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Update: July 5, 2022
Dragonlord’s Review of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER [Updated] (Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Wastes whatever goodwill Ragnarok had, Thor: Love and Thunder ruins a promising set-up with poor story execution and an overabundance of silly jokes.
After revitalizing the Thor franchise with one of the best MCU films - Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi returns with Thor: Love and Thunder. Unfortunately, lightning doesn’t strike twice as the fourth installment fumbles due to poor story execution despite a promising build-up.
One of the major reasons why Ragnarok was so much successful than Love and Thunder probably boils down to one of the most underrated elements in comic book cinema – the writers. Ragnarok was written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher L. Yost which all three combined have more than a dozen superhero writing to their credits. For Love and Thunder, Waititi mainly wrote the story himself with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson polishing it and neither of the two have any superhero writing credits under their belt. This situation is similar to how Patty Jenkins was given free rein to do whatever she wanted in Wonder Woman 1984 with disastrous results.
Adapted (but not so well) from Jason Aaron’s run on The Mighty Thor comic book, Thor has to stop Gorr the God Butcher from killing all the gods. Odinson recruits King Valkyrie, Korg and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster who now wields the newly reformed Mjolnir and is now the Mighty Thor. Together, they have to travel to Omnipotent City to ask the gods for help in stopping Gorr and save the Asgardians kids that have been kidnapped by the God Butcher.
Chris Hemsworth looks more jacked up than ever before but there’s just something about the characterization of Thor in here that I found off-putting. Oftentimes it doesn’t feel like he’s the main character, like he’s still stuck being portrayed as a buffoon from Avengers: Endgame. He always says something clumsy and idiotic that feels too forced. Sure, the character was also the butt of many jokes in Ragnarok but it was tempered with many redeeming cool and heroic moments that made him feel like he was still the leading man. In short, they Joey’d Thor. If Star-Lord seems to be the more mature adult than Thor, then that just shows how they fumbled with Thor's characterization. And the scenes where Thor nervously talks to Mjolnir and Stormbreaker are initially humorous but does not stand up well on repeated viewings.
Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor was fun but could have been better presented. Her backstory from being a cancer patient to how she gained the power of Thor and how her arc resolved were done satisfyingly but again could have been better. The flashback scenes when Jane and Thor were still dating were adorable.
From the unique look and intense performance, Christian Bale was magnificent as Gorr the God Butcher. His origin story was told splendidly but some of the scenes they gave him later were not really good. For a being called God Butcher, we didn’t get to see much butchering. It would have been awesome to see Gorr slay a few more gods before going up against Thor, similar to how Hela got to have that badass fight scene with the Asgardian army in Ragnarok. Gorr's master plan also seemed trite and misuses a comic book character turning it into a magical genie.
My favorite part was the Shadow Realm scene where all the bright colors were drained and it’s mostly black and white (did Zack Snyder direct this?). The noir-ish imageries looked amazing with each frame fit for a screen grab. There were some scary moments in here and made me wish that the film was a bit more serious like this. The opening action scene with Thor kicking major ass was great as well. The visual design for Omnipotence City was gorgeous and it was nice to see the other gods as well with Russell Crowe hamming it up (figuratively and literally) as Zeus was another high point. The return of the Asgardian theater troupe with a new cast member was hilarious as well.
Similar to Ragnarok, Taika infuses Love and Thunder with a metal motif from its font to its song selection with a Guns N’ Roses theme as four of their songs are featured. I hope I get to see someday an INXS theme soundtrack for a young superhero film. Thor has three costumes in the movie and I love all of them. I’ve always wanted to see Thor with a fur cape or fur shoulder accessory and I finally get to see it here.
Thor: Love and Thunder doesn’t live up to expectations and Taika's over indulgence on creating too many silly jokes and making Thor a buffoon most of the time hurts the movie. The film could have used an extra 20 minutes to flesh out some of the characters. The ending climax involving the children was so… childish and cheesy that it almost ruins the entire movie for me and forces me to deduct its movie rating. Not too thrilled with Thor’s ending as well because it felt too abrupt (I’m conflicted about this and needs a second viewing). Stick around for two post-credits scenes.
RATING: 5.5/10
Dragonlord’s Review of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER [Updated] (Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Wastes whatever goodwill Ragnarok had, Thor: Love and Thunder ruins a promising set-up with poor story execution and an overabundance of silly jokes.
After revitalizing the Thor franchise with one of the best MCU films - Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi returns with Thor: Love and Thunder. Unfortunately, lightning doesn’t strike twice as the fourth installment fumbles due to poor story execution despite a promising build-up.
One of the major reasons why Ragnarok was so much successful than Love and Thunder probably boils down to one of the most underrated elements in comic book cinema – the writers. Ragnarok was written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher L. Yost which all three combined have more than a dozen superhero writing to their credits. For Love and Thunder, Waititi mainly wrote the story himself with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson polishing it and neither of the two have any superhero writing credits under their belt. This situation is similar to how Patty Jenkins was given free rein to do whatever she wanted in Wonder Woman 1984 with disastrous results.
Adapted (but not so well) from Jason Aaron’s run on The Mighty Thor comic book, Thor has to stop Gorr the God Butcher from killing all the gods. Odinson recruits King Valkyrie, Korg and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster who now wields the newly reformed Mjolnir and is now the Mighty Thor. Together, they have to travel to Omnipotent City to ask the gods for help in stopping Gorr and save the Asgardians kids that have been kidnapped by the God Butcher.
Chris Hemsworth looks more jacked up than ever before but there’s just something about the characterization of Thor in here that I found off-putting. Oftentimes it doesn’t feel like he’s the main character, like he’s still stuck being portrayed as a buffoon from Avengers: Endgame. He always says something clumsy and idiotic that feels too forced. Sure, the character was also the butt of many jokes in Ragnarok but it was tempered with many redeeming cool and heroic moments that made him feel like he was still the leading man. In short, they Joey’d Thor. If Star-Lord seems to be the more mature adult than Thor, then that just shows how they fumbled with Thor's characterization. And the scenes where Thor nervously talks to Mjolnir and Stormbreaker are initially humorous but does not stand up well on repeated viewings.
Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor was fun but could have been better presented. Her backstory from being a cancer patient to how she gained the power of Thor and how her arc resolved were done satisfyingly but again could have been better. The flashback scenes when Jane and Thor were still dating were adorable.
From the unique look and intense performance, Christian Bale was magnificent as Gorr the God Butcher. His origin story was told splendidly but some of the scenes they gave him later were not really good. For a being called God Butcher, we didn’t get to see much butchering. It would have been awesome to see Gorr slay a few more gods before going up against Thor, similar to how Hela got to have that badass fight scene with the Asgardian army in Ragnarok. Gorr's master plan also seemed trite and misuses a comic book character turning it into a magical genie.
My favorite part was the Shadow Realm scene where all the bright colors were drained and it’s mostly black and white (did Zack Snyder direct this?). The noir-ish imageries looked amazing with each frame fit for a screen grab. There were some scary moments in here and made me wish that the film was a bit more serious like this. The opening action scene with Thor kicking major ass was great as well. The visual design for Omnipotence City was gorgeous and it was nice to see the other gods as well with Russell Crowe hamming it up (figuratively and literally) as Zeus was another high point. The return of the Asgardian theater troupe with a new cast member was hilarious as well.
Similar to Ragnarok, Taika infuses Love and Thunder with a metal motif from its font to its song selection with a Guns N’ Roses theme as four of their songs are featured. I hope I get to see someday an INXS theme soundtrack for a young superhero film. Thor has three costumes in the movie and I love all of them. I’ve always wanted to see Thor with a fur cape or fur shoulder accessory and I finally get to see it here.
Thor: Love and Thunder doesn’t live up to expectations and Taika's over indulgence on creating too many silly jokes and making Thor a buffoon most of the time hurts the movie. The film could have used an extra 20 minutes to flesh out some of the characters. The ending climax involving the children was so… childish and cheesy that it almost ruins the entire movie for me and forces me to deduct its movie rating. Not too thrilled with Thor’s ending as well because it felt too abrupt (I’m conflicted about this and needs a second viewing). Stick around for two post-credits scenes.
RATING: 5.5/10
The mid-credit scene reveals Zeus is still alive and vowing vengeance on Thor and to make the humans fear the gods again. We then see Hercules, played by Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein. On paper it’s a terrible choice as the actor is too short to play the Olympian powerhouse. But he seemed tall and ripped in his appearance (CGI or camera trick?), so there’s a chance this might not suck after all? Needs a second viewing to be sure.
The post-credits scene shows Jane Foster arriving in Valhalla where Heimdall (Idris Elba) welcomes her. I dunno why but Heimdall looked odd with him seemingly lost weight. A second viewing is again needed.
The post-credits scene shows Jane Foster arriving in Valhalla where Heimdall (Idris Elba) welcomes her. I dunno why but Heimdall looked odd with him seemingly lost weight. A second viewing is again needed.
I said after watching the trailer that I was worried they'd make Thor Odinson into a supporting character in his own movie. SMH.
