“Thor: Love and Thunder” Review
Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) reunite to do battle in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth film centered on the God of Thunder.
As I stated in my review for “Thor,” the God of Thunder’s adventures did become the amazing science fiction spectacle I was expecting. This was especially evident in “Thor: Ragnarok,” which turned Thor’s solo films into something to be excited about. When it was announced that the same writer/director, Taika Waititi, was helming “Thor: Love and Thunder, I grew excited to see where Thor went next. After viewing the film, I can definitely say that while it doesn’t surpass “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love and Thunder” still managed to be a fun ride.
After “Avengers: Endgame,” Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is roaming the galaxy and bringing justice alongside The Guardians of the Galaxy. However, when a vengeful being known as Gorr The God-Butcher (Christian Bale) is slaughtering gods, Thor and his friends must prevent him from wiping out the Asgardian gods as well as every other god in the universe. Matters are further complicated when Thor’s ex-girlfriend Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) enters the picture as a superhero when the shattered hammer Mijölnir reassembles, granting her the powers of Thor.
Like “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love and Thunder” does a great job of balancing the dramatic with the humorous. Chris Hemsworth perfectly embodies this as Thor is perfectly capable of sharing a dramatic conversation with Jane with some jokes mixed in and it all works. He always looks like he’s having a blast playing this character and this film is no different.
Jane Foster makes her return in this film, having been absent from “Thor: Ragnarok,” and her return as a superhero is a lot of fun, especially when she’s fighting alongside Thor and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). However, she brings the drama to this film to offset its goofy tone. This comes from her battle with terminal cancer which makes her role in the film more important. Seeing her fighting to save the universe despite her disease slowly killing her is very inspiring and does make for a deeper connection with her as well as Thor.
Also adding drama to the film is Bale’s menacing performance as Gorr The God-Butcher. Unlike “Thor: Ragnarok’s” Hela (Cate Blanchett), who could be both menacing and funny, Gorr is completely serious in his quest for vengeance which makes him an even more formidable threat. He certainly has a tragic backstory which, to him, justifies killing gods, but his performance is nothing short of creepy thanks to his acting chops and excellent make-up.
While all of the MCU films going back to “Iron Man” have tried to replicate the visuals of the comics, recent MCU films have taken it even further with larger than life visuals (something that arguably “Thor” started). “Thor: Love and Thunder” has some of the best visuals in the history of this franchise with amazing looking planets and battles. This doesn’t just look like a Thor comic, it looks like an incredibly big 1980s Thor comic.
Christian Bale’s menacing performance as Gorr The God-Butcher makes for one of the coolest Marvel villains of recent films.
Speaking of the 1980s, if you love Guns N’ Roses, this film is going to impress you with the soundtrack being full of tracks by the heavy metal band. Having Thor take down an army of bad guys to the sound of “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle” is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the big screen this year.
However, despite many epic qualities, the film doesn’t manage to surpass or even equal “Thor: Ragnarok” and I think that comes down to one thing: time. Coming in at just 1 hour and 59 minutes, it’s very rare that I see a film that needed to be longer but that’s my biggest criticism of the film. Watching “Thor: Love and Thunder,” it feels like a substantial amount of the story was cut from the film which completely throws the pacing off.
When films are slowly paced, I always say that it doesn’t matter as long as you like the characters and want to see where the story goes. If that isn’t the case, then a slow film can feel like torture. But what do you say about a film that should have had 20 to 30 minutes added to it? I don’t know why Taikia Waititi or Marvel would allow “Thor: Love and Thunder” to have a runtime of less than 2 hours when, normally, Marvel isn’t afraid to have films like “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” over two hours long.
Because of this, some characters feel underutilized like King Valkyrie who does a good job of fighting alongside Thor but doesn’t have much time devoted to her as a ruler. With New Asgard now located on Earth, since their homeworld was destroyed in “Thor: Ragnarok,” you would think that Earth’s relationship to this new nation would be interesting but it’s barely discussed. Returning characters like Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) quickly enter and disappear. As for the Guardians of Galaxy, who Thor decided he wanted to hang out with at the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” they’re barely in the film for five minutes. While you don’t want this likable team to upstage Thor, especially since they’ve got a film coming out soon, you would think that they could do some cool stuff with Thor for about 15 minutes or so.
Aside from these major issues, the film still managed to entertain and make for a fun addition to Thor’s story. The action sequences are stunning, especially the climax, and are incredibly epic and silly at the same time. Taika Waititi’s signature humor is on full display and some of the film’s comedic choices were marvelous like having Thor’s sentient rock friend Korg (Taika Waititi) explain everyone’s backstories.
The film also continues to evolve the MCU’s cosmic realms by having New Asgard be a hub for cosmic activity on Earth as well as showing the different gods that exist and can be a part of future Marvel films. Russell Crowe’s performance as Zeus is incredibly pompous and does a great job of setting up the Greek gods who do play a part in the Marvel comics.
After leaving the theater, I knew that “Thor: Love and Thunder” was definitely better than some of Thor’s previous outings, namely “Thor: The Dark World,” but I think that the film feels watered down by an inadequate runtime. With that said, if you’re looking for a fun time at the movies with your favorite space-viking, “Thor: Love and Thunder” delivers. It will definitely entertain but I don’t think it has that lasting charm that was found in its predecessor.
