Loki, imprisoned for his Marvel’s The Avengers‘ antics and forced to team up with his big bro to save their home. Villain Malekith (Christopher Eccleston, buried in special effects) has little screen time and less impact. A wonky climactic fight during a Benny Hill-inspired dimensional convergence is kinda fun, as is Kat Dennings and naked Stellan Skarsgård trying to make sense of things back on Earth. As with other Marvel productions, the film coasts by on references and surprise cameos without ever daring to venture far from home. Like its main character, Thor: The Dark World is pretty but doesn’t have much going on upstairs.
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2013.