“Thor 2: The Dark World” is the third time (only if you are counting Marvels “Avengers” directed by Joss Whedon) we get to see Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, wielding his mighty hammer.

It is your same old threats to annihilate the entire galaxy with some funny puns and a cocky, wanna-be throne holder brother.

Now for the importance of the plot.

The story begins thousands of years ago when Odin’s father (Thor’s grandfather) introduces us to himself leading the Asgard forces to overthrow the dark elves of Svartalfheim.

Their leader, Malekith leaves behind a secret weapon called aether (“ee-ther”).

Basically aether means “ancient force of infinite destruction” that is supposed to cast darkness over all 9 realms in the galaxy once they align, kind of like a solar eclipse.

Flash to the future. Thor leaves behind his Earthen astrophysicist love-interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) when he comes back to Asgard to talk about taking over the crown.

On Jane’s search to find her out-of-this-world hunk, she accidentally comes in contact with the aether when some random middle schoolers find a portal to another dimension and show it to her.

Once the aether enters her body and will not recede, Malekith is awakened and ready to take revenge. This forces Thor to come to Earth and seek out Jane to help save the galaxy before all hope is lost.

This sequel is considerably funnier than the first. A large part of the good natured charm comes from the return of Kat Dennings (Jane’s intern), as well as a surprisingly good cameo from none other than Chris Evans (a.k.a the one and only Captain America).

But the biggest ticket seller has to be Thor’s overbearing, sarcastic and charming step brother, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleson who is a scene stealer from the beginning to end.

As soon as Loki asks if Thor would rather “punch his way out” of a bad situation you can really see the all too familiar sibling rivalry come into play.

His wit is so clever, viewers alike cannot decide whether to hate him or to cast him under the super hero title.

However I did expect the action to pick a little up more than it did considering the nature of the other appearances of Thor.

There were also some fantastic graphics on that note. Overall the movie was fantastic and there were enough loose ends that could be tied up in a trilogy.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars