one of the only intriguing marvel mini-plots, about thor losing his hammer and learning who he is without it, and his relationship with his father and siblings, is totally suffocated and dismissed by the iron-fisted insistence that these movies all tie in to an intricate neverending spider's web of references that serve only to reward those who are so devoted to the franchise that they catch every single wink, every thumbs-up for their dedicated consumerism. which is fine if that's your thing i guess!! but thor is the only marvel character i find remotely interesting, and i could not give less of a shit about hulk or dr strange or the avengers or what came before or what is coming next. for the love of god please just give me the thor story. each time these movies add links into the overall chain it's a humorless weight that sinks the overall product, and it's so weird how something so invested in momentum can feel like such a slog. hulk did not need to be in this movie. dr strange did not need to be in this movie. i honestly kept getting confused about what was going on, the references to the avengers made me forget that this was thor's isolated side story and that it was solely about saving asgard. all of this is even more disappointing considering the genuine effort taken to make this into something more than a marvel movie - but the visual/auditory inspiration taken from krull, flash gordon, tron, the original star wars, etc is nearly obliterated by the digital sheen, a poor shitty cgi reflection of movies that were defined by their rich atmospheres and actual real-life sets and costumes. a lot of the jokes are funny, and there is one good memory/dream sequence, and chris hemsworth is allowed to have a personality, and tessa thompson was cool with the little bit she was given. and i loved seeing rachel house. but even my dear taika cannot save these goddamn things from themselves.