We’ve done the months of tense anticipation and today marks the day – Thor 2 is finally out in cinemas in the UK. Sorry, US people, you’ll just have to wait a while. Of course, not everyone is going to be as excited about this release as this particular staff writer is, but let’s face it, if you paid to see a Marvel superhero movie and didn’t enjoy it, you probably don’t have a soul – that is, of course, a highly scientific fact. So with that in mind, let’s see what the critics have to say.

Thor: The Dark World Poster
Hemsworth is great, but not the only highlight of the movie.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin is mostly smitten with Tom Hiddleston’s turn as Loki (aren’t we all) and describes the abundance of villains and CGI in the Loki-less scenes as wildly uneven. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is relegated to playing a benevolent, but ultimately less interesting “witless oaf” – Loki’s words – but if you’ve been leaning towards the Loki side of the fandom anyway, there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

Alonso Duralde from The Wrap shares a similar sentiment, describing Thor as an old-school kind of hero – suitably handsome and square jawed, but also lacking the kind of self-doubt and irony we’re used to. Still, according to Duralde, Chris Hemsworth manages to pull off the role well enough for Thor to come off as lovable, instead of boring and the aforementioned abundance of CGi-powered action scenes keeps the film from being too fluffy.

Check out the trailer below:

And of course, there were a few comments on the setting of the film. Unlike all previous Avengers flicks, this one takes place largely on Asgard. Variety’s Chris Hewitt notes that watching Jane and Thor strut (the verb is more accurate in Thor’s case) around the surreal, vaguely infuenced by Norse mythology world is a pleasure in and of itself.

Natalie Portman, Odeon Leicester Square
Natalie Portman showed off some Thor-inspired glamour at the London Premiere.

Check out more photos from the premeire in our gallery.

All in all, the reviews agree on one point – the best film of 2013 this isn’t, but like all Marvel films it should be enjoyed for what it is. In this case, 112 minutes of extremely attractive people, clad in armor and fighting bad guys, with plenty of explosions thrown in for good measure.