The thing about superhero movies is that things don't go into overdrive until the second movie. Origin stories may be good or bad, but there's always a lot of time explaining to you the backstory of the hero, how things work etc.
I'm not sure why but costumes (and in the case of the Hulk CGI) usually get better on the second movie, let's just how these things also happen for the winter soldier.
Actually, there\'s really only a little bit of a fish out of water story in the first film. It\'s also not Lion King-esque. It\'s SHAKESPEAREAN. You ignore the huge flaws The Dark World has. Malekith is supposed to be the villain and yet he\'s the weakest one in the entire MCU. It would actually make more sense if The Stinger revealed that Loki was pulling his strings the entire time, but alas, that does not happen. There\'s even the fact that The Collector makes a bigger impression in under 2 minutes than Malekith ever did in his entire screentime total. Despite Christopher Eccleston being a fantastic actor, even he couldn\'t make up for the lack of material he was given to work with.
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As different as Asgard and Earth
Holy crud! When did Thor become such a good franchise? This film is taking a close run at The Avengers for the best Marvel movie so far. And the change from Thor 1 is awe-inspiring.
Thor was a by the numbers Lion Kingesque fish-out-of-water story. Thor: The Dark World is at times epic fantasy, buddy film (yes, with Thor and Loki. Why haven't you seen this film yet?), a heist plot, sci-fi invasion etc
And it still has time to give a really deep look into the soul of their characters. Loki is, as ever, the best thing in the film and everything they do with him, from breaking him down to his familial relations is incredible. There are so many things going on under every word he says and every move he makes. But even more than that, Thor himself is no longer entirely forgettable and Jane becomes a proactive figure with brains and drive.
This film is good enough, that it actually makes the first film better. Because Thor has so much personality and development here, it makes the original film an example of a younger Thor still finding his place and growing into the person he becomes. His inability to solve any problem the first time around without hitting it with his hammer becomes endearing now that we see he can do so much more. Jane is less of a terrible role-model once we see what she can do when she needs things to be done. Even Thor's Band Of Entirely Superfluous Sidekicks becomes less of a waste of space now that they've got time to breathe and achieve something (a little bit).
There are so many beautiful moments in this film. The armour no longer looks cheap and plastic, there are artfully crafted shots of Asgard and the increased focus makes it look like a place where I want to find out more and brings a direly needed sense of wonder with it.
But there are also so many awesome moments here, and not just in the spectacle, which if anything was less interesting than all the perfect pieces of character display. A look shared between Loki and Thor, a joke, a smile, a hero ready to step it up and throw himself into destruction for his worlds and his people.
And yet would you believe that the film does all this and yet still has space for one of the finest arrays of side roles in a modern blockbuster? Darcy, Richard, Ian, Selivg, Heimdall, Frigga...
It just goes to show, there's always a chance to change