( EW.com ) -- Every superhero movie is , on some level , an attempt to demonstrate that a godlike being with flabbergasting powers â€ ” he flies ! He wields a megaton hammer ! â€ ” also has an inner life . The success of the film hinges on how well it yokes together the external and the internal . `` Thor : The Dark World , '' a watchable but technologically over-scaled slab of Marvel boilerplate , is far from a great superhero movie â€ ” it 's more like the diagram for one . Having done his time as a magical Norse hunk-out-of-water in `` Thor '' ( 2011 ) and `` The Avengers '' ( 2012 ) , our hero ( Chris Hemsworth ) now finds himself back on Asgard . There , his father , Odin ( Anthony Hopkins , serving up his own special brand of highbrow scenery chewing ) , enlists him in a battle for the cosmos . Muggles rejoice ! Butterbeer is now being served at Starbucks . The Nine Realms are about to converge , which means that the Dark Elves , led by the scowling Malekith ( Christopher Eccleston ) , can now finally seize their moment to destroy Asgard . Are your eyes already glazing over ? To succeed , the Elves must gain control of the Aether ( pronounced `` ether '' ) , a supreme energy force in the form of what looks like a floating spill of red wine . In the film 's rather desperate attempt to personalize the plot , the Aether , which requires a host organism , has leaped inside the body of Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ) , the astrophysicist who fell for Thor and has been waiting two years for him to return . Portman plays her like a petulant schoolgirl , and that 's the movie 's notion of a joke : Jane just wants a boyfriend , while Thor , who loves her back , has weightier concerns . Really , though , `` The Dark World '' should have given Jane a better reason for hanging around than the fact that she 's playing host body to a glob of extraterrestrial protoplasm . The first `` Thor '' was directed by Kenneth Branagh with an elegant verve that made the special effects at once witty and spectacular . Alan Taylor , who directed this sequel , is a prestige veteran of the small screen ( `` Mad Men , '' `` The Sopranos , '' `` Game of Thrones '' ) , but he brings little of that avid storytelling tightness to `` The Dark World . '' Which 'Star Wars ' personality are you ? See the characters ' Myers-Briggs chart . The new film sprawls , often with more spirit than reason . And though its images can be exciting ( the Oz-like palace of Asgard , airships that glide like daggers ) , the battles have a videogame medieval dazzle that temporarily heightens the senses , then leaves you numb . Hemsworth 's Thor is once again a charismatically fast and bold stud-Viking warrior , but now that he 's mostly on his home planet ( with occasional forays down to London ) , he somehow seems less super . Only when Tom Hiddleston is on screen , as Thor 's dark-souled stepbrother , Loki , does any real drama take hold . Loki has been imprisoned for his treachery , but it turns out that Thor needs his help to defeat the Dark Elves . Can he trust Loki not to betray him ? Hiddleston , with pleading eyes and a mad-dog grin , plays Loki as a wounded sociopath who 's cackling at the world but seething on the inside . Which makes you realize he 's just about the only character in the movie who has an inside . Grade : B- . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Critic gives `` Game of Thrones '' a B- grade . Far from a great superhero movie , it 's more like a diagram for one . Director Tom Hiddleston 's brings little storytelling tightness to `` Dark World '' Alan Taylor Time Inc. is about the only fully realized character .