Taika Waititi, the filmmaker of Thor: Ragnarök and the entertaining Jojo Rabbit and What We Do In The Shadows, returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Love And Thunder. In addition, the next Star Wars movie will be directed by Waititi.
Despite Waititi’s fame, Love and Thunder has received poor reviews from the critics. I’m still trying to figure out why. In addition to myself, my soon-to-be 12-year-old had a wonderful time at the movie. There were many chuckles and applause towards the conclusion, so the show must have been a hit with the crowd as well. In both post-credits sequences, there were audible gasps and additional clapping.
Despite the fact that the film isn’t groundbreaking, it’s nonetheless worth seeing. In comparison to Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse Of Madness, this is a less grandiose and darker film. Like Black Panther or Avengers: End Game, this isn’t a significant superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only that, but it lacks the original film’s charm and levity.
When Thor (Chris Hemsworth) meets up with his old sweetheart Jane Foster (Emma Stone) in Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s a silly cosmic adventure and romantic comedy (Natalie Portman). Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, the film’s main villain, is a formidable foe, yet even here the film keeps things light and breezy.
When It Comes To God In Butcher’s terrible past, he has all the reason he needs to start on a mission to rid the cosmos of all its gods, aiming to find Eternity, a mighty entity at the heart of the universe that grants wishes to the first mortal to get there. In addition, Gorr is given god-slaying skills by the Necrosword, which allows him to conjure shadow creatures and take on eternal superbeings head on.
Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, is appealing to Jane, who is battling stage 4 cancer and losing. In New Asgard (also known as Tnsberg), which has attracted tourists from throughout the globe, she sets out. In addition to the flying longship, the local theater club puts up a series of horrible plays about Thor and Loki. (with actors Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Sam Neill playing Loki, Thor and Odin once again, with Melissa McCarthy as the wicked Hela).
A flashback shows that Thor made Mjolnir pledge to protect Jane years ago, and the hammer seems to be doing just that. Hela destroyed it and it reassembles, allowing Jane to wield it as the Mighty Thor. When Thor catches up with her, Jane still has a hard time getting acclimated to the position.
The Guardians of the Galaxy have had a number of mishaps, including one involving the God of Thunder. In terms of raw force, he dwarfs all of them put together, and you get the sense that he’s overstayed his welcome. The moment he learns that one of the Valkyrie is in danger, he leaves the rest of his crew behind and races to the rescue. As a result, Starlord (Chris Pratt) seems more relaxed than anything else in this scene. My expectations for this crossover squad were higher, but it was all right in the end.
The thankful aliens present Thor with a pair of enormous, shrieking goats as a parting gift before he departs (despite doing more damage than good in many ways). They become a recurring joke in this film.
Jane and Thor’s former relationship is revived when Thor hears that Gorr the God Butcher would be arriving in New Asgard, so he sets out on his bifrost journey to aid.
To prevent spoilers, I won’t go into the remainder of the movie, but you get the gist. Team up with other gods like Zeus (who turns out to be a big jerk) and travel to the evil guy’s side to battle. It’s lighthearted and enjoyable, and that’s precisely what I was hoping for. It’s a sad ending, but it’s also heartening because of the way it’s handled. While Thor loses his life, he also discovers love, which is all everyone truly wants.
It touched all the right chords for me as a parent and as someone who has lately experienced his own share of grief and loss. The movie never tried too hard or pounded you over the head with a message. It’s possible that Waititi might have delved further into the film’s ideas and issues, but instead he keeps everything on the surface, allowing Thor to be simply a charming, friendly goofy. Guns & Roses are also a big part of the soundtrack, so you’ll either love or despise the band. For the sake of his father, Axl has even changed his name to Heimdall (Idris Elba).
I wish we had spent more time with Gorr, the villain, since Bale is having so much fun playing the part. My gut tells me that he’s Voldemort’s cousin:
Seeing more of Gorr slaughtering gods would have made for a longer film, but Waititi manages to reduce the running time to a respectable 1 hour and 59 minutes. Superhero movies have a bad reputation for being overlong, but this is one of the rare exceptions (or an hour too long in the case of The Batman).
Thor: Love And Thunder is not a serious film by any stretch of the imagination. An entertaining two-hour distraction with an endearing leading man and lots of chuckles is Thor versus Gorr and the Legend of Korg. There’s nothing else to say.
Besides, there’s always the eye candy. Chris Hemsworth flashes some serious abs in a sequence when he is almost nude. Thor’s dad-bod is long gone! The Thor that we could identify with!)
