Thor: Love and Thunder Tries a Bit Too Hard to be Funny Too Often But Gets Almost Everything Else Right

If you loved Thor: Ragnarok then you’ll love this.

For a film that looked like it was biting off more than it could chew the MCU’s latest entry Thor: Love and Thunder lights up the theater.

Warning. Thor: Love and Thunder Spoilers ahead!

Thor: Love and Thunder

This film did exactly what it set out to do. It dropped us directly into another classic Thor(Chris Hemsworth) adventure. After the events of Avengers: Endgame Thor set off with The Guardians of the Galaxy. Lost and looking to find himself as he travels the galaxy with them.

Plot

Oblivious to the fact he was wearing out his welcome with the Guardians Thor takes his leave after a distress message from Sif(Jaimie Alexander). Fast forward to Thor meeting Jane Foster(Natalie Portman) and discovering she has access to his power. He’s baffled but delighted to see her.

We later learn that while Thor and Jane dated he whispered to Mjolnir, what it took as a command, to always protect Jane Foster.

Jane, who we learn has stage four cancer, is called to the broken pieces of Mjolnir which reconstructs itself to allow her access to Thor’s power. While harnessing the power of Thor she is immune to the cancer tearing away at her body.

Gorr(Christian Bale) abducts children from New Asgard to lure Thor into a trap in an attempt to steal Stormbreaker. Needing the weapon’s Bifrost ability to open a door leading to a god that will grant him a wish. It is presumed that he will wish to kill all gods as he vowed to do after losing his daughter and his god not caring at all.

Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie go to a meeting of many gods and Thor eventually kills Zeus(Russell Crowe)after he declines to help stop Gorr. They take Zeus’s Thunderbolt weapon as they leave to take on Gorr themselves.

As they fail in their first attempt and lose Stormbreaker Thor figures out Mjolnir is draining Jane and making her cancer worse every time she harnesses its power. He asks her to stay behind, live and fight the cancer. Leaving her with a choice to make. Valkyrie is also hurt during their first battle with Gorr so Thor goes it alone.

Enlisting the abducted children’s help Thor imbues them temporarily with his power in order to fight Gorr’s minions. Basically shadow demons he conjures up.

Jane decides to come help Thor and they eventually destroy the Necrosword which was the source of Gorr’s power. The sword was also poisoning him. He does manage to open the door leading to the god Eternity where Thor and a dying Jane convince Gorr to choose love and wish for his daughter back instead of hate and wishing for the end of all gods.

Jane is greeted by Heimdall(Idris Elba) in Valhalla.

Zeus survived and sends Hercules(Brett Goldstein) to kill Thor.

Last but not least Gorr’s daughter is brought back to life by the god Eternity and becomes Thor’s adopted daughter.

Highlights

Thor’s powerset is the MCU’s most visually appealing on-screen power to date. This may go beyond the MCU. Maybe in film history. So here we have Thor and Jane Foster using it which gives us even more of it throughout the movie.

The running gag of Stormbreaker being jealous of Mjolnir and Thor having to work at his relationship with his weapons is hilarious.

Gorr is a sight to see on screen. The way he moves through the shadows and uses his powers will have you wondering if this movie just switched from comedy to horror.

Lowlights

This film is funny. The comedy is there. It does however feel like it tries to be funny just a little too often sometimes. As if it can’t go two minutes without reminding the audience they’re watching a comedy. The movie walks right up to the line but never fully crosses over into silly or goofy territory.

It gets really close though.

Zeus and the court of gods scene is the biggest lull in the film.

The movie could have also used a bit more time spent with Gorr. Watching him hunt down other gods and kill them epically. Instead, most of the gods he kills are off-screen and Thor ends up at the top of his list fairly quickly.

Thor

Chris Hemsworth shines as Thor. While a bit more serious version of the character is preferable we do get serious Thor when needed and it works well overall.

The close of the Infinity saga was particularly hard on Thor. Spending time with the Guardians did leave him ready to search for something different after a rousing speech from Peter Quill(Chris Pratt).

Thor’s fight scenes with Gorr are well done. Leaving the audience wanting more each time. In the end, taking Gorr’s daughter as his ward. This sets up an interesting path forward but also saddles him with a child. It’s not too late to pawn her off on Valkyrie like he did the responsibility of governing New Asgard.

As for his relationship with Jane Foster. She is his one great love. Shortly after their love is rekindled it’s snuffed out by the cancer that takes Jane from this world. Thor goes from a yearning to connect with someone again to reigniting his long-lost love to losing that love in a sub-two-hour runtime.

As the only character to have a fourth solo outing in the MCU it looks very much like a Thor 5 will happen at some point.

Jane Foster

The Mighty Thor. Doctor Jane Foster. Take your pick.

It’s much preferable characters don’t take other characters’ names. So Jane is better seeing as how his name is actually Thor and she’s using it more so as a title.

While she does come off as a sidekick trying to figure out her new powers it’s done mostly in an endearing way. She looks up to Thor. Asks his opinion about different things. She comes up with terrible catchphrase options but we don’t get to hear her final choice as she whispers it to Thor in her final moment.

We need to know!

Jane wielding Mjolnir looks fantastic. Again, this powerset shines on the big screen. It would be difficult to make her look bad when she’s throwing around Mjolnir and summoning lightning.

Jane’s cancer storyline does feel a bit rushed. Had it been introduced in this film and once she’s initially sidelined and Thor figures out Mjolnir is making it worse had she stayed in the hospital we could have had a Jane Foster The Mighty Thor solo film where she decides to use the limited chances she has left doing the most good eventually sacrificing herself. Using Mjolnir until it kills her.

It’s understandable not to go that way with the story, however. If we followed Jane Foster on that Journey there’s no way after rekindling her relationship with Thor that he wouldn’t be there. So why wouldn’t he just go take care of any threats or situations that would arise instead?

It would create a tough scenario to work out if you don’t do what the comics did and depower Thor himself. This is a much-hated premise.

While feeling rushed it makes sense, in the end, to do it this way and end her The Mighty Thor storyline here. Whether she comes back from the dead or has some adventure with Heimdall later is yet to be seen.

Gorr

The only thing Gorr needed was more screen time.

Christian Bale is Gorr. Bringing in an actor of his caliber had the effect Director Taika Waititi was looking for.

His face acting. His mannerisms. Perfect.

It’s almost spooky how he moves through the shadows. Tendrils sprouting up from the ground. Disappearing and reappearing so effortlessly. Gorr is another Marvel villain that should have stuck around for more than one film.

The god Gorr initially serves and thusly the first he kills was a bit too campy. Doubt crept in early about how this story would unfold but it turned around immediately and Gorr never went close to silliness or becoming a cartoon villain. His motivation, powers, and actions were executed well throughout the film.

Even deciding to wish to bring his daughter back to life instead of killing all gods fit narratively and character-wise. She was the motivation for his hatred. His reason for revenge. He chose to let his quest for revenge go and even if only briefly, see his daughter again.

Valkyrie

While it may have looked on the surface like Valkrie being made King of New Asgard was a wonderful achievement and special accomplishment for her, it wasn’t.

Celebrated by her fans none of them stopped to think about Valkyrie the character. She’s a lot like Thor. She enjoys the freedom to come and go as she pleases. She likes fighting and drinking and…

…it’s a family movie but you understand.

The point is Thor not only left New Asgard in Valkyrie’s hands because he trusts her but because he needed to go find himself. He needed to be free of the responsibility of ruling. A responsibility Valkyrie soon found herself saddled with. She did do well. Turning New Asgard into a tourist destination.

But that’s not her.

Governing New Asgard is a chore. One she didn’t exactly ask for. Just because you’re competent in a job or role doesn’t mean it’s the path you should take in life.

She isn’t happy, but the people who just wanted her to be King probably don’t care. As a character, she’d probably be much happier gallivanting around the galaxy with Thor.

Zeus

Zeus himself isn’t royal, or regal. He doesn’t carry himself with any real class. It’s more theatrics.

Maybe the letdown is in the expectations.

Wanting a powerful, respectable Zeus but instead getting one who sits upon his throne not because he deserves to but only because he exists.

Russell Crowe’s interpretation of Zeus missed the mark. He’s just a joke of a character played for laughs from start to finish. Prancing around in his skirt. Twirling his Thunderbolt weapon around like a baton. It’s all a reach.

He doesn’t even take Thor seriously. Instead deciding it doesn’t matter as long as Gorr can’t reach him and his like.

At some point down the line, the Zeus character will take a serious turn in order to be the main villain for Thor. How can he be taken seriously after this?

This whole scene feels like the biggest reach in terms of comedy. A step Marvel didn’t have to take. It was unnecessary.

We could have had ten minutes of runtime with a serious Zeus and it not negatively affected the pace or story.

Easily the worst character in the movie and the worst scene.

So what about Thor 5? Thor: Love and Thunder sets up the next classic Thor adventure well with an adopted daughter and Hercules on the horizon. This could be an epic on-screen battle. If done right people could talk about fight scenes from Thor 5 the way people reference the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Captain America/Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, or other fight scenes people love years after a movie is released.

Thor: Love and Thunder is a good movie. It’s not great, but it is good. If you really enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok then this movie is certainly for you. This is Taika Waititi turning things up to an eleven. There’s a longer cut of this film apparently with a lot of material that was left on the cutting room floor for the theatrical version. Maybe there’s a better movie waiting for us down the road.

That shouldn’t stop you from seeing Thor: Love and Thunder in its theatrical version. However, it could spell trouble for Marvel if with every movie they release there’s some longer or better version people want to see down the road. This is already happening with Spiderman: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That’s how you split a fan base and start arguments over what’s canon and what’s not. Which film is the better one instead of a consistent single entry for each chapter in the MCU tale.

Don’t fall into the DCEU trap Kevin Feige. You’re better than that.

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