Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to do battle with Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the vengeful leader of a primordial race that seeks to destroy the Nine Realms, in this big-budget comic-book adventure set after the events of Marvel’s The Avengers. With even Odin (Anthony Hopkins) unable to protect Asgard from the approaching darkness, the god of thunder reunites with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the world from certain destruction. Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, and Tadanobu Asano co-star.

“Bigger is not always better. “Thor: The Dark World” pumps up the action and special effects and loses some of the human element that made the original “Thor” (2011) something charming and unexpected. True, this sequel gets better as it goes along, but that’s a very steep climb just to arrive at not bad.” — San Francisco Chronicle – Mick LaSalle

“an example of superhero filmmaking 101 at work with high octane fights and special effects-fueled eye candy trumping narrative. The movie is pretty to look at in a Transformers sort of way and moves briskly enough that it never threatens to bore, but it’s hard to feel much of anything about the characters and, when it’s all over, there’s a sense that everything that happens is obligatory. Thor is essentially Marvel’s answer to Superman and, as with The Man of Steel, it can be difficult to craft a tale around a hero who is essentially invincible.” — ReelViews -James Berardinelli