So, here it is; the long-awaited sequel to Thor. This review is, as usual, going to be pretty spoiler-heavy, but I will start off with my spoiler-free impressions, which pretty much boil down to five or six lines of the letter E and more exclamation marks than is dignified.
I liked it; a lot. It managed to balance the absolute menace of the Dark Elves with competence on the part of the Asgardians (so often the new big bad just makes the supporting goodies look like chumps, and that's no fun), the romance with the action, and balls-to-the-wall adrenaline with plots and counter-plots. It's no Inception, but there are enough turns to keep things interesting, and pretty much no-one in the film is extraneous.
Except perhaps Hogun.
Okay; the details.
We open with a very familiar bit of narration, which is pretty much the opening of Thor with 'Jotun' replaced with 'Dark Elves', 'Odin' with 'Borr' and the frost casket replaced with the Aether, which is the worst thing ever, okay.
Flash forward, and with the Bifrost repaired, Thor is busy re-establishing the Pax Odin in preparation for his own rule, while pining over his inability to return to the girl he loves. There are a few hints that his friendship with Sif might have grown into more without his time on Earth and that Odin hopes it still might, but thankfully this never becomes a big drama, and Sif's primary motivations remain friendship and loyalty.
Jane Foster, meanwhile, is tracking holes between the nine worlds, and accidentally releases the Aether, which takes root in her body. Thor whisks her to Asgard, but the Dark Elves wake and follow, unleashing an invasion on Asgard itself, which is the first big action set-piece of the movie.
It is fricking awesome, the more so for managing to make the Dark Elves a serious threat - and, with their blank-faced masks, creepy as hell - without turning the entire battle into a curb stomp.With another attack impending, their mother dead and Odin paralysed by grief and rage at the loss of Frigga, Thor teams up with the imprisoned Loki to draw the Dark Elves away from Asgard and destroy the Aether.
This gets us into one of the dramatic foci of the movie, as the possibility of Loki's betrayal is teased, realised and reversed more than once to arrive at the final payoff. It's twisty enough to be satisfying and convincing, without going too far and just becoming silly. It is also part of an effective false-climax, and plays out Loki's mix of courage and cunning nicely.
The final act moves to Earth, specifically to London, and a world-hopping duel between Thor and the Aether-possessed Dark Elf leader Malekith, in which Foster and Selvig - aided by their interns - manipulate the fateful convergence of worlds to their advantage, which is actually something I haven't really seen very often, so kudos for that.
Overall, this was a very satisfying movie.
Oh, and then we get the epilogue and credit scenes. The epilogue is both heartwarming and has a delightful, if somewhat predictable, twist. The first credit scene sets up Guardians of the Galaxy, and the second is the big aww moment, with a kiss and a Jotun frost hound chasing pigeons in Docklands.
Problems: Well, I feel that Darcy is overdue an awesome moment. Everyone else got one in this film, and she kind of lost out to new British intern Ian in the finale of this one so that she could fall in love with him. It was a very sweet scene, but she was kind of cheated (although she did get my top line of the movie). Maybe she can get to kick Ultron in the fork in Avengers II or something. I am also aware that the Warrior who was sidelined was Hogun, the Asian, which makes sense having established him as a Vanir and giving him some off time with his own family, but it would be nice to see some payoff on that sometime beyond a shot of him looking up at some lost jet fighters.
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