Thor: Love and Thunder review

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER: 

FOURTH THOR ADVENTURE CHOOSES COMEDY OVER STORY AND CHARACTERS WITH POLARIZING RESULTS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

MARVEL STUDIOS

Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale in Thor: Love and Thunder

 

            The God of Thunder is back for a new adventure in Thor: Love and Thunder, the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first non-Avengers MCU film series to go to #4. Quick thoughts on the other Thor films before we dive into this one. 

            The first Thor movie from 2011, I liked quite a bit though not a perfect movie, but I enjoyed the world building in Asgard, visuals, and Chris Hemsworth’s performance as the titular character has a lot of charm and likability whether in space or on Earth. The second film, Thor: The Dark World I’m not a big fan of, I don’t think it’s terrible or anything, but it was mostly very standard and dull to the point where even after I watch it, I forget about it very quickly. 

            Then the third film, Thor: Ragnarok came along, and I absolutely loved it and it’s among some of my favorite films in the MCU. With its epic size and scale, campy Guardians of the Galaxy-esque tone, rocking soundtrack, exhilarating action, memorable characters, and Cate Blanchett’s delightfully wicked and scenery chewing performance as Hela the Goddess of Death, easily the best Thor film and one of the best in the MCU. 

            Which brings us to this film with Chris Hemsworth (The Cabin in the Woods, Rush, Men in Black: International) reuniting with Thor: Ragnarok director, Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jojo Rabbit) to bring another adventure in Asgard to the screen. It makes sense to collaborate again on a fourth movie especially when Ragnarok was hailed by many as the best Thor film and one of the best MCU films, so can Hemsworth and Waititi recapture the same magic? Not exactly. 

            Thor: Love and Thunder is a relatively entertaining film that does tie some loose ends in Thor’s story arc after the events in Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, and once again Hemsworth is extremely charismatic as the God of Thunder. However, it feels like a huge step backwards fueled almost entirely on cheap Marvel laughs that sometimes work, but others get annoying very quickly (*cough* GOATS!). 

            After the events of Avengers: Endgame, the film follows Thor (Hemsworth) going on various space adventures with his friends Korg (voiced by Waititi), Miek, and the Guardians of the Galaxy consisting of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt-Parks and Recreation, The Lego Movie 1 and 2, Jurassic World trilogy), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper-The Hangover trilogy, American Sniper, A Star is Born (2018)), Drax (Dave Bautista-Spectre, Blade Runner 2049, Dune (2021)), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel-The Iron Giant, Fast & Furious franchise, Riddick trilogy), Mantis (Pom Klementieff-Oldboy, Ingrid Goes West, Uncut Gems), and Nebula (Karen Gillan-Doctor Who, Oculus, Jumanji 2 and 3). But when Thor feels a void of emptiness inside himself, he embarks on a spiritual journey to discover who he truly is. 

            While that’s happening, a new villain emerges known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale-American Psycho, The Dark Knight trilogy, Ford v. Ferrari) who possesses a mysterious sword and plots to wipe out all the gods. When Thor flies back into action upon hearing the news about Gorr, he runs into a very familiar face…his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman-Star Wars franchise, V for Vendetta, Black Swan) who now wields Mjolnir and possesses similar powers as him as the Mighty Thor. 

            Thor, Jane, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson-Creed 1 and 2, Westworld, Men in Black: International), Korg, and Miek race across the cosmos to uncover the mystery behind Gorr’s wrath and stop him before it’s too late. 

            The film also stars Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Noah) as Zeus, Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY, The Last Stand, Blindspot) reprising her role as Lady Sif, Kat Dennings (Charlie Bartlett, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, 2 Broke Girls) reprising her role as Darcy Lewis, and Stellen Skarsgård (Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Chernobyl) reprising his role as Dr. Erik Selvig. 

            Overall, Thor: Love and Thunder is the perfect example of a mindless popcorn movie and those looking for some comforting and campy Marvel fluff will likely enjoy a lot of this film. It doesn’t take itself very seriously (Even more so than Thor: Ragnarok!), has a lot of flashy visuals and eye candy, and jokes…lots…and lots… of jokes! 

            The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become infamous with putting a lot of jokes in their movies dating back to the first Avengers movie and just about every film post-Avengers was filled with a lot of gags, one-liners, and catchphrases (I guess like a comic book the more I think about it!) with very divisive results. But where films like the Avengers, Ant-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy movies as well as Thor: Ragnarok had clever writing and strong balances between comedy, action, and drama, this goes full-on comedy and while it isn’t nearly as cringy as something like Batman & Robin, there’s a handful of jokes that sadly don’t stick the landing. 

            I want to say a good half of the jokes got a laugh out of me, particularly the character-based ones because they fit their personalities like a scene where Thor is defining pain (I won’t give the joke away here, but it fits his character). Then you have things like the screaming goats that carry the magic carriage Thor, Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg take on their adventure where it was funny the first time but gets very old and annoying quick, another scene with Thor showing off his mighty backside, and a really bizarre love-triangle between Thor, Stormbreaker, and Mjolnir which made me laugh…but mostly because of how stupid the situation was, it was like the Thor equivalent of the wedding scene from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. 

            With that said, are were a lot of things I enjoyed about Thor: Love and Thunder, the action sequences are a lot of fun, the visuals, the imaginative worlds the heroes travel to (One in particular is a planet where everything is black and white and whenever Thor or Jane shoot lightning, it shows a little bit of color, I called it Sin City Planet as I was watching it!), and the chemistry between the lead actors. I’m one of the few people who didn’t mind Thor and Jane’s romance in the first two movies and Hemsworth and Portman’s charisma are able to make these cheesy rom-com style clichés much more salvageable. 

            Also, Christian Bale is having a ball as Gorr, a villain who manages to be both terrifying and scenery-chewing goofy at the same time. Granted, Cate Blanchett’s Hela from Ragnarok was the stronger villain, I do like how there is a bit of sympathy towards him, and you understand why he feels the need to do what he does. 

            Thor: Love and Thunder is one of the weaker Thor films and plays more like Thor: Ragnarok: The Jane Cutrather than a legit sequel, but fans of the character and MCU will probably find things to enjoy in it. However, if you’re sick to death of Marvel humor, this definitely won’t win you over, if anything it’ll annoy you faster than the magic goats themselves.