Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Thor is one of the important members of the Avengers and he has done something Iron Man and Captain America couldn’t do and earn a fourth solo film. This film sees the return of a significant character and potentially Thor’s greatest threat.

Since the events of Avengers: Endgame Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has gotten back in shape and travels around the galaxy with the Guardians of the Galaxy. When Thor discovers a villain has been killing gods, he is forced to go back to New Asgard and he is shocked to discover his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) processes Mjolnir and has the powers of Thor. When Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) kidnaps all the children from New Asgard, Thor, Mighty Thor, and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) are forced to go on a rescue mission.

The Thor franchise has been a strange beast. The first film had Kenneth Branagh and he made that film like a Shakespearian epic. Dark World has often been considered one of the worst films in the MCU, it was certainly one of the blandest. Ragnarok changed things by hiring Taika Waititi to direct and he turned the Thor franchise into a comedic space opera. Considering the critical and financial success of Ragnarok it seemed wise to bring Waititi back.

Thor: Love and Thunder seem like it had everything going for it. Since Ragnarok, Waititi made Jojo Rabbit which earned lots of award nominations and even won the New Zealander an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Natalie Portman was brought back with the promise of a meatier role, and Christian Bale was cast as the main villain. Marvel even got to flex their muscles by bringing in Russell Crowe, who had previously played Jor-El in the DCEU, as Zeus. But promising signs don’t mean the results will be good.

Thor: Love and Thunder can be described as having some interesting ideas and moments, but doesn’t work as a whole. The film had a stark opening because it showed Gorr’s origins where he was praying to his god to save his daughter and finding out his god was an arrogant, self-centred being who didn’t care about his worshippers. This opening was close to biblical since it was set in a barren desert and showed Gorr and his daughter struggling before Gorr met the gods. It made Gorr a more sympathetic villain. Plus Bale showed that even in a Marvel movie he could give a terrific performance.

Jane’s reason for becoming Mighty Thor had dramatic potential. She had stage four cancer and felt a calling from Mjolnir. She was a character suffering from contrasts. She was a woman of science who became interested in mythology, and she had the powers of a god but her body was failing. Portman had much more to do in this film than being the girlfriend/love interest. Portman committed to the role since she built muscle to play a Norse god. She had arms that many men would envy.

The film also had some terrific sequences. The main trio goes to Omnipotent City which was shown to be bright and lavish. The gods were hiding their golden city as a mad man was hunting down their brethren. When gods were killed, they spilled gold blood and turned in to gold dust. It was done to keep a PG-13 rating but it was still a striking image.

The most striking sequence in the film was when the heroes go to a realm where all the colour was drained away. It was visually unique since this part of the film was in black-and-white unless the characters used their powers. It made Thor: Love and Thunder look like Sin City.

However, Thor: Love and Thunder was a case of wasting its potential. The stories of Gorr going on a mission of vengeance against the gods, and Jane Foster dying of cancer whilst getting superpowers could have worked as separate films. Thor: Love and Thunder was a film trying to do too much because it was trying to adapt two major comic book arcs at once. There were ideas that could have been explored. It was hinted that if a god was killed then it would lead to chaos, but the film never went into detail.

The biggest issue was tonal. Thor: Love and Thunder started with a child dying and throughout the film shows Jane struggling with cancer. Yet the film also felt the need to be a light-hearted comedy. Thor acts like a massive goofball throughout the film and there were jokes that didn’t land. An example of this was the giant screaming goats that felt like they were based on a meme from ten years ago. Throughout the film there were attempts to show Thor having a troubled relationship with Stormbreaker like the film’s lame attempt to repeat the relationship between Doctor Strange and the Cloak of Levitation.

This tonal issue was particularly disappointing because Waititi has made successful films with tonal shifts. Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Jojo Rabbit were both films that were predominately light-hearted but had heart-felt, dramatic moments. This balance didn’t play out in the fourth Thor opening.

Thor: Love and Thunder was a film of moments. There were some great sequences and character work and potential for greatness. But the film couldn’t overcome the issues with its unfocused story and tonal changes.