Although I had my issues with the film the first go-around, I genuinely enjoyed watching this a second time. Check this one out on Disney+ now, buy it on Digital, or wait, as I will be, to buy it on 4k/Blu-ray on September 27th.
“In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) teams up with King Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend-turned-Mighty-Thor Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) to take on a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale).”
The Thor franchise itself has had its ups and downs since the original film came out in 2011, with the second film often considered one of the worst in the MCU. In 2017, that all seemed to change when Taika Waititi pulled off one of Thor’s most epic journeys with Ragnarok, breathing new life into the Thor characters, especially Thor himself, that carried on to the later Avengers films. Needless to say, when I saw the trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, I couldn’t wait to have Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth team up again to deliver more of what we got before.
Needless to say, there will be spoilers ahead, so reader beware.
If you’ve kept up with the MCU films, you’ve noticed a trend with Thor’s character, from brooding, overconfident and serious hero, to, well, the comic relief. Thor: Ragnarok was, from what I remember, the beginning of this attitude toward the character. For me, it was a welcomed change, especially when contrasted amongst all the other Avengers. We’ve already got a lot of brooding superheroes, and it was a nice change of pace having one act the way that Thor did, because he’s very much like a fish-out-of-water character thrust into a primitive world of mortals and not understanding simple human relationships and social cues. In Ragnarok, as well as the other Avengers films, like I said, there were plenty of other character types to play this off of, and it worked extremely well. Knowing some of Taika Waititi’s work before the MCU, it felt like he was allowed to sprinkle bits of his own creativity and humor here and there, but not allowed to go all out until he proved himself, which he did, and seemed to have much more freedom in Thor: Love and Thunder.
I’ve seen the film twice now. The second time around I enjoyed it a bit more but, I know I for one was let down by the final product, and I’ll explain why.
One of the main reasons is that Thor is now too far into the realm of comic relief that it’s hard to have a film center around that without some kind of anchor. In Ragnarok he had Loki, and their relationship had evolved into the very heart of the Thor franchise. Without someone to ground him now, because it’s not Jane, as her character is unrecognizable from her last MCU appearance, not just because she’s wielding Mjolnir (but more on that later), Thor just comes off as silly most of the time. Maybe I just want a more serious character to react to his antics, because there really aren’t any in this. I enjoy the humor and some of the gags, the Stormbreaker creeping in unexpectedly gag was quite funny. But it feels like Taika has given every single one of the characters in this film the same sense of humor, and that’s honestly a bit boring having them all alike in that way.
We learn in the first moments we see Jane that she has cancer, and it’s not a good prognosis. In an uncharacteristic manner she plays it off, jokingly responding to her stage 4 cancer “out of like, how many stages?”, and then is instantly at New Asgard and has reanimated the fragments of Mjolnir. The heart of this film is Jane and her struggle with her mortality, and Thor’s reaction to that, and this is all the information we get? About two minutes of her getting chemotherapy then she’s a superhero? There is way too much trying to go on in the opening sequence of this film to make us invested in any of it. As much as I normally enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy crew, they were absolutely pointless, and only took away what should have been critical opening plot points re-introducing Jane Foster and not relegating her impending fate to a two minute conversation and funny, but misplaced recap of the Jane/Thor relationship history. Whether or not you enjoy the total transformation of every character into Taika Waititi’s image, entirely dropping the ball on the most important plot point in the film is still a hard pill to swallow.
There are so many other aspects of the film I could go on and on about, but at the end of it all, and especially after a second viewing knowing what to expect, I was able to enjoy myself. The ending was hilarious, sad, a whole range of different emotions, and leaves it on a high note. Thor: Love and Thunder may not be the best in the franchise, but it has moments that make it truly shine, and it’s worth checking out.
We were given a digital code to review this film, which is now available on Disney+. The physical copy doesn’t come out until the 27th of this month, which will be packed full of extras, with superior video and audio, something that cannot be accurately reviewed based on internet connections.
Thor: Love and Thunder is available now on digital, Disney+, and will be out on 4k, Blu-ray and DVD September 27th.
