THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (2022)
Updated: Dec 10, 2022
Taika Waititi’s Sequel to His Superhero Hit is Less Than Godly.
Grade: D+
Thor: Love and Thunder was undoubtedly one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the year. As the follow-up to 2017’s much-lauded Thor: Ragnarok, it brings back that movie’s director, the hilarious Taika Waititi. It also features the return of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who now wields Thor’s previously dismembered hammer Mjolnir and consequently possesses his powers. But early signs on YouTube did not bode well for the film. The thumbnail for one review said it was a “huge disappointment,” and another suggested it was time for the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe to end. Having finally gotten around to seeing the movie, this reviewer can safely say that those videos might have been onto something. While not the worst movie in the MCU, it is a bit of a step down from its predecessor. While that film was a side-splitting thrill ride through and through, Love and Thunder is pretty much just another superhero movie.
Love and Thunder picks up sometime after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). A genuinely funny opening sequence finds the god of thunder (Chris Hemsworth) fighting alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy to save a sacred alien temple, only to end with said temple falling to pieces. Soon Thor learns that gods across the universe are being murdered by a mysterious being who now has his sights on Earth. After taking his leave of the Guardians, Thor returns with his friend Korg (Waititi) to New Asgard on Earth and is shocked to see his ex-girlfriend Jane having become a Thor herself, thanks to Mjolnir. When New Asgard’s children are kidnapped, Thor, Jane, Korg, and King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) set out to confront Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) and stop him before he can reach the center of the universe and use the power of the mighty entity Eternity to destroy all gods.
The humor in Love and Thunder is largely underwhelming. It is not a good sign when the funniest thing in your superhero flick is a pair of giant, screeching goats. While the first two Thor movies took their absurd premises seriously, the Waititi movies seem to be aware that the world of Thor is a silly one. Ragnarok took advantage of this by embracing its weirdness. It had delightful performances all around and hilarious jokes that quickly became memes. The jokes in Love and Thunder are often awkward, mostly consisting of people looking deadpan while rambling on about whatever subject they are discussing. There is very little passion in what is going on; it seems as though the actors are simply trying to get to the end of the movie instead of enjoying the ride. The gods are portrayed as such lazy, selfish beings, that it is hard for us to feel sorry that they are being hunted down; if Thor himself weren’t a god, it would be impossible.
Even the locations are not all that impressive. While Ragnarok partially took place on the trash-covered planet Sakaar which also had colorful and flashy lights and buildings, Love and Thunder has maybe two or three interesting places that the characters are only in for a few minutes at a time. One such location sports some impressive floating architecture, but the movie doesn't linger on it long enough for us to feel truly enchanted.
Christian Bale gives it his best as Gorr, but his story arc is basically the same as many MCU villains: he was wronged, and he wants revenge. No sooner does he turn evil than he starts acting like a cliched villain, scaring kids, ensnaring heroes in vines, and unleashing scary monsters. This goes in sharp contrast to Hela, the villain from Ragnarok, who had an interesting backstory and an outstanding performance by Cate Blanchett. Another wasted character is Jaime Alexander’s Lady Sif, who was one of Thor’s closest friends in the first two movies. She was absent from the third movie but appears here…for about a minute and a half of screen time. Early on, she is lying on the ground without her arm, and at the end she is shown training Asgard’s children to fight, with no explanation as to what happened in between.
Something else this reviewer saw online (but don’t quote me on this) is that the first cut of Love and Thunder was originally four hours long. If true, this would go a long way to explaining some of its more serious flaws. At just two hours, the movie feels like it is rushing past crucial story and character development. For instance, after an army of shadow monsters starts attacking New Asgard, Thor returns and sees the citizens bravely fighting back, even though the beginning of this fight was never shown.
The Thor movies never did much to make us care for Thor and Jane’s love story, since Hemsworth and Portman did not have a lot of on-screen chemistry, and Love and Thunder is no exception. This could have been an opportunity to really dive into their relationship and show them maturely trying to work out their problems. The fact that Jane is dying of cancer could have made this more compelling. Instead, the movie shows them awkwardly standing on a boat while trying to find the right words to say to each other, romcom-style. Things are made even weirder when Valkyrie and Korg play romantic music while Thor’s axe Stormbreaker appears to be jealous of Mjolnir (which is rather weird, even for these movies). The ending of the movie, while admittedly sad, is centered on a character that was never really a favorite for the fanbase. While the story does take this character in new and compelling directions, it ultimately seems more interested in wrapping up their arc.
Had director Waititi had not tried to include so much story, he would not have had to cut material to bring the movie to a manageable length. Gorr could have been a better villain, the locations could have been more magnificent, the characters could have been better developed, and there might have been more funny jokes. While Ragnarok was an outrageous and memorable adventure, Love and Thunder does not feel very special or memorable. Instead it gives the impression that the franchise has run out of steam and those involved don’t really care anymore. The end caption claims that Thor will return, but it may indeed be time for the God of thunder to hang up his hammer. Or axe. Whichever isn’t bitter at him for liking the other.
Director: Taika Waititi
Screenplay: Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Based on the character "Thor" created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby)
Producers: Kevin Feige, Brad Winderbaum
Cast: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster/Mighty Thor), Christian Bale (Gorr), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Taika Waititi (Korg), Russell Crowe (Zeus), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Vin Diesel (Groot), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Sean Gunn (Kraglin Obfonteri)
Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity)
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