Thor: The Dark World

Directed by Alan Taylor

(PG-13)

**

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“This flavorless, formulaic, forgettable spectacle feels like a placeholder in the Avengers franchise,” said Claudia Puig in USA Today. It brought in big money on its opening weekend, but Thor proves “too dull a character” to carry multiple films on his own, and in the character’s second solo outing, the story and action sequences add up to little more than “a convoluted bore.” You know that this superhero movie has been designed “for the fanboys and absolutely nobody else” the moment you hear that star Chris Hemsworth will this time be battling a race of dark elves who plan to conquer the world using “a mysterious goo” called the Aether, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. Such “sub-Tolkien balderdash” puts most ticket buyers to sleep in seconds, and if Natalie Portman “looks depressed” in her return as Thor’s love interest, who can blame her? At least Thor’s evil brother makes a repeat appearance, too, said Michael O’Sullivan in The Washington Post. In his third go-round as Loki, Tom Hiddleston once again “makes wickedness and treachery look a heck of a lot more fun than virtue.”