Just got back from it! I'll post some in depth thoughts later as I need to let if marinate but it was a fun movie, a little exposition heavy in spots but I enjoyed it overall. I thought the film's pacing was too quick, things didn't really get a chance to breathe and considering Alan Taylor's comments on the deleted scenes, 10-15 more minutes would have been welcomed. Lot's of complaints about the humor but I didn't mind it except for the intern guy who was completely unnecessary. Malekith was rather bland, some of his backstory was cut but I don't know if that would have made a difference. Kurse was very cool though as a henchman.

I loved the first Thor and I feel it's the better film, TDW is flawed but fun if not kinda hollow. In retrospect in seems Marvel may have meddled quite a bit with this one starting with them hiring Patty Jenkins to direct and then parting ways over creative differences, changing composers, editors and the rumors of Alan Taylor butting heads with them over the edit.

Quick comment on the mid-credits stinger:

[spoil]So the Aether is delivered to The Collector (Benicio del Toro) and it's revealed that it and the Tessaract are actually two of the Infinity gems. Didn't really expect that so I wonder which gems these two relics represent? I suppose the Cube would be the Space Gem. (EDIT: Kevin Feige has confirmed it is the Space Gem/Stone.) A lot folks seem to be hating on this scene but I liked it and thought it was cool to get a taste of the GotG world.[/spoil]

Side note, anybody seeing this in 3D there's supposed to be a sneak peek scene show from Captain America 2. Anyone who sees it please report some details! EDIT: Reading around, sounds like it showed the whole elevator fight scene along with shots of Sharon Carter (Agent 13) and some Winter Soldier.

This was my initial thought as well. I liked the first Thor but it felt very limited in terms of scale and budget (every scene has a company's name drop somewhere in it; some OK "They even took my iPod" and some horrible "Another flight overhead. Southwest Airlines flight...") but Branagh's casting and direction helped it immensely. TDW doesn't have those great moments like Thor and Jane on top of the lab discussing the galaxy's tree of life but it is one of those "race against the clock" movies and it works on that level. It's rushed like The Avengers but it doesn't have as many characters as The Avengers so another 10 minutes couldn't have hurt it, only helped it.

Even though this is a spoilers thread...
[spoil]
I was confused when Sif's flirtation with Thor and then her slo-mo glare at Jane didn't pay off. Then I read about Jaimie Alexander's injury on set, which probably left her arc to be incomplete.

Also, did Loki kill Odin? Or is Odin in the dungeon? [/spoil]

Overall good movie! I'm a sucker for these Marvel movies.

Just got back. Overall, I was very entertained and I thought it was a good film and a fun ride overall. Obviously a must-see for Marvel fans.

Flaws to me were that there are bumps in the pacing, some of the humour doesn't hit and the plot / villain are completely overwhelmed by the Loki/Thor dynamic. Speaking of which, this might have been the most interesting Loki has been in a Marvel movie and that says a lot. His thread in this film was note perfect. I'm dying to know what happened with the end scene as well.

Other things that bugged me were the lack of Patrick Doyle's theme (that was one of the better Marvel hero themes, a waste to throw it out) and Natalie Portman in anything resembling adventure / sic-fi / fantasy. She makes a terrible damsel/heroine. Did nobody watch her performance in Star Wars? Awful chemistry with Hemsworth.

It's tough to compare this to the first Thor. The earlier Marvel films were much more grounded, and that has a certain timeless charm. Movies set in the post-Avengers world are going to lean more fantasy/sci-fi, so it would be more fair to compare TDW to other films in Phase 2. For me, it blew Iron Man 3 out of the water (then again, I did not like Iron Man 3 much at all). That said, I liked that TDW had a lot going on and we got to see Thor in all his glory but the first film was unique for its character drama.

I was never a GoTG fan, so the mid-credits scene felt like something out of a del Toro movie. Almost reminded me of Hellboy. I didn't stay for the second end credits scene but I heard it's just a cute scene with Thor / Jane.

I saw the Captain America preview. It showed the whole elevator sequence followed by the trailer we've already seen. Very kick ass.

I forgot to mention the soundtrack but I guess that's because there was nothing too memorable about it. Patrick Doyle's score on the first film was very good with a great main theme. I don't understand why Marvel is not bringing back the same composers for their sequels unless it's due to scheduling conflicts. I hate it when musical themes aren't carried over from the previous film.

Reactions to the mid-credit scene have been all over the map with many saying they flat out hated it. I'm not sure why, I can understand the style and tone being a bit jarring to the rest of the film (I got a Fifth Element vibe from it myself and James Gunn directed it not Alan Taylor) but I thought what it revealed was pretty cool and piqued my interest for GotG even more.

Also just a saw a bootleg of the Cap footage too. The elevator fight looks great!

My initial reaction was that I was happy with it.

A day later, I'm less happy with it.

Ecclston is completely under-used. The threat of the Dark Elves is backstory to Thor/Loki and Thor/Jayne.

If anything, this movie feels like a setup to Guardians and Thor 3, instead of a movie on its own.