Continuing in the baffling tradition of the gritty Dark Knight-ifying of superhero sequels, we find ourselves in the company of Thor: The Dark World. Whereas the first Thor (which I was forced to see for this here rag) was inexplicably a rom-com set partially in a Tremors-esque desert town and partially in the Rainbow Road course of Mario Kart, Thor the Thequel subverts the inane goofiness of the first installment in favor of ominous skies and a droning pound of a musical score.

After the events of The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World finds the titular Norse god teaming up with his ne'er-do-well brother, Loki - who just got done almost destroying planet Earth - to stop some manner of unnamed threat. Returning, once again, is Natalie Portman as Jane (maybe a Tarzan nod, there?), Thor's scientist love interest who basically vanished for The Avengers to help clear up that filmic traffic jam.

In addition to generally being thematically darker, this new Thor adventure also appears to be literally darker, in the sense that I largely couldn't tell what the hell was going on during much of this trailer. Battle sequences and portentous shots of villains are buried beneath piles of murk that will doubtlessly become murkier should you be so unlucky as to find yourself at a 3D screening of the film.

Following the lead of the first film, which hired an overqualified director of dramas with little experience in the area of CGI tentpole projects (Kenneth Branagh), Thor the Thecond has been helmed by Alan Taylor - who has a long history of directing prestige cable shows (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men), but no action films, save for his upcoming stab at an entry in the Terminator franchise.

Expect some more interminable scenes of faux-deep sword-and-sandal dialogue, interspersed with choppy actions scenes, but with none of the redeeming slapstick of the first film. Thor, you can count me out.

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