There isn't as much character development as the first film, and Thor's friends are nowhere near as interesting as the Avengers. I guess they simply needed these characters to all remain as they were so as to keep continuity within the Marvel universe, but its noticeable how little impact the storyline will have on anybody.
The armies of Asguard were noticeably lacking in fire-power and weapons (even though they have an armoury), which is made even more evident when an entire guard division bring knives to a laser-gun fight. Their turrents were the only defense they had against an Ariel assault and proved to be practically useless. You would expect them to be better prepared.