I appreciate this film for several reasons:

- First of all, it's very gratifying to see Taika Waititi, a Maori man, at the helm of this project. While he's had film successes in the past with Hunt For The Wilderpeople and What We Do In The Shadows it's somewhat more awesome to see him directing a film in the MCU, big and ridiculous and messy as it is. It was also hilarious to hear that accent coming out of a character like Korg. Absolutely loved that.

- It has WAY more Norse mythology than previous MCU Thor films. We get Fenrisúlfr, the valkyrie, Surtr, a trip to Norway, and Hela, who is technically a Marvel villain (based on Hel, the Norse goddess of a death realm of the same name, and a daughter of Loki) but a Norse-based threat nonetheless. I kinda prefer it when these non-Avengers films are more insular, confined to the world of their protagonists. For that reason it was actually disappointing to see the Hulk (I also just... don't really like Mark Ruffalo, which probably contributes).

- It's really funny. "Oh my god the hammer pulled you off?" actually may have killed me. Can't believe Taiki chucked a dick joke in there. "Piss off ghost" was also hilarious. Obviously Korg is the comedic centre of this film.

- The sibling rivalry makes SO much sense, and it was great to see Thor and Loki acting like actual brothers who grew up together. There's a very good balance of Serious God Stuff and Childish Sibling Stuff. The mention of the snake prank: perfect. Thor throwing things at Loki's hologram: extremely realistic. Having grown up as the eldest of three girls (all of us Areans - hell) I can attest that yes, having siblings is exactly like this.

- Cate Blanchett's costume is PERFECT.

- Thor's short hair is cute. I mean I guess it's just Chris Hemsworth's usual form but on Thor it also looks good.

On the downside... there are a few downsides. Despite how much I loved most of this, and how much respect I have for Taika Waititi as a director, I couldn't possibly give this five stars. Honestly I'll be surprised if the MCU ever comes out with anything worthy of a perfect score. Because these films are always a little too long, and while they're often funny and have great action scenes they still lack half a heart, and also the only Asian actor in this dies, so like, f*ck it. Four and a half stars, with a HEAVY side-eye. I'm warning you, Feige.