By Jack Nachwalter | November 30, 2022
It’s fair to say the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been struggling post-Avengers: Endgame. Each new addition to the MCU seems to have a different tone than the next. We’re jumping between more serious movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home into flat-out comedies like She-Hulk. The tonal whiplash has never been as strong in the MCU as it is now. And I think the movie that best exemplifies this extreme disparity between humor and grounded storytelling is the recently released Thor: Love & Thunder. Many people saw the previous film, Thor: Ragnarok, as the breath of fresh air the titular character desperately needed. Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) has been a staple of the universe going back to his first movie in 2010. However, those first two Thor movies struggled to create a strong emotional attachment to the character. Then in 2017, Taika Waititi came along with Thor: Ragnarok, an action comedy that breathed new life into the character. The film successfully established his role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. So where to go with the next film? While Thor: Ragnarok sometimes was a little forced in its humor, it never went over the top to the point of being distracting. Thor: Love & Thunder, on the other hand, is its own worst enemy. One great and one awful movie constantly fighting for screen time in a film where the director didn’t care that much. The result is one of the most strange MCU movies yet. Let’s discuss why.
Thor: Love & Thunder picks up not long after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Thor has been traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy, getting into all kinds of extraterrestrial escapades. Meanwhile, a disciple named Gorr (played by Chrisitan Bale) has been disillusioned with his god after the death of his daughter. He finds himself possessing the Nercosword (a weapon capable of killing gods) and begins a path of destruction to kill all the gods. That isn’t all, though, Jane Foster (Thor’s former love interest played by Natalie Portman) returns to the MCU, but she is, unfortunately, suffering from cancer. She then seeks out help in the form of Thor’s old weapon Mjolnir and, using it, becomes the Mighty Thor. Thor is in a race to stop Gorr while also dealing with having Jane fight alongside him.
I’ll start with the positives of this film because despite what I thought going in, I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of issues, but those saying the film is complete garbage don’t give it enough credit. For starters, Chrisitan Bale performs fantastically as Gorr the God Butcher. I was genuinely surprised to see Bale return to superhero movies, but I’m not complaining. He’s one of the best actors working today and kills it in the role. Gorr’s motivation is solid, and the opening scene where Gorr’s daughter dies and he gets the Nercosword is genuinely fantastic. The apparent issue with Gorr is he gets far less screen time than he deserves. MCU has an issue with its villains, with most being cookie-cutter but having too much screen time. However, here, it’s the opposite. They have a great villain who doesn’t get enough to do. Instead of spending more time on Gorr dealing with his grief and plight, we get a lot of humor, I mean a lot of humor. Still, Gorr is one of the MCU's better villains, and it’s a shame they didn’t do much with him.
Another positive of Thor: Love & Thunder is something I didn’t expect to enjoy, which is Thor and Jane’s relationship. In those first two Thor movies, both Hemsworth and Portman were good, and they had decent chemistry, but the dullness of the films held them back. Before the film's release, I had assumed that Portman only returned to get that sweet Disney paycheck, but she gives it her all. There are several great scenes between the two main characters where they deliver some heartfelt dialogue. It’s weird to say that the more “serious” moments of the film were the best because the overbearing seriousness of the first two movies is hard to get through, but it’s very well done here. Hemsworth is fantastic as Thor; even if he comes across as kind of idiot throughout, he’s still great. The scenes between him and Portman carry the film whenever Gorr is not on screen. No spoilers here, but I also enjoyed the ending, assuming Marvel doesn’t mess with it later down the line. I’ve seen many people say the end is a little weak, and I get that, especially since Gorr didn't get enough screen time, but honestly, I liked it. It feels like an excellent direction for Thor’s character, assuming it’s handled well. Who would’ve thought that giving great actors like Hemsworth, Bale, and Portman time to give emotional performances is really great? Unfortunately, those emotional moments, Gorr’s performance, and the ending are the best aspects of the movie. The rest, well, it’s a mixed bag.
In retrospect, changing Thor to become a more comedic character was almost a mistake. It works well enough in Thor: Ragnarok, but in Love & Thunder, they went too far. When Thor is not in the few emotional moments he has, he’s a dufus. He comes across like an idiot more often than I think the filmmakers intended. Again, Chris Hemsworth is great, and I would hate to go back to the Thor we had in his first two solo films, but that balance of comedy and emotional baggage did so well in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame is just missing here. Thor, however, is not the only comedic problem with the movie. While this might sound a bit hyperbolic, Thor: Love & Thunder is the least funny MCU movie to date (yes, I include Ant-Man & The Wasp and Captain Marvel). There’s going to be humor in this MCU movie, and I’m okay with that. The day the MCU puts out drape depressing crap like Batman vs. Superman would be a dark day. However, they went way too overboard with the humor. It is constant and never funny. Most of the film is dedicated to “jokes” that fall flat every time. I find many of Taika Waititi’s earlier films to be funny, but I have no idea what he was going for here. One of the jokes is that Thor is given two goats that scream. Remember screaming Goats? From 2010? I don’t care if they're in the comics; so much time is spent on these goats, and it’s so annoying. The film would break its pace so often to have a funny scene which 99% of the time doesn’t feel natural. There was only one time I chuckled, just once. And it was more of a breath chuckle than a hardy bellowing laugh.
Two of the biggest culprits to the failure of the film at being funny is found with Korg (played by Waititi himself) and Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson). Korg doesn’t work as a side character. I thought he was primarily funny in Thor: Ragnarok, but he works better in a minor role. The fact that he has so much stake in the plot is a determent to the script. Nothing that comes out of Korg’s mouth feels in tune with what’s happening on screen, and his humor never lands. As for Valkyrie, she’s just kind of bland. I wasn’t a massive fan of hers in Thor: Ragnarok, but she wasn’t distracting because more interesting characters surrounded her. The film wants you to think that Valkyrie is this badass king who is sick of the politicking that comes with the role, but Thompson performs very poorly. I never bought her as the badass the script desperately wants you to think she is. There have been so many “too cool for school” characters in the MCU alone, so her performance feels even more cookie-cutter. Her bland acting stands out, even more, when next to Portman, who gives a quality performance. Unsurprisingly, the best scenes are the ones where Valkyrie and Korg aren’t present.
The other characters range in quality drastically. While it’s also great to see the Guardians of the Galaxy, I’m glad they were barely in the film. James Gunn has created such a unique voice with those characters, and it would be weird for Waiti to try to replicate it. So I’m glad they were barely present, and in fact, I thought Starlord (played by Chris Pratt) was perfect for the short time he was present. You can tell Starlord is so defeated by the losses he’s suffered, and he’s just not the same goofball he used to be. His performance looks even better when he’s talking to Thor, who is trying to be funny, but Starlord doesn’t reciprocate his humor. If anything, this makes me even more excited for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Another prominent character is Zeus (played by Russell Crowe). I thought the opening scene where we see Gorr’s god being an asshole was good, but I feel like they went a little too far into the “gods are dicks” angle. Not only did the film make it evident that Zeus would be a jerk, but they didn’t even attempt to give him character outside of his childish demeanor. I don’t think there’s a single god in the film (aside from Thor, obviously) who isn’t an asshole. It would’ve been nice to have some contrast between good gods and evil gods, but the film doesn’t do it. Later in the film, Valkyrie says to Gorr that he’s “murdering innocent gods,” but how can she say that when all she has seen in this film is the gods being yellow-bellied cowards? Again, this script feels like a first draft in many ways; good ideas are barely flushed out.
If the story is a mess, the characters a mess, the writing a mess, at least the action sequences should be entertaining. Well, I’ve got good news, Thor: Love & Thunder has excellent action scenes, mostly, sort of, it’s a mixed bag. Waititi is a good director; despite not putting 100% effort into this movie, some of his styles shine through. One of the more remarkable aspects of the film is when Gorr is around, the film transitions to black & white. It’s a creative choice that shakes up what could be run-of-the-mill scenes with the villains. The action scene later in the film, set on a small planet all in black & white, is genuinely excellent. I also like how Gorr’s army comes from the shadow, and they all like different monsters. It’s more interesting than just mindless bad guys. The action scenes also showcase some of Waititi’s good camerawork. There are genuinely great shots in the movie, especially during action sequences. However, much of the action feels messy, too, and that can be blamed on spotty CGI. One of the news stories that came out before the film's release was a clip of Waititi and Thompson resting to the CGI in the movie. During this interview, the pair commented on the CGI not looking reasonable or realistic. It’s obvious to point out how much of an asshole the pair of them are for saying that, especially when more stories show how much Disney mistreats CGI artists. While much of the CGI is creative and mostly fine, there are some really distracting moments. Still, I don’t blame the CGI artists at all. All the fault lands on the asshole of a director who cared so little about them that he would mock their work without a second thought.
Overall, Thor: Love & Thunder is a mess; the film is only as good as it is swamped with cringe, predictable humor. Emotional, hard-hitting moments are undercut with weak writing and a plot held together by cliches. The film has a compelling, well-acted villain that it doesn’t take full advantage of, which results in an ending while overall good, in my opinion, feels a bit unearned. I appreciate a lot of what the film is trying to do, but ultimately its reliance on terrible humor holds it back from being a movie I would recommend. I genuinely expected to tear this movie apart before watching it. I thought I would hate it and have nothing good to say. However, I’m left more annoyed than anything after having seen it. The MCU is in desperate need of something to latch audiences onto. The five-year plan Marvel announced, which will supposedly lead to the next big Avenger movie, isn’t enough to maintain my fading interest. Even Spider-Man: No Way Home is a decent movie that rode the highs of nostalgia and fan service. Thor: Love & Thunder could’ve been the breath of fresh air to get many people's interest in the dwindling MCU. Instead, it’s a missed opportunity where great moments, scenes, and characters are overshadowed by some of the worst, most distracting humor I’ve seen in a superhero film. At this point, the only thing keeping me moderately interested in the MCU is Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (because James Gunn is a genius), but after that, I think I’m done. I love superhero movies, but this new direction Marvel is taking is dull, lazy, and lacks any of the stakes of the Infinity Saga. Despite the good elements, I can’t recommend Thor: Love & Thunder, and I hope the next Thor project gets a writer and director who doesn’t love himself too much. Chris Hemsworth, you deserve better.
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