Thor: Love and Thunder

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe, Jaime Alexander, Taika Waititi (voice), Idris Elba, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pm Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel (voice), Bradley Cooper (voice), Kat Dennings, Brett Goldstein (cameo), Stellan Skarsgard, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, Matt Damon, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
2022

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) faces his greatest challenge yet when pitted against Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale).

Review:

Tim: I've long been a vocal supporter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's done something unheard of in the 100+ years of cinema and I've absolutely loved the journey Marvel has taken us on. That being said, there are definitely cracks showing in Phase 4. After one of the all-time great MCU movies in Spider Man: No Way Home, we got the very good but still disappointing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Now, Taika Waititi returns to the franchise that he reinvigorated with Thor: Ragnarok. Unfortunately, all of Waititi's sensibilities that worked so well in the previous film are unrestrained here. It's ironic that Waititi follows up the best film in the franchise with the worst.

Thor: Love and Thunder really troubled me. For a while, I struggled with whether this was the first only "good" movie in the MCU, which would be a franchise low. I ultimately decided against that, but it got awfully close. This movie feels so disjointed. Waititi tried to ramp up the comedy, but so many of the jokes fall flat and become annoying that it tarnishes the entire thing. Plus, Waititi looks for humor in every frame, while you have Christian Bale giving a superb performance as Gorr the God Butcher, a dark, tragic, brutal character. The clashing of styles hurts the film. In short, while this movie has some clear strengths, it's one of the absolute weakest entries in the MCU. I sincerely hope Waititi moves on to something else.

Let's start with Gorr. I loved this character. The idea of a superpowered entity butchering gods is supremely interesting. And yet, Gorr never accomplishes all that much. We get a scene of "reports" of minor gods none of us know getting killed. Gorr doesn't make much of an impact on the larger universe. That seems quite problematic, but the film is saved by Bale's stunning performance. I don't like Bale as a person, but he's one of the most gifted actors working today. To see him bring this character to life was stunning. In the beginning of the film, he makes him a sympathetic character. We feel for him and his plight. When he obtains the necrosword, however, his transformation is chilling. Bale gives one of the best villain performances of the MCU, especially when he's multidimensional and complex. He is a big reason why I liked this film as much as I did.

I loved the idea of exploring the world of the gods, but Waititi plays it too much for laughs. I was beyond excited when I heard Russell Crowe was going to play Zeus. Unfortunately, he's portrayed as an absolute buffoon with a horrible Greek accent. Why? His character was completely mishandled. He ends up as a forgettable joke, instead of a formidable figure in the MCU.

Chris Hemsworth is good as Thor, but his character was too comedic. Hemsworth's comedic timing is excellent and I always like when he plays to his strengths. However, the material he gets here is beneath him. The whole idea of these sentient weapons that feel jealousy was incredibly stupid. It was never funny and yet, Waititi forces it as a running gag throughout the film. I cringed every time these jokes fell flat. Natalie Portman was definitely a big plus. I loved that the franchise brought her back and I loved the concept of her becoming The Mighty Thor. Portman is having fun with the role (and got jacked for it). It definitely created some interesting character dynamics between her and Hemsworth. I thought Jane Foster's storyline worked and was occasionally beautiful. I give Waititi credit for delivering an emotional story for Foster. I always like seeing Tessa Thompson, but she was relegated too much to the sidelines. Waititi loves including himself as Korg, but I would have loved fewer scenes of him and more of Thompson.

The film is filled with small roles by good actors. Some of them work- seeing Jaime Alexander, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings reprise their roles was an incredible way to reconnect to previous films and make this franchise feel more coherent. I wish each of them had more screen time, but the fact that they were here at all was great. It was fun seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy in the beginning, but the movie wisely transitions Thor away from the team. It was handled a bit clumsily, but the broader story needed Thor to move on from them. It was funny to see Matt Damon, Sam Neill, Luke Hemsworth, and new addition Melissa McCarthy show up. However, this was just a recycled joke from the last film. Part of me wishes Waititi would have ventured into new jokes, but when the new jokes involve annoying and idiotic screaming goats, maybe it's better that he tells some of the same jokes from the previous film.

I do want to highlight one of the greatest sequences of the film, because I know I've been especially critical of this film so far. The scenes in the Shadow Realm was superb. I absolutely loved how Waititi crafted these scenes- the black and white with splashes of color was outstanding. These sequences were so remarkable that I was able to overlook some of the film's flaws. It was a definite highlight of this film. I also loved seeing Eternity depicted here (exactly like in the comics!), but that depiction fell flat and opened up too many broader MCU questions that don't make a lot of sense.

Thor: Love and Thunder definitely has some strengths. Christian Bale gives a remarkable villainous performance. Jane Foster gets a fitting return to the franchise and Natalie Portman gets something substantial to do after playing the love interest for two films. The Shadow Realm scenes are unforgettable. There's some jokes along the way that do work and do make me laugh ("You flicked too hard, dammit" is hilarious). However, it's an uneven film, and one that doesn't move the broader MCU forward. Maybe the Multiverse Saga will eventually make sense, but at this point, it does not.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Thor, Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame