Thor: The Dark World left me wondering why for all its popularity and box office hype the superhero genre so regularly fails to ignite the faintest trace of excitement and imagination in its narrative and storytelling. This sequel, following Kenneth Branagh's reasonably funny 2011 film, was written by no less than five writers, who between them have only mustered another dull, achingly generic story about saving the world. Aside from less than a handful of funny self-referencing points, this is a hugely disappointing by the numbers blockbuster that under services its embarrassingly rich cast and offers its enormous fanbase too little that is challenging, inspired or even surprising.

What's confusing about the deliberate complacency in the script is that it's entirely unnecessary. There is no financial risk to comic book adaptations anymore to justify this kind of dumbing down. Earlier this year, Iron Man 3 became one of the top five highest grossing films of all time. While Christopher Nolan's Batman films have achieved financial success without succumbing to simplified narrative lines. Some even complained The Dark Knight Rises had too many story threads. How many filmmakers today would crawl over broken glass for a cast featuring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, Chris O'Dowd and Stellan Skarsgard? With such talent it's not unreasonable then to ask for more than obligatory special effects and indistinguishable villains, who are included only to prop up pseudo- scientific plot points.

Little effort has been exhausted into humanising these characters. Thor (Hemsworth) is a blank slate who swings his hammer and growls at people. It makes Chris Hemsworth look like a boring actor when we've seen how charismatic he can be, like he was in Rush, with the right material and director. There are fewer fish out of water jokes that I enjoyed in the first film. Natalie Portman, normally a delightful, charming actress, is embarrassed here as Thor's girlfriend, playing a character devoid of plausible emotional responses and desires. Her first reaction after being warped from London to Asgard is to say "Hi!" and "Let's do that again!" Never mind that her skin is now infected with the Aether, a weapon of mass destruction from an ancient group called the Dark Elves (who speak perfect English no less). She's more impressed that Thor told his dad about her! The Dark Elves are led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who wants to use the Aether to destroy the world.

Comic book films rise and fall on the quality of their villains. The Dark World has two, both of whom are substandard. The Dark Elves, branding swords and laser weapons, aren't very interesting. Though Thor's brother Loki (Hiddleston) sometimes brings comic relief to the film's dry, seriousness (I did enjoy one clever shape shifting moment) he still doesn't possess the physicality of Tom Hardy's Bane to be a truly menacing physical threat. Locked up in a cell for nearly half the film, there's not a lot for Loki to do. What should also be a haunting surprise at the end of the film is badly telegraphed. When Thor and Loki inevitably team up, the brothers take a few more punches than you might expect, but still recover very quickly, even after a severed hand. Marvel is a subsidiary company belonging to Disney so this is largely bloodless action.

This is the first comic book feature film by Alan Taylor, who replaced Patty Jenkins under controversial circumstances. Taylor has worked on television shows like Game of Thrones, and he brings little distinction to the action and the way the story is told. The camera isn't particularly mobile and significant plot lines like the Aether are lazily signposted through the film's prologue. He opts to intercut Thor's main story with a subplot involving Jane's scientist friends back on Earth, including an overly excitable Kat Dennings, who are discovering the alignments of Asgard's nine realms, if that matters. Sometimes they lighten the mood but they're still cornball stereotypes (the wacky sidekick, the crazy scientist and the dorky intern) that don't instill any visible subtext to the plot. The two narrative threads collide with Taylor's most elaborate set piece, as Thor fights simultaneously between universes, a battle that is undone by Thor's own indestructibility. Over the closing credits are shots of the film's concept art, which could be totally interchangeable with most of the plotting. It's time that comic book fans started to demand more from these films before the entire genre evaporates into a disposable, commercialised heap like it does here.

Odin (Anthony Hopkins) recalls when his father Bor and the warriors from Asgard vanquished the evil Dark Elves and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) that wanted to send the universe into the darkness during the convergence of nine realms unleashing the powerful weapon Aether. Mallekith escapes and Bor hides the Aether in-between two stone columns.

In the present days, on Earth, the scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) that is waiting for the return of Thor, investigates a gravity phenomenon in an abandoned factory with her assistant and her intern. She finds the column where the Aether is hidden and the substance possesses her. In Asgard, Heimdall (Idris Elba) reports to Thor (Chris Hemsworth) that Jane has disappeared. Thor returns to Earth and finds Jane; but when he sees that he has a strange energy protecting her, he brings Jane to Asgard to be healed.

However, Malekith also awakes and goes to Asgard to retrieve the Aether. After a bloody battle, Frigga (Rene Russo) is murdered by Malekith and Thor proposes treason to his warriors friends of Asgard and teams up with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to seek revenge for the murder of their mother and to vanquish Malekith before he destroys Asgard with his Dark Elves.

"Thor: The Dark World" is another great adventure of Thor. In this movie, Thor makes the most unlike association with Loki and the result is a wonderful movie. The scene of Loki fighting with Thor is the best moment of "Thor: The Dark World". Chris Hemsworth perfectly impersonates Thor and the conclusion surprises. Last but not the least, the movie is to be watched until the very end of the credits because there are two additional scenes in the credits. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Thor: O Mundo Sombrio" ("Thor: The Dark World")

The film overall has it's fair share of holy s**t moments that defy all levels of credibility, even for a comic book/sci-fi/fantasy movie. That whole business about the Aether winding up in Natalie Portman's body was just a little too much to wrap my head around, especially after it was assured that the heroes of Asgard buried it so deeply to avoid detection by the Dark Elves.

Probably the best way to approach this film is to just sit back and get transported between the realms of Earth and Asgard without thinking too much about it. As an actioner there's plenty of it. As a story, there's just too much going on with events seemingly occurring because they were written that way instead of there being a rationale for them. I mean, one minute Thor's hand is cut off and then it's back again - wait a minute, what!? And with the emphasis on the Dark Elves I found a lot of Asgard suspiciously resembling places seen before in Rivendell. If there's going to be a Thor III, maybe a little more thought needs to go into it.