Thor: Love and Thunder - Movie Review

Thor: Love and Thunder is essentially a victory lap for everything director Taika Waititi achieved in his previous Marvel film, the often hilarious, exhilarating, and distinctively refreshing Thor: Ragnarok. While it has too many familiar trappings and jokes, this fun-filled follow-up is still a force for good, with enough visual ambition and heart in front of and behind the camera to stand on its own.

On the path to healing, we meet our Viking space hero and thunderous Nordic god, Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Going "from fat to phat" (quoting a summary by Waititi's still-charming, rock-bodied Korg), Thor has lost the guts he had in Avengers: Endgame, and the citizens of Asgard have settled in a port town called New Asgard after their homeland was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok. Their leader, the charismatic Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), has helped them adjust to life on Earth, including being a tourist attraction. With the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy in a brief appearance, Thor returns to world-saving form, wielding his Stormbreaker axe in a stylized, high-flying massacre à la many scenes in Thor: Ragnarok. But there's no one to share the victories with, and over the centuries of his life, Thor has reconciled himself to not finding true love.

The film then reintroduces a more interesting character, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor's former love from earlier films during his more serious days. Now wielding restored fragments of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, she transforms into Mighty Thor with helmet and cape, but it all comes at a cost. Every time she uses the power, it takes away her human abilities, which is all the more destructive given that we learn she has stage four cancer. Thor: Love and Thunder cleverly brings Jane back into action while adding depth to her relationship with Thor. In both her human and heroic states, Portman's performance shows why it's great to see Jane again.

This time, the opponent is Gorr the God Butcher, a tormented character full of vengeance who casts a shadow on the film's huge moments of light. After his daughter's death turns him into an unbeliever, Gorr is chosen by a weapon called the Necrosword and creates an army of shapeshifting black beasts to kill all the gods, starting with the one who ignored his plea for help. Christian Bale is striking in this role, oscillating between high and low voices, relishing the chance to bare his fangs. It's the closest we've seen him to playing Pennywise the clown, with a touch of Voldemort but grounded in the same humility that Bale brings to his most human, humiliated characters. Watching him can be great fun, even as Thor: Love and Thunder downplays its god's slaughter for a more sentimental message and forces him to share scenes with frightened children.

Written jointly by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Thor: Love and Thunder simply doesn't evolve as it could. Part of this mess arises.

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