Review: THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Goes Full-On Bonkers
After the craziness of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, I was curious and excited to see what director Taika Waititi would do with his follow-up film, Thor: Love and Thunder. And well, this movie goes full on bonkers, and it was a blast to watch!
I didn’t think the movie was as good as Ragnork, but it was a lot more wild and crazy. There’s so much to love and enjoy about the film as it’s loaded with the big epic action you expect from these Thor films, and it was also surprisingly very emotional. Love and Thunder also offers some hilarious comedy that had me busting up in laughter. I will say, at times the movie does get a little too silly, and some fans might not like that aspect of it. This movie was Waititi’s playground, and you can tell he had a ton of fun making this movie.
Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher was absolutely incredible! He made for one hell of a great and tortured Marvel villain, and I liked how his story arc played out over the course of the movie. Bale certainly made for an unsettling and creepy Marvel villain, and it’s his story and his motivations that tie the film together. His story is actually quite tragic and moving, and he’s a villain that some people will be able to sympathize with. There’s a very personal and understandable reason why he’s on a mission to kill all gods.
It was so great to see Natalie Portman back in the role of Jane Foster, and it’s so freakin’ cool to see her take on the mantle of the Mighty Thor. Her story arc is the same as in the comics, with Jane getting cancer, and while being Thor makes her feel better and stronger, and she is able to help save the world, there’s a downside as it makes the cancer worse.
This was an emotional story arc for me as my mom had a bout with breast cancer that she beat, only to be diagnosed with stage four brain cancer a few years later, which she is currently in treatment for. It's an incredibly hard thing to watch her go through that, and having her represented in this movie by a character like Jane Foster hit me hard emotionally, and while that aspect of the story was hard for me, it was beautifully told. I’ve always liked the Jane Foster character, and it was awesome to see her get into the real action and play a big role in helping save the universe.
Chris Hemsworth was fantastic as Thor as usual, and he spends a lot of time in the story with Waititi's character Korg. In fact, Korg is pretty much his sidekick through the entire film. Love and Thunder has a lot of fun with Thor, and there’s an amusing element to his story that involves his weapon, Stormbreaker. This film is definitely the most weird and goofy that Thor gets in the MCU.
As for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, she was also great in the movie. I love this character, and they have a lot of fun with her. Oh! And then there’s Russell Crowe as Zeus! That whole aspect of the story ended up being quite a wild surprise, and he was great!
I don’t want to get into any spoiler-filled details about the movie, but there are a lot of unexpected things that happen that are really cool and fun to see, and the film sets up some interesting things for future MCU movies. I can’t wait to see how certain elements of this movie will eventually play out in the future.
There are two post-credits scenes, that fans are sure to enjoy. Just wait until you see who Marvel got to play spoiler! I loved it!
