One of the weakest of the Marvel movies, “Thor: The Dark World” is blessed with its performers’ charisma, who manage to make the most out of an otherwise forgettable plot. Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman are reunited here, but their chemistry is rather lacking this time around – luckily, Tom Hiddleston is around, doing the majority of the dramatic heavy lifting and he’s fantastic as usual, while everyone else has a number of moments to shine as well. But unfortunately, the story is a dud: With unmemorable villains and too much going on at once, it’s hard to develop much interest in the proceedings, but at least the A-listers seem to be enjoying themselves, which goes a long way towards selling the otherwise underwhelming narrative. Even an inferior Marvel movie has a number of selling points – namely, special effects and a crowd-pleasing formula that’s nicely tweaked here and there – so it’s not a complete waste of time, but it’s not exactly a gem either.
Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)
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