Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Jaimie Alexander, Kat Dennings, and Stellan Skarsgård with cameos from Matt Damon, Sam Neill, Luke Hemsworth, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, and Brett Goldstein
Grade: B-

I thought all of those classic rock radio stations ruined songs like “Sweet Child o’ Mine” for me, but Taika Waititi still knows exactly where to place them to make it feel brand new. Props to him in that regard.

Summary

Gorr (Bale) carries his sick daughter through the desert of some planet. They pause for him to pray to the god Rapu (Jonathan Brugh) to hopefully help his daughter. Shortly after, she dies in his arms. Once he buries her, he hears a voice, and he follows it into a jungle in the middle of the desert. In this jungle, we see water and massive fruits for the taking. Rapu himself, just chilling out with a group of gods and celebrating, sees Gorr eating the fruits and is annoyed. A shocked Gorr tells him he never lost faith in Rapu and is the last of his disciples, awaiting the “eternal reward” promised. Rapu laughs at this, throws a fruit at him, and tells him they’re only celebrating because they just killed the holder of the Necrosword, a sword able to kill gods. Rapu was worried about his empire falling, so now everything is cool, but Gorr tells him it already fell and there’s no one left. Unphased, Rapu knows there will be followers to replace Gorr eventually. Uncaring of Gorr’s suffering, he tells him his only purpose is suffering for his gods. Angered over his daughter dying for nothing, Gorr renounces him. Rapu responds by choking him. Then, the voice heard only to Gorr gets louder, saying if he seeks revenge, he needs to kill all the gods and summon the Bifröst Bridge to go to Eternity. The Necrosword floats into Gorr’s hand (choosing him), and Gorr kills Rapu. Gorr is now cursed, but he doesn’t see it as a curse. Gorr sees it as a “promise”. He now makes it a vow to kill all the gods, officially becoming Gorr the God Butcher.

Elsewhere, rock humanoid Korg (Waititi) tells the most recent update of Thor (Hemsworth) to a group of people. We go through a montage of Thor’s early life and how important human astrophysicist Jane Foster (Portman) was to his life, as well as all the death he’s experienced in his life throughout movies like Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. After Avengers: Endgame, he teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and got back into shape. The problem is that he is still hung up on love, and it has affected his motivations as a fighter. He still joins the Guardians when they need him for a mission, but he’s in a different place mentally and seems distant. Right away, we see the leader of the Guardians in Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Pratt) and Mantis (Klementieff) come to ask for his help in their most recent battle, so Thor grabs his superpowered battle axe in Stormbreaker and flies over to the battlefield to join Rocket (Cooper), Groot (Diesel), Drax (Bautista), and Nebula (Gillan). All the Guardians seem annoyed with Thor, who shows up with a level of cluelessness to the gravity of the situation. He’s greeted by King Yakan (Stephen Curry; not the NBA player) who’s happy to see Thor joining the fight. He tells him they were a peaceful place until their gods were murdered. Now, their sacred temple has been left unguarded and Habooska’s army took control of its power. It’s their most sacred shrine. Thor springs into action and kills every last Booskan on the battlefield by himself. Though while making a speech about teamwork that the Guardians don’t seem to care for, we see that Thor’s entrance into the temple to kill everyone inside ends up destroying the whole thing.

Back on Earth, Jane Foster is getting chemotherapy. Afterwards, she’s sitting next to a patient who’s reading her book, The Foster Theory. After asking what he thinks about the Einstein-Rosen Bridge we learned about in the first Thor and seeing his trouble in grasping the concept, she rips a page out of the book to give him a three-dimensional model on how to understand it. She also gives credit to films Event Horizon and Interstellar for explaining it so well. Jane’s former intern Darcy Lewis (Dennings) comes over to the hospital to comfort her right after. This is where we learn she’s one of the only two people that know of Jane’s stage four cancer. Even then, Jane is downplaying it and wants to get back to the lab to test a few things. Darcy tells her to slow down and suggests asking for Thor’s help (not really sure what he can do), but Jane insists she can fight this alone. Back at the lab, her fellow astrophysicist Erik Selvig (Skarsgård) tells her over a video call that the results haven’t changed, and the chemo isn’t working. After some time, Jane comes across one of her books regarding Nordic gods and such and reads about Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer that brings great health and superpowers to those deemed worthy of holding it. She travels to New Asgard over in Tønsberg, Norway because as we remember, the old Asgard was destroyed at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. At New Asgard, we see King Valkyrie (Thompson). She is a shell of her former self, doing regular government official things like filming commercials and cutting the ribbon for a new ice cream place opening in town called “Infinity Conez”.

Following a play depicting Odin’s death and Hela’s immediate appearance afterwards where she destroys Mjolnir to the shock of Thor and Loki in Thor: Ragnarok by the Asgard actors (Matt Damon, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Neill, and Melissa McCarthy, with Ben Falcone playing a stage manager), we see the broken pieces of Mjolnir being a tourist attraction under a glass case. Once the crowd leaves, Jane is there looking at it by herself. She looks frail, but the thunder and lightning start to roll in and the pieces of Mjolnir begin to rise. Meanwhile, King Yakan gifts Thor two screaming goats as parting gifts for saving them, but the goats’ presence on the Guardians ship causes absolute chaos because they’re annoying as all hell. Kraglin (Gunn), who was watching the ship the whole time, reveals he married a native woman again, with Quill noting he’s done this everywhere they’ve gone. They finally get a signal to see how many distress calls they have to answer, and the team sees that almost all of them revolve around Gorr the God Butcher. One of them is from Thor’s old friend Sif (Alexander) who asks for Thor’s help directly. He suggests they got there at once, but Quill suggests they split up because of the sheer amount of distress calls they’re receiving. A saddened Thor hangs outside of the ship, so Quill goes to console him.

Quill notices that Thor doesn’t seem to know who he is as a person. He seems lost. They bond over their lost loved ones, but Thor tells him to go because they’ve grown too attached. Quill’s not on the same page as Thor regarding this because he intended on leaving anyway, but Thor keeps on going thinking this is a tough moment for the both of them. He even “allows” for Quill to take the ship, even though it’s Quill’s anyways. The Guardians then leave. Thor, Korg, and the two screaming goats use the Bifröst to head over to find Sif on some snowy planet.

They are transported directly to a cliff to find that gigantic monster Falligar, God of the Falligarians, has been slaughtered. Ironically enough, Thor says he was one of the nicest gods you’d ever meet. He finds a one-armed, dying Sif close by and goes up to her. He wants to take her home to hopefully save her, but she’s okay with dying so she can go to Valhalla. Sadly, Thor reminds her how this only possible if you die in the battle. Technically, she survived. Thus, she’s shit out of luck.

There’s a chance her arm made it to Valhalla though, so there’s that.

On her deathbed, Sif tells Thor she’s been hunting Gorr the God Butcher and came here only to find that it was a trap. Gorr seeks the extinction of the gods, and New Asgard is next. That night, Gorr oversees New Asgard from a distance. He stabs the Necrosword into the ground and it brings about Shadow Monsters coming from it that crawl into town. Immediately after they crawl about on the streets, Valkyrie flies in to fight them off, with Thor and Korg following via the Bifröst shortly after. After Thor hands off Sif to a group to send to the infirmary, they go to war with these monsters. Sometime into the fight, Thor sees Mjolnir plow through a bunch of Shadow Monsters and is happy to see it. He goes to grab his hammer, but it goes right back to Jane. She is now the Mighty Thor, complete with the powers of Thor and dressed in full Thor garb. As Thor stands shocked, we get a quick detour montage of Thor’s and Jane’s relationship and how close it was at one point. This is where we see after a Halloween party some time ago, Thor has Mjolnir promise to always protect her. We see this promise is solidified once Thor touches the hammer and a symbol flashes on it to make it so. Eventually, the two drifted apart because of their professional lives being galaxies apart from each other, making the relationship stop in its tracks. It couldn’t progress anymore because life wouldn’t allow for it. Finally, a breaking point was hit, and Jane left a handwritten note that ended it all.

Now, we’re at this moment where Thor and Jane stand apart from each other, with both having superhero responsibilities and powers. Before Thor can get answers as to how the hell this is possible, they are both distracted by the current battle. Next, Thor sees Gorr in the distance. The two finally clash and after a standstill, Gorr disappears momentarily after seeing Valkyrie and Jane about to join Thor to take him out. Then, Gorr sends the Shadow Monsters to kidnap all the children of New Asgard and put them into a cage. Thor and Jane chase Gorr to the end of town to try and stop him, but he escapes in an instant. Jane flew around the world twice and still couldn’t find him. Following Thor and Jane talking about the awkwardness of this reunion of sorts, we see the town’s citizens and parents in disarray talking about what just happened. Following Thor attempting to call for Mjolnir and Stormbreaker getting jealous because of it, he tries to quell everyone’s concerns by making a speech, but it falls off the rails pretty quickly. He promises to find the children and uses the Bifröst from Stormbreaker to shoot out of the town hall building, only to be shot out close by. We even hear Thor arguing with Stormbreaker because of it, and he comes back inside. Thor, Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg then discuss all they know about Gorr and the Necrosword. The weapon has been passed down through hands since the dawn of time and not only has the ability to slay gods, but slowly corrupts and kills whoever wields it.

Astrid, Heimdall’s (Elba) son, shows up as a floating head in the room to try and communicate with Thor. Since he’s Heimdall’s blood, he also has the power to see everywhere. Astrid, wanting to be known by “Axl” now because he just found out about Axl Rose, tells Thor he doesn’t know exactly where he’s at yet because he hasn’t mastered his father’s powers. Thor shows him some basic teachings to pull it off, and it works. Thor is transported into the cage as a vision ghost to see the group of kids floating through space and is brutally honest about their potential fate, which doesn’t help the situation. He then looks into the distance and sees that the kids are nearing the Shadow Realm.

He exits his vision ghost to be back in the room with Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg. The group realizes that the Shadow Realm is where Gorr would be at his most powerful, and it would endanger the children if they went straight there. They need an army, so Thor and Valkyrie come up with the idea of going to Omnipotence City, the home of the most powerful gods in the universe. This is the place where people like Zeus (Crowe) and Hercules (Goldstein) live. Because of the current unpredictability of Stormbreaker and its containment of the Bifröst, and Valkyrie’s horse not being an option because of the amount of people going, Jane suggests they get a ship that can survive space travel and use Stormbreaker as its power source to focus it. They grab a ship outside and attach the screaming goats to the front of it, preparing for takeoff. Once Thor and Jane talk about how Jane heard Mjolnir call for her (still avoiding the cancer conversation), Thor hands her the hammer, confirming he’s still worthy. Stormbreaker still isn’t okay with Thor essentially flirting with Mjolnir behind its back though.

Before they leave, Jane has a moment to herself in the bathroom. She drops the hammer and loses her strength momentarily to reveal her weakened cancerous state. She gets flashbacks to her mother dying of cancer when she was a child, picks up Mjolnir again to regain her strength and power, and breaks the sink with it. She opens the door to see Valkyrie, and she agrees to not let anyone know of Jane’s destroying of the sink. After helping Jane feel a bit better, Valkyrie instills some much-needed confidence in her as to why she’s needed despite her rookie-like skills as a Thor.

Now, it’s off to Omnipotence City to look for help. They need it quickly too because Gorr is on a mission and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of reaching Eternity.

My Thoughts:

It’s hard to keep up the momentum for a fourth film in a franchise, but Marvel has raised the bar with their cinematic universe. Now, we expect them to release banger after banger. With a proven commodity like Thor leading the pack, this sequel looked to put Phase Four back on track after a hit-and-miss run. Sadly, Thor: Love and Thunder disappoints.

It’s just not the movie it should’ve been.

Think about everything we’ve been through with Thor. Think about who he’s become over the years and all the trials and tribulations he’s faced.

Do you honestly believe this is who Thor should be at this stage in his life?

Look, Thor: Ragnarok was a funny ass movie and was exactly the shakeup Thor needed to get to that next level. I can’t sing Taika Waititi’s praises enough for what he did for that movie. He skewed more in the comedic direction, but he opened up so many doors and possibilities for Thor and Loki while also introducing new characters in so many great ways. Plus, the action and the intensity were there when it needed to be. However, in this Thor sequel, he was trying way too hard, making this almost purely a comedy when the material was clearly calling for a much different direction. Could it have kept a light-hearted tone? I’m sure it could have, but considering the villain and some of the themes we were touching on, the material deserved to be taken a lot more seriously than it was. It all starts with Christian Bale who came to play as Gorr the God Butcher. He was demonic, had an unforgettably haunting look (especially when he switched to the white linens as the film progressed), a ghostly cadence and presence onscreen, a level of believability as a bad guy, despite not being the physical specimen Chris Hemsworth is, and had a wickedness with the way he carried himself to the point where you felt he may do anything to get what he wants.

Guys, this man was kidnapping children! THIS is a villain! He even killed an animal in front of them. Gorr was nearing the levels of top tier sinister that this fourth film needed for a potential ALL-TIME bad guy.

To make things really interesting, he also carried a lot of innocence and sympathy with him because we see how he’s treated right from the beginning. All he wants in his life is his daughter in full health and when faced with the god he prays to, he’s insulted and told that his only purpose is to suffer for those in power. This bleak response changes his whole world, showing him everything up until this point was a waste of time and his daughter died for nothing. It makes sense why Gorr is bitter. He did everything right and still got screwed.

Even though he’s the clear antagonist in this film, we understand him right from the opening. When someone is consumed with revenge and hatred like he is, it makes him the perfect candidate to wield the Necrosword. This is also why it doesn’t take much pushing in the direction for him to go off the deep end either. We saw how he was treated. We get it and understand why he embraces the life the Necrosword gives him. All of this information is thrown at us right from the opening minutes too, but it’s presented to us in a very well-done and easily understood sequence (compared to the relatively complicated openings of the first two Thor movies), setting up the rest of the movie very well. My problem is that Marvel managed to get an action legend in Christian Bale and pull him out of superhero movie retirement to play a villain against one of Marvel’s greatest heroes, but it feels as if he’s barely in it! He showed out in an awesome performance but was almost disrespected with the amount of screentime he got! There’s so much going on with Thor and Jane’s will they/won’t they, Jane’s cancer issues, forced comedy at almost every turn (Astrid wanting to be known as Axl because he just found out about Axl Rose), and enough conversational humor from Korg and Valkyrie that there’s only so much room for us to see Gorr doing his thing and the movie suffers because of it. He was grossly underutilized, and I couldn’t help but think it was because of all the madness Waititi tried to cram into the story.

Constantly in interviews beforehand, we heard of Waititi’s vision of making this sequel “crazier” than Ragnarok and how he wanted to make it even more over-the-top. He was even quoted as saying it’s the “craziest film I’ve ever made” and “If you wrote down all the elements of this film, it shouldn’t make sense. It’s almost like it shouldn’t be made“. This is enough to tell me that he wanted to make Love and Thunder chaotic because he had the creative license to do it, not because it’s what the movie needed. After watching this movie, it only confirms my suspicions.

For starters, the Guardians of the Galaxy thing was unneeded. Their inclusion felt clunky. I don’t know if I’m the first one to say it, but I couldn’t help but think that bringing the entire crew there for a very meaningless section of the first act wasted a lot of time. I understand the last time we saw Thor was when he joined them at the end of Endgame. However, since Korg was already going through his narration bit to remind the audience what has happened since then, it would’ve made sense had they just done a quick sequence with Thor and the Guardians crew to just get back to the story at hand. It just felt like their inclusion was used more to hype up their return in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 rather than them being essential to the story we’re trying to tell in Love and Thunder.

This whole movie is a battle of tones. Every time we get into a serious moment, we are thrown some outrageous comedy that conflicts with the flow of everything like when we hear the goats screaming as they crash into the Shadow Realm. As soon as the screen went to black-and-white, it should’ve been serious. Love and Thunder was begging to be a more serious film on the level of an Infinity War or something of that sort. Sure, there can be some comedic moments and amusing bits throughout, but you have to understand the gravity of the situation. You have to know when to knock it off. You also have to recognize when things are feeling forced. For instance, Thor having arguments with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker and the objects being jealous of Thor handling them is forced as all hell.

The potential of what Love and Thunder could’ve been was finally seen in the sequence on the Shadow Realm. The switching to black-and-white in such a colorful movie changed the game. What a wonderful aesthetic choice. It’s explained that color doesn’t exist in this part of the universe. This is when they set the tone for something special and even frightening about to happen. There, we see Gorr in all of his glory, getting Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie at their most vulnerable in the most visually striking scene in the entire movie. That’s saying something too because there’s a load of them in this CGI-heavy extravaganza.

Don’t get me wrong, the CGI was still incredible, magnificent even. Omnipotence City was amazingly designed, as was the space sequence on the boat with Thor and Jane flirting. Eternity was otherworldly too. It truly felt like they were on the edge of the universe. Seeing landscapes like these show us how far we’ve come regarding CGI in film.

Regardless, this scene on the Shadow Realm is where we see the Gorr we want, showing us an all-powerful god killer that easily could’ve taken the crown for the best villain of the Thor franchise had we had more moments like this. In his defense, he still might get the crown anyway because the villains in the Thor franchise have been all over the place (Loki turned into a good guy, Malekith was subpar, Hela was decent but was outshined by the Grandmaster), but it’s a much closer race than it should be because of lack of screentime. This is how good Bale was in the scenes given and dually, how underutilized he was. Again, stuff like the Shadow Realm sequence is what the movie should’ve been. Instead, they settled for a goofy adventure instead of the world-ending story the movie was supposed to be. Eternity can grant him ANY wish! THIS is a big deal!

One good thing coming out of the goofiness was Russell Crowe as Zeus. The orgy-loving, careless Greek god was chuckle-worthy and fit the vision of the movie Waititi was trying to give us. Regardless of my noted thoughts on everything else regarding the movie, Crowe’s performance was one that a surprising positive. It also fit the current look of Crowe. He’s older and isn’t nearly in the shape he used to be, so the way he played Zeus really fit this version of the character. Obviously, if this was the Russell Crowe from years ago, he would’ve been the Zeus we’d expect. This of course would be an all-knowing, all-powerful, unstoppable leader that would fit the role of someone Thor looks up to. In a hypothetical, that Crowe against Chris Hemsworth in a heated argument would’ve been the stuff of legends. I know it’s impossible now, but as a movie fan, could you imagine how awesome a faceoff between those two could’ve been had Crowe been the Russell Crowe of old?

I’m okay with what we got, but that would’ve been insane!

I will say that with the comedic take on Zeus, I think Mel Gibson might have done a better job than Crowe in all honesty. If you remember, he was offered the role of Odin for the first Thor but turned it down. I can’t help but think how entertaining he would’ve been as the sexual and off-the-wall Zeus we got here. On top of that, I would argue that if Love and Thunder was taken in a more serious manner like how I suggested, Gibson still would’ve been an excellent choice to play the all-powerful and mighty god.

My biggest gripe is Thor himself. He has completely regressed as a character. In the first film, he was a fearless warrior who was stubborn and a bit arrogant and needed to figure out the last of his training to fully realize how he can lead. In The Dark World, he becomes much more well-rounded, and his heart is fulfilled once he reconnects with Jane. In addition, he becomes the king he needs to be without taking the throne, preferring to help the rest of the universe (as well as Asgard) instead. In Ragnarok, Thor is tested like never before and has to learn new ways in facing and solving problems in a tactical way because sometimes you can’t just beat everyone’s ass. By now, he should have enough experience to be the hardened leader the universe needs now that there are no other commitments he’s tied up with. He should’ve been the best version of himself. He should be ready. Sadly, this film makes him look utterly clueless. At the beginning, he’s doing this “I don’t know who I am” shtick which is fine by me because we know how much he went through in the last two Avengers movies. However, when taking this into account, I’d argue again how this sequence should be serious. He should feel lost after so many deaths and how he’s wandered for so many years fighting people and fighting for others.

Will he have time to process the deaths in his family? Has he had the time? Is there more to life than what he’s doing? Does he fly in from time to time to check on Jane from a distance, even though he knows they’re broken up? There are so many ways you could explore his mindset at the beginning of the film emotionally, but Waititi chooses to go the silly route because this is what the Thor movies have become after what he did with Ragnarok.

I can’t argue with how much of a crowd-pleaser the previous film was, but you have to know when it’s time to drop the bullshit because the narrative and the characters are taking a hit. Love and Thunder is an example of this exact problem. I’m not saying this sequel should’ve been as dark as The Dark World was, but it should’ve been close considering the themes and subject matter we touch. One of the main characters is dying from cancer, and Gorr has the ability to kill gods! That’s nuts, and I feel like I took it more seriously than the characters did, especially Valkyrie. She was one of the most frustrating parts of this film! Waititi and Tessa Thompson try so hard to make her the “cool” person of the group that not only does it not make sense in a lot of situations, but they push so hard in this direction that it makes Thor (the fucking star of the movie) look like even more of a total dunce. A major issue I had with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was that Strange felt like the third or fourth most important character in his own fucking movie. This couldn’t be truer with Thor in Love and Thunder. We go overboard with making Jane and Valkyrie this strong and intelligent duo to the point where Thor looks like a buffoon at some points. It’s like the only reason he exists on this trip is because he’s a stronger fighter than the both of them, so they have to bring him along, but the movie makes sure to point out they beat him in virtually every other category.

For instance, the scene in Omnipotence City was ridiculous. Thor tells them the plan about how he’s going to talk to Zeus and ask for help since he’s the most powerful god in the universe, but Valkyrie and Jane suggest they just start a fight and beat everyone up. First of all, why the fuck would you start a fight with Zeus and potentially other gods that may join in? You’re already outnumbered. Why would this plan make sense for Valkyrie and Jane (as well as Korg), considering Valkyrie isn’t on anyone there’s level and Jane just learned her powers a week before this? What’s frustrating is the scene is made to make Thor look weak and shy while the mere thought of this plan is to make Valkyrie and Jane look like fearless badasses. This is outrageously annoying because Thor is the only one with common sense, and he’s made out to look like the idiot. Why? Why the fuck would you start a fight with Zeus?! Do you honestly think this is the best plan possible? Secondly, the whole message we learn from the first two Thor movies is why a plan like Valkyrie’s and Jane’s wouldn’t work. This is what Thor had to learn. It was a pretty major part of his character development! That was the whole point! You can’t just walk in and beat everyone up. Once Thor learned this, he became a better leader and the superhero we know him to be.

So, tell me why when Valkyrie and Jane do the exact thing that Thor (and us viewers) learned isn’t the way, it’s passed off as exactly the right thing to do and it works? Peculiar, isn’t it?

One scene in particular still irks me regarding Valkyrie. At one point, Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie get their asses kicked by Gorr on the Shadow Realm and regroup back on Earth. Because of Jane’s cancerous state and Valkyrie suffering a major stab wound, Thor has to go fight Gorr alone. Keep in mind, they just lost with three people and now, Thor has to face him alone. As this starts to sink in that this may be a last-ditch effort suicide mission, Valkyrie just tells Thor “Don’t die” and walks off. What?! If he loses, not only do a bunch of children die, but Gorr can have Eternity grant him the wish of ending the universe and everything inside of it. All she has to say to him is “Don’t die”? I don’t care if this is a callback to Ragnarok. A simple line like this was made because Valkyrie still had to look cool in one of the biggest and most emotional moments of the film. This scene should’ve warranted a hug or at least an impassioned speech where she can still say something in the vein her character would. Something like, “Hey, I’m not good at this sort of thing, but please stop Gorr. His victory can spell the end of the universe. Do anything you can to end him” would have done wonders. I know she’s tough, but her and Thor have been friends for years. He changed her life and gave her a purpose again. You don’t think she has anything else to say to this man before he heads out on a do-or-die mission?

Fuck off.

The “Don’t die” line is played up for comedy but at this point in the film, we’re walking into another potential world-ending scenario. It needed to give us a sense of “Oh shit! It’s game time! The real Thor is finally coming!”. Instead, we get a throwaway joke that wasn’t needed and took away from the tension of the entire movie. On that note, the whole thing with the kids fighting with the powers of Thor should’ve been excluded entirely. It took almost all of the heat out of the climax. It could’ve worked if there was a scenario where it happened earlier in the film for some quick comedy, but for it to happen in such a major moment in the film, I actually thought in my head, “Well, that was stupid”. You may argue superhero movies are for children, so I should be okay with this, but you have to take into account what has happened in every production involving Thor previously. There has never been a cornier or more childish moment in any previous Thor film, or any MCU movie, before this. Isn’t this film supposed to represent the God of Thunder? This is such a far cry from the first two movies that it feels borderline disrespectful.

My love of stupid humor is well documented on this website, but I’ll say it now: the screaming goats were not funny at all. If anything else was forced, it was this.

There’s also a striking amount of inconsistency as well. In Ragnarok, part of Korg’s hysterical backstory is that he started an ill-fated revolution and the only two people who showed up was his mother and her boyfriend he hated. In Love and Thunder, it’s now explained he has two dads, and the way the Kronan have children is that they stand over a volcano holding hands and a baby comes out somehow. You cannot tell me this wasn’t forced into the story for no reason at all. There’s also Thor explaining to Sif that if she dies where she stands, she won’t go to Valhalla because she didn’t die in battle. She technically survived the battle and is on her deathbed, but since she didn’t die when the battle was happening, she’s not going to Valhalla…

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SPOILERS

When considering this, wouldn’t that mean Jane wouldn’t go to Valhalla either because the exact same thing happens to her? She survived the fight but dies right after, just as Sif would have had Thor not saved her. Going by the movie’s logic, she’s not going to Valhalla and technically, neither would Odin in Ragnarok because that poor son of a bitch died of old age! This jokey scene with Thor and Sif is a big deal because it undermines two of the biggest moments of the entire franchise for the sake of comedy. This is my whole point. Waititi doesn’t know when to quit and definitely doesn’t know when things are begging to be taken seriously. They could’ve just omitted the line entirely, and everything would’ve still flowed but now, the secrets of Valhalla and Thor’s comments regarding it all contradict each other. I can’t help but think that the post-credits Valhalla scene wasn’t needed either. Some things need to be left to the imagination and when you have that great of a sendoff, you don’t need the minute extra to show Jane is okay. It was already implied. Having a scene like this took away from the emotion of the ending.

There are some positives. First of all, I loved the imagery. I can’t say this enough, but it was a distinctive technicolor fever dream that made the look of the film arguably the most impressive of the year. I already mentioned the CGI, but the landscapes and the costuming were all beautiful to look at it. I’d argue Thor’s attire in this movie was at an all-time best. Hemsworth did exactly what was asked of him too, so we can’t fault him. He did a good job of playing the role in the manner he did, but it showed how great the performance turned once he got serious or emotional. Jane being brought back was also a positive in itself. She was crucial to Thor’s character development early on. Plus, she had more story to tell. She may not have been needed in Ragnarok, but I couldn’t help but think about how important she was to Thor and his story. She made him realize what it meant to be worthy. I don’t think I fully realized it, or at least appreciated it, until this film. It just makes sense for her to come back to complete her arc. Their chemistry was shining just like how it was in those first two movies, and I’ll admit it was fun seeing how lovestruck Thor was in seeing her again like when she suggests it’s only been a few years since they broke up, and he immediately corrects her on the exact timeframe it’s been. Their love is still evident, and the emotional scenes they share together really center the whole movie, reminding us how important this relationship is to the MCU. Hearing Thor tell her to hang back in the hospital and her asking what’s the point was tough, but Hemsworth’s delivery of “…Because I loved you” was excellent. It changed the trajectory of the movie and the characters. It set up an emotional but needed finale to their story together.

I loved the final minutes between the two outside of Eternity. When she whispers into his ear and he smiles, we don’t know what was said, but we felt it. Hemsworth’s sorrow-filled smile as he embraced her one last time showed how sometimes simplicity in scenes can make the world of a difference.

We see the potential of Thor: Love and Thunder throughout. If handled the way it should’ve been, it could’ve been the best of the franchise. Sadly, it frustrated me on so many different levels despite its entertainment value, that I’d argue it may be the worst one. Ragnarok was special, but Love and Thunder was a misfire. I still want to see more of Thor and this franchise, but one thing is clear to me: They need to get a director who understands that sometimes less is more, or at least someone who knows when to quit when they’re ahead.