Phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been struggling for air, which gives original Avenger, Thor, a chance to swoop in and revitalize things. Writer/Director Taika Waititi returns after his commercial and critical success with Thor: Ragnarok and brings his specialized brand of humor in Thor’s fourth stand-alone movie.
Love and Thunder introduces a new villain in Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Because of the tragedy and betrayal he has experienced in life, Gorr vows to end every god in existence.
Meanwhile, Thor continues his eternal journey to find a character arc. He ends up answering a distress call that brings him back to New Asgard to defend his people against Gorr’s shadow army. While there, he encounters his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and discovers that she shares his same powers and is the new wielder of his former weapon, Mjolnir.
Let’s not waste any time. Love and Thunder is a sloppy movie that feels more like a vanity project for Waititi than a story progression for Thor. The director was riding high off his own fumes that fueled Ragnarok and made it a fan favorite. With his second attempt here, he pulls his own version of sequelitis. The jokes that were nonstop in Ragnarok have been tripled. The stylish color palette in the place of an environment, now drowns out everyone in the scenes.
The amount of CG here outpaces the unreal aspects of The Phantom Menace. Everything, outside of two scenes, is filmed using green screen. And it’s not pretty. The characters are so clearly acting in a Target photo studio and nothing feels real.
Everything from the visuals, writing, and performances feels synthetic. This feels like beefcake abuse to Chris Hemsworth. Clearly, he’s having the time of his life hamming it up, but it’s a shallow facade that has delved into self parody. One of the central themes they attempt here is, who is Thor and what is his purpose. This question is left largely unanswered.
On the positive side, this movie tells its own version of the rise and fall of the romance between Jane and Thor in the past. It establishes a semblance of chemistry where none has been in the first two movies with the characters. There are moments when Portman is acting in a few scenes, but every time she Thor’s out, she feels just as fake as the backgrounds that are created in post-production.
The less said about their traveling companions the better. There’s such a short runtime here and the movie would have been stronger had it just focused on the two Thors. However, Waititi cannot help but insert himself, along with Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie as the comic relief. They do nothing but drag down every moment with non-stop one-liners.
So, there is good found here. Christian Bale brings class to this silly cartoon. Every single time he’s on screen (which isn’t much), it feels like a film. There is zero levity to his character, and not only that, his scenes are incredibly stylized in such a rich way. There is a black and white battle that is so incredibly memorable and a visual feast. I would have loved to see more restraint in the bubble-gum filmmaking we get for 90% of the movie, and have it focus more on Gorr, which could have created actual stakes and tension.
Thor: Love and Thunder has its highlights, specifically when it comes to its villain. However, most of it just feels improvised with actors against a green screen. In terms of what it does for the character of Thor, it might be his worst installment. If it were funny, that would be one thing, but you’ll groan more than you’ll smile while watching it. It might be best to wait for D(isney)+ for this C- adventure.
Comments are closed.