Thor: Love and Thunder Review

The Thor series has been a peculiar one for Marvel. This series started seriously and was probably one of the weaker series that Marvel produced among the main Avengers for the first couple of movies. That whole direction changed with Thor: Ragnarok, as we saw a much different, more light-hearted, and fun feel for Thor. That continues in Thor: Love and Thunder, as Taika Waititi comes back to direct his second film in the series.

Story

Gorr

The beginning of the movie, which tells the origin story of the main villain, Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), is a fantastic start to the film and immediately invests the viewer. This is a father who lost his daughter and a man who receives no sympathy from a callous god. This drives him to start a campaign to kill all the gods systematically. It’s a hell of a premise for a movie, and one that almost makes you feel for the Gorr character a little bit. Despite his brutality as the film progresses, he’s a villain with finite shades of gray. It also helps that Bale delivers a fantastic performance (as always) in the role. I enjoyed how creepy his character was, as well as the aesthetic choices that made him look ominous when he appeared.

I didn’t like that Gorr didn’t feel as menacing after the opening scenes. This villain is supposed to be a significant threat, slaughtering all the gods across the universe. He does that, but it never feels like there’s a lot of urgency from our heroes to go and take this guy down. The big issue that arises is that Gorr kidnaps the children of Asgard. This made him feel less of a threat to the heroes than he probably should have. I expected Gorr to be much more ruthless and calculated, but that’s not what happened with this character.

Tying Up Loose Ends

The film also ties up a loose end from Avengers: Endgame, in which Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has decided to join the Guardians of the Galaxy for some space adventures. He did indeed join them, and they show up at the beginning of the movie, where there’s a battle scene before Thor and Korg decide to go their own ways. There almost wasn’t even a point in having Chris Pratt and Karen Gillian in the movie if they were going to leave 5 minutes after they were introduced. I appreciated the continuity, but it’s almost as if this movie couldn’t wait to get rid of the MCU elements and focus on its own story.

Mighty Thor & King Valkyrie

Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is also introduced quite quickly in this film. She wields Mjolnir, presumably because she is deemed worthy of wielding the weapon due to her illness. She gains powers similar to those of Thor and is later dubbed Mighty Thor in the film. I didn’t like that Thor: Love and Thunder glossed over the real health challenges that Jane was facing for the most part. It is an emotional story, and I don’t feel that the audience can fully appreciate it because we’re constantly being whisked away to the next adventure. A quiet conversation between Jane and King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is one of the few instances in the movie that slows down to let you understand the gravity of Jane’s situation. King Valkyrie is an excellent addition to the hero team as she’s gotten bored leading New Asgard, which has become a tourist trap more than anything. I didn’t feel that the movie explored her character enough, but I always enjoyed her when she was on-screen.

Chemistry and Tension

I enjoyed the chemistry between Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth. You can tell there’s a lot of romantic tension between the characters of Thor and Jane Foster, and they do a great job of treading that line throughout the film with a lot of humor. They’re very awkward with each other. That even extends to the weapons, and Thor is upset that Mjolnir has chosen Jane, while Stormbreaker is always around to make Thor feel bad for wanting his old weapon back. It’s stupid and hilarious at the same time.

Effects & Atmosphere

I liked the effects of this movie a lot. It’s bright and colorful for the most part, except for when Gorr comes around, when you get spooky vibes. It’s a fun atmosphere, especially with the screaming goats. This is a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and I have liked that direction with Thor since Ragnarok, it’s just hard to get too attached to these characters when everything is treated as a joke and the creators are too afraid to dive too far into the emotion of the events of the film. I think it could use a bit more balance.

Final Thoughts

Thor: Love and Thunder doesn’t live up to the quality I’ve expected from most Marvel movies. It cruises through the story without giving many scenes time to breathe, while also being relatively dull during most of the movie’s middle section. It’s a middle-of-the-road film with fun moments, but it’s probably not on my rewatch list.