This is a spoiler review of Thor: Love and Thunder.
I’m a pretty big MCU fan. Since 2008 when Ironman came out, I have seen every MCU movie in the theater 2-4 times. I have enjoyed every movie and tv show that has been released. The only MCU show I haven’t seen yet is Ms. Marvel on Disney plus. My only reason is because I don’t feel like it’s a show for the millennial MCU fans but maybe I’m wrong and maybe I’ll watch it when the entire show is available.
There are a lot of elements that I liked and didn’t like. So, to start off here are 3 things that I liked and 4 things that I didnt like about the movie.
3 things I liked:
1. The first big fight against Gor when they arrive on this rock in space. I think what they did with the visual elements of this scene were really interesting. The desaturated colorless look was a unique aspect of the film. How they incorporated the use of color was cool. Anytime Thor, Lady Thor or Valkyrie, would use their power the lightning would restore the color that was being drained by Gorr. I think it was a really interesting way of showing the fight between good vs evil.
2. I liked New Asgard and how the Asgardians turned it into a tourist destination. I think they went a little over the top with the making it a Disney type place but for the purpose of the MCU and how crazy that world is I think it worked. I think that was kind of fun. I’m glad that they brought back Matt Damon, Sam Neil, and Luke Hemsworth for the Theater reenactment of Thor Ragnarok.
3. I liked the story elements with the Guardians in the beginning. I’m glad that they’re still a team in the MCU and I’m looking forward to seeing Guardians 3. Thor’s insecurity that there is a new Thor and I really do like Portmans take on Lady Thor. I think watching Jane and Thor was like watching two friends that have known each other for a long time and have an inside joke. They play their parts well and seem to be genuine and probably friends in real life.
4 things I didn’t like:
1. The characterization of Thor. Thor has always been the fish out of water type of character in the MCU. I think Hemsworth is great as Thor and would love it if he played the character for another couple of movies. But honestly, I think they dumbed him down which feels like a disservice to the character. The character feels like he is just a meathead that has to bash some heads in for the sake of bashing heads in. There isn’t a real reason for fighting. By dumbing Thor down, they wreck his story arc in the first couple of movies and create a character that needs a new life lesson to be learned because he forgot that he was worthy. Thor is old. Like really really old. Within the MCU Thor is 1500 years old. At this point in his life, he should be an expert on his corner of the universe. He should be a little bit more wise and slightly more mature than how he is portrayed in Love and Thunder.
2. Gorr seemed like a cool villain. Christian Bale was an interesting choice. He kind of swore off superhero movies for a bit but now he’s back as this villain who’s killing all the gods of the MCU. My issue with Gorr is kind of the same issue I had with Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Both movies kind of quickly glossed over the other gods and the other universes. Yes, in both movies we saw many of those things for a split second, but I would have liked to see Gorr hunting down a god he deems as evil, saying something interesting, and then murdering one. I would have liked to see more of Gorr the God Butcher from Christian Bale. I think because of Christian Bales ability to act and how much he gets paid I don’t think Marvel could have given him Robert Downy Jr money for one movie. I think a lot of the budget went to the VFX. Christian Bale is a solid actor and could have had more scenes.
3. The love story between Thor, Mjolnir and Stormbreaker was a bit over the top and could have been toned down to once or twice. Maybe even left out. They just kept bringing it up and making it a little weird with the love Thor feels for an inanimate object. At one-point Stormbreaker is upset that he is talking about or too Mjolnir and Stormbreaker hits a bump in the air like it’s a woman stomping her foot when she’s angry at her significant other. He then wastes good beer by pouring it on Stormbreaker to sooth its anger. The whole plot point didn’t need to be such a huge focus.
4. I didn’t like that the movie felt like a parody Thor’s side of the MCU told through Korgs perspective. It felt like they were trying to use Korg like Michael Peña’s character in the Ant Man movies. Korg is an interesting character but he’s also not a character I care about. Once Korg got smashed into pieces by Zeus they should have just benched him, but they kept his face because he can apparently regrow like Groot. Weird since he is a rock creature but okay.
Taika Waititi is an interesting director. He has created many unique movies and TV shows. I’m not the biggest Waititi fan. I have enjoyed his work in moderation. I think he has created some interesting content that can work and have worked but he comes off as a bit of a madman with many of his films. Maybe that’s a good thing but I don’t know if he should be directing more Thor movies or MCU films. I think he has played in the MCU sandbox long enough and I would like to see some new filmmakers come into the Marvel sandbox and explore the universe a bit more. Love and Thunder feels like Waititi had full creative control to do whatever he wanted and didn’t have Kevin Feige reign in his creative madness. Honestly, I would like to see a new director take the lead and create a Thor story that’s more in line with Ragnarok or something smaller scale like the first Thor movie. Ragnarok had lighthearted comedic moments but was also a little more serious and Thor felt like he had finally figured out who he was as a person. Love and Thunder feels like an SNL sketch with a Thor that was lost and didn’t know who he was anymore. The comedy was slapstick and continued to hammer the punchline in your face.
At the moment The MCU kind of feels a bit directionless like it’s not sure what it wants to be. Does it want to be big and ambitious like the first three phases or does it want to make movies that don’t have much of an impact on the greater universe? I’m sure Feige and his team are trying to figure out what their next big goal is and further develop some ideas to help futher the MCU but Thor 4 feels like a movie that is not sure what it wants to be. I don’t know if that’s because there are too many cooks in the kitchen or if they gave Taika Waititi too much control over this movie, but I hope that the MCU is moving towards something like the first three phases. I’m looking forward to what they actually do with the Fantastic Four and X-Men.
Overall, I enjoyed Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s a fun summer blockbuster with some very cool visual elements and characters that I have enjoyed. I don’t think it’s a bad MCU movie, but I also don’t think it’s the greatest MCU movie ever. There are some good character moments, it’s nice to look at visually with some spectacular VFX elements and has some good humor but it’s pretty middle of the road as far as MCU movies go. The story feels like it was missing some parts and could have been fleshed out a little more. A longer runtime might have helped. It feels like they had some left-over ideas after Ragnarok that they wanted to throw in a movie and see what stuck to their wall of spaghetti ideas. I would put this movie behind Ragnarok as far as story enjoyment goes. Maybe Marvel will let Taika Waititi produce at a distance rather than write and direct the next Thor movie.