Thor: Love and Thunder Movie Review - Thor’s Thunderous Trainwreck
Don’t let this photo fool you. Thor’s character has descended from the Mighty God of Thunder to the MCU’s Mighty Clown.
Man, how exciting to be welcomed back to what is now the Call of Duty of the film-making industry. Where a company that once made actually worthwhile material, now churns out a product like a factory conveyor belt year after year that is so samey, so streamlined, so devoid of consistency or passion in the narrative or characters, that the final outcome is nothing more than wasted potential, and YET it will still gets butts in seats based on brand recognition alone. I know that it sounds like I’m a broken record every time I make the same video saying “there are some good stuff in it, but the characters, world-building and writing is bad,” but you know what, as somebody who actually liked MCU movies in the past and who cares about movies in general, I will continue to say it and call it out like it is until I see something different, until it gets better; maybe when Guardians 3 comes out. <sigh> This phase makes me too mad. I mean…It’s like life has to play a gigantic cosmic joke on me, because I can’t imagine how this phase can find new ways to disappoint me in every new installment, yet it does. And this movie we’re reviewing, surprise, surprise, is yet another example. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is a thunderous mess.
In May, I’ve talked about the misguided misfire that "Multiverse of Madness". Now, we have ourselves a new Thor movie that’s in theaters, and it’s directed yet again by Taika Watiti. The same guy who not made one of the best movies of 2019, “Jojo Rabbit,” but also constructed the previous sequel, “Thor: Ragnarok,” which I actually thought was a pretty good movie despite its misgivings. Admittedly, I haven’t seen his previous work, however these two films brought me a great first impression on what Watiti can do as director. You’d think there’s still a possibility that this movie could be perhaps better than Multiverse of Madness, and becomes a step in the right direction for the MCU, even through online controversy and his tweet about he’ll ruin the mythos just for kicks, right?
As much as I don’t like "Multiverse of Madness", at least that movie is so fascinating bad that it’s also the kind of film you would show your friends who aspire to be film reviewers or filmmakers of how not to make a movie. With this movie, I can’t describe how frustrated this film made me feel when I left the theater. It is such a disappointing misstep for the MCU that it boggles the mind that it got released in this state in production.
So what adventures lie for the God of Thunder after the events of "Avengers: Endgame"? Well, Thor after galavanting throughout the Galaxy with the Guardians and saving civilizations, doesn’t feel like his heart is in the right place and tries to go and find himself. That side plot gets sidetracked only for to notice distress calls from other worlds that the Gods are being slain by an evil deity slayer named Gorr. As Gorr attacks Asgard, Thor reunites with Valkyrie and even Jane Foster, who much to his surprise wields the power of Thor, how…just wait folks. When Gorr retreats into the shadows, our heroes must stop Gorr from enacting a plan to destroy all the Gods.
Let’s get the positives out of the way. Firstly, Christian Bale who is basically one of the best modern day actors working in Hollywood, is incredibly creepy and menacing as Gorr the God Butcher. Bale’s performance is exceptional; even haunting at points when engaging with supporting or main characters. The writing portion however, is much to be desired as that will be touched on later on.
To my shock, I didn’t think I was going to like Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, not because of her playing the part; she’s an incredible actress across the board, but mainly because since her return, I speculated that they were just going to make Lady Thor into another poorly written, unlikable strong female character archetype that Marvel has exposed us to for quite a while. Turns out, I was wrong, That’s not to say that her writing is flawless because she suffers from a massive dealbreaker that we’ll discuss later, but Portman through her delivery and timing really makes Foster shine in the film. She’s comes across as very endearing when having conversations with Thor, and even admirable when she decides to make a noble decision mainly towards the end to help her allies.
As far as comedy goes, there were moments where I smiled at least three or four times at something, but they didn’t qualify as laughs and that’s something I’ll talk about in the review down the road. And for visuals, there are some cool stylistic choices that make the film vibrant and colorful, such as when the protagonists go to a world everything is turned to black and white, but you can still see a bit of color around them when they have light near them. But there are also effects and even environments that when I noticed the poor compositing, all I can say was, “Wow, that’s certainly CG, and nothing like something that might gravitate Me into that world or believe something is there.” But hey, it’s not like the visual effects workers were overworked and treated poorly at Marvel as to why these effects are half-assed.
Other than that…where to start?
When Chris Hemsworth in an interview described Taika Watiti’s direction of this film as a “7 year old making a movie”, I don’t think he was exaggerating. Taika’s approach to comedy is out of freakin’ control, and not in a good way. Because usually with his previous films such as "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Jojo Rabbit", there is a balance between comedy and drama. Of course, you do have your moments of hilarity in both films, but when the drama kicks in, they knew when to let the character development and even emotional moments settle in. And it’s one of the reasons that make those films stand out in Taika’s filmography.
With "Thor: Love and Thunder", this movie cannot for a moment find a consistent tone to save its life. Everytime time that there is a scene or a moment that you can witness actual stakes transpiring or soak in a scene of actual dramatic moments between two characters, all of it would be undercut by characters adlibbing like its an SNL sketch or an unsatisfying joke that ruins the scene entirely and makes you lose any investment you may have in the film’s stakes.
You have a scene between Lady Sif and Thor, two characters who have long history together who last scene each other since 2013, and she’s severely injured in fight against Gorr. And what could’ve been a very serious moment between two friends has been ruined by a completely forced in joke. And another example happens where you cut to a scene of something crucial to the story between Jane and Thor, then an unfunny joke by Korg or singing Karaoke with Valkyrie. In this movie, Watiti is more honed in on the comedy and jokes (more so than Ragnarok) than he is with engaging us to the story, and if the story or characters don’t care about the stakes and are a bunch…why should I?
Which brings me to my next point. Taika Watiti’s direction and his comedy in this movie feels like it has his ego splattered all over the screen, acting as if no matter how much he butchers the characters or ruins a dramatic scene, all it matters is that he made a joke. To give an example, out of many, in the first act of the movie, we get an opening narration from Korg while Enya’s “Only Time” is playing (which is quite a bizarre choice), and he’s talking about how Thor grew up, had adventures with the Guardians and lost a lot of weight. Okay, that’s fine so far. And then Korg starts talking about the friends and family that Thor lost from "The Dark World", to "Ragnarok" and "Infinity War", such as his mother, Odin, his friends in The Warriors Three, Heimdall, in a way that is meant to be funny. And, no, this isn’t funny…these are people were important in Thor’s life and even shaped him to be a better person. But hey, gotta have those jokes in there.
And this kind of thing happens throughout the movie. Where is the punchline when New Asgard has opened a place called Infinity Conez with the Gauntlet on it? You know, the thing that was responsible for wiping out most of Asgard’s people and half of the Universe? That’s like having a sports bar called Twin Towers right after 9/11. Don’t bring up “but the gauntlet is also the one thing that brought everyone back,”…you mean like, Tony’s gauntlet? Where’s the joke were throughout the movie you have screaming goats, inspired by a YouTube meme that hasn’t been relevant since like 2014? What is funny about Thor having a tattoo on his back that reads “RIP Loki.” Isn’t it humorous that he’s mourned about his brother? Having Elephantiasis is more funny than this movie.
The way Gorr is written as well as his motivations is very poorly written. He starts off killing off a god who was self-absorbed diety, who didn’t care for his followers when they suffered or answered his prayer when Gorr’s daughter died, because the Necrosword was conveniently at this exact location for Gorr to use against him. And vows that his plan is to exact vengeance on all Gods. Why? His first kill of a God was based on something specific, so how is him killing his previous God wants him to kill all Gods? What about the Gods who are actually god and help their worlds thrive. If the sword corrupted him, why does the sword have this desire? Never explained in the film. Not to mention that he also horrifies and tortures children despite the fact that his child died from the Gods not answering his prayers. Though, there are several points where the Gods are legitimately being cruel and heartless which proves his perspective, but the point still stands.
And you remember the deal-breaker about Jane Foster, let’s get to it? For as likable as she is in the movie based on performance alone, I still have one major important question: How is Jane Foster worthy to become Lady Thor? And how is she better at Mjolnir than Thor ever was? You sure you want to know? Alright, get ready for spoilers. In the movie, we are introduced to the fact that Jane Foster is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she is struggling to find a perfect scientific solution to keep her alive. After feeling Mjolnir calling to her, she takes a glimpse at a Norse mythology book only to find out that Mjolnir can give you health and strength. So when Jane arrives to New Asgard, she takes a look at and she…just…gets the powers. No worthiness required, she just has the power of Thor. But that’s not the worst part. It is soon revealed in a embarrassing retcon that in a flashback when Thor wants Mjolnir to protect Jane no matter what, and what we’re led to believe is that Mjolnir from Thor’s words makes an enchantment for Jane to have the power of Thor in the form of protection.
So…this opens up a lot of problems. Firstly, this lone retcon establishes that Thor can just give people his own power now for x amount of time, because of course he can. And I never thought about this, but this also kind of robs Jane of an arc, because even if the hammer “protects” her, Jane would still need to be worthy to have the power of Thor. Secondly, it’s later revealed that the hammer is actual speeding up the process of Jane dying of cancer so it doesn’t protect Jane in anyway. In summation, the retcon doesn’t do her any favors and she is worthy…because reasons.
It’s time to talk about the last part of the movie I have a massive problem with, and believe me, it’s last for a reason. For a superhero series that has its ups and downs, I have to say that I really like the character of Thor. I really like how invested he is in the stakes that are involved, how he isn’t afraid to crack a joke every once in a while because of Hemsworth performance and the writing behind him, but more importantly I was completely invested in his journey and growth throughout the MCU saga, especially from films such as "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Avengers: Infinity War" — which made me attached to the character even more — because of the hardships this character has faced hardships of failing to save the people of Asgard and killing Thanos. If there’s one aspect about Thor’s character, it’s the idea of personal responsibility. Heck, that’s the point of his entire character arc in his film debut. From a prideful warmonger to a hero and a leader who choses to wield the power in a responsible way and has a sense of duty to defend Asgard, and his allies of Earth and other worlds like it.
In "Love and Thunder’s" case, Thor has been obliterated to smithereens. Everything about Thor’s character is absolutely wasted and reduced to a punchline.
His character recklessly destroys property by being idiotic with the bifrost, and even plows through a palace that is meant to be protected when under sieged by enemies and gives zero regard for the destruction. He is completely incompetent when it comes to giving speeches to the people of New Asgard or giving assurance that he will save the day, he takes little to nothing seriously and most of dialogue comes of as a joke or a “hilarious” piece of adlib as he acts like a empty-headed bafoon, not to mention having a running gag where he has to reconcile with Stormbringer because the weapon is jealous against Mjolnir…I guess weapons have consciences now. Say what you will about Fat Thor in Endgame, and I have issues with it too don’t get me wrong, but at least in the climax, he knew when to get down to business and took the threat seriously. Here, who is this character?! This is not the Thor who teleported to Wakanda as the biggest badass in the planet and almost killed Thanos. This is Phase Four Thor, the next character in the chopping block to be desecrated alongside the other characters that we’ve grown to care about sense the moment we first saw them.
There’s really not much else that I can say about how ill-judged and upsetting “Thor: Love and Thunder” truly is. This is the kind of material we want to consume from Marvel? I guess so, because when I went to the movie theater to see this bombardment of stupidity, the audience in my cinema were eating this movie up. So much so that when it was over, the entire audience applauded. But not to worry, for there are still people who have the same feelings as I do, who are disgusted by what Marvel has produced in Phase Four, and it’s only a matter of time, before this company finally gets the message that this kind of storytelling isn’t what we want and audiences no longer fall for this facade.
I don’t agree with what Scorsese said about Marvel Movies not being cinema and are nothing but thrill-rides, but when you see something like this, I’m starting to think, “You know, to a certain degree, maybe Scorsese has a point, maybe they are just thrill-rides.” And you know what, that is saying something right there.
RATING: 1/5
