Thor: Love and Thunder

Yesterday on Disney+, I saw “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which came out in July, and I will let you know what I thought about it.

After the surprisingly mixed response of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in need of a great return to the large screen, and Taika Waititi’s vivacious film is exactly what we needed. Comprised so much with heart, hope, self-discovery, and a great amount of humor, the new Thor is exactly what audiences think as the follow-up to “Thor: Ragnorak,” except Waititi has completely got the calculation right.

In the aftermath of “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel’s heroes have been merging their pasts while creating new future paths – and at the beginning of this film, Thor, reprised by Chris Hemsworth, finds himself on a similar journey. As Korg (Waititi) narrates, Thor has been in a bad place for the past couple of years, only worsen by the breakup he went through with Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) about eight years ago. Teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, and Vin Diesel), Thor has been spending his time helping people all over the galaxy, and completely missing the importance of working as a team.

Though Thor may be the protagonist that attract people to the film, “Thor: Love and Thunder” starts with the greatly sad story of what made Gorr become the God Butcher. Gorr, played by Christian Bale, is such a scary enjoyable addition to Marvel’s recent group of villains because he isn’t completely villainous. The gods disheartened Gorr and his daughter, played by Hemsworth’s daughter, India Rose Hemsworth, causing her to die, and that makes Gorr turn to revenge. Maggie Lovitt said in her review, “He’s my personal favorite type of baddie: a sad dad. Love and Thunder is Bale’s most frightening transformation yet; he is sinister, skeletal, and all-around creepy.” Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s script is completely aware of how to create a sympathetic villain, particularly by making him as a foil to Jane’s own story.

Lovitt said, “While Thor has been galavanting around the galaxy trying to find himself again post-break-up, Jane has dedicated herself to science, climbing through the ranks of academia and publishing a number of books about her research.” Recently, her focus has changed to finding a cure for her cancer that is now on Stage Four. Despite the desperation that she is in, she seems strangely optimistic – which her friend Darcy Lewis, reprised by Kat Dennings, doesn’t entirely get. Despite Darcy insisting that Jane should call Thor, Jane is determined to fight the cancer alone. It’s interesting that Thor and Jane both seem unable of asking for help, even when they desperately need it. What Jane doesn’t know is that Thor’s love for Jane and Mjolnir while they were dating brought the two together, and now that Thor is using Stormbreaker, Mjolnir calls out to Jane when she needs it – offering her a medicine for her cancer, even if it is only temporary.

Jane and Thor reunite in the middle of the fight in New Asgard when Gorr attacks the fishing town at night while they’re sleeping and uses his shadow beings to kidnap every Asgardian child. Their reunion is the perfect blend of regret, shock, and conflict all combined together with the right dose of humor. Lovitt said, “With the exception of WandaVision’s more sit-com styling, Thor: Love and Thunder may be the first honest-to-goodness Marvel rom-com.” It has every aspect of one, even though it doesn’t have a predictable happily ever after. Thor and Jane reunite after eight years, learn to work together again, and fall back in love with each other.

Thor, Jane, King Valkyrie, reprised by Tessa Thompson, and Korg decide that the only way to beat Gorr will be to gather the rest of the gods to fight against Gorr – which sadly goes nowhere because the gods only care about themselves, as Gorr find out many years ago. Omnipotence City is a beautiful place filled with gods from every part of the universe, ruled over by the laughably unimpressive Zeus, played by Russell Crowe. You can see that Crowe was enjoying himself with this comedic change, using so many accents, dramatics, and humor. When everything starts to get worse, Thor takes matters into his own hands and steals Zeus’ thunderbolt wanting to use it against Gorr.

The third act of “Thor: Love and Thunder” is completely straightforward. Despite a brave attempt to work together to defeat Gorr, Thor, in the end, has to go to the Center of the Universe alone to face Gorr as he tries to open a portal to Eternity. Rather than doing everything by himself (like he did when he was working with the Guardians of the Galaxy) Thor decides to temporarily teach Axl, played by Kieron L. Dyer, and the rest of the Asgardian children with the power of his thunder to let them fight Gorr’s shadow monsters while he fights Gorr. Lovitt credited, “This is one of the best moments in the entire film: seeing children given the tools they need to fight their own monsters, strikes at the very heart of what makes comic books so magical.”

In the end, Jane makes the ultimate sacrifice to make sure that Thor and the rest of the gods are not killed by Gorr, and Gorr makes the ultimate sacrifice to make sure that his daughter is able to live a long and happy life. Lovitt admitted, “As someone who typically dislikes sacrificial redemption, Thor: Love and Thunder manages to achieve it organically by never fully damning Gorr for his reaction to his circumstances.” Ultimately both sacrifices feel genuine to character and it builds towards something really satisfying.

Obviously “Thor: Love and Thunder” has flaws. Lovitt said, “While it is, without a doubt, one of the best Marvel films—and the best of Phase 4—it often relies a little too heavily on humor to convey pieces of dialogue that should be given a bit more weight and really sticks to its guns for comedic purposes, particularly with a fake-out death that should have stuck. It is a breath of fresh air in comparison to other ventures into the MCU, relying on its main cast to carry the film, without needing cameos, allusions, or fan service. Riding on the high of The Batman, Jurassic World Dominion, Lightyear, and now Thor: Love and Thunder, Michael Giacchino delivers an epic soundtrack that perfectly mirrors the larger-than-life cinematography and storytelling playing out for a little over two hours.” Combined with classic songs like Welcome to the Jungle, the soundtrack to this film is a complete enjoyment.

Overall, this film is refreshing journey back to what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is best at giving: summer popcorn films. Lovitt admitted, “As much as I am desperate for the MCU to delve into some of the more complex topics that the comics have tackled in the past, they often fail to stick the landing.” With the new Thor you get exactly what you expect: two hours of laughs, colorful scenery, and the great joy that comes with Waititi’s storytelling.

Jane’s death will undeniably come as a surprise to some viewers, and it may even be a letdown when seeing how upbeat the rest of the film is, but for comic book fans, Jane’s death was completely expected. In The Mighty Thor comic book series, Jane’s transformation into Mighty Thor comes at the same cost as in “Thor: Love and Thunder” – becoming Mighty Thor and holding Mjolnir causes her body’s chemistry to reject her chemotherapy and ultimately, she dies in Thor’s arms. Lovitt mentioned, “This particular comic book run, and Secret Empire, is actually remarkably close to what the MCU has been putting on-screen over the past few years: Sam Wilson is Captain America, Kang the Conqueror is around, among other references to a handful of upcoming projects—which suggests that Jane’s story may not be done.” At least not yet. Spoiler alert: in the post-credit scene, we see Jane at the gates of Valhalla with Heimdall, reprised by Idris Elba, confirming that her sacrifice made her worthy of a warrior’s welcome. In the comics, Thor finds a way to bring Jane back to life, which could still practicably happen on-screen.

One of the main differences between the ending of “Thor: Love and Thunder” and its comic book inspiration The Mighty Thor is Gorr’s daughter, Love. In the comics, Gorr has a son and so many unnamed children, but none of them play such a large part as Love. Lovitt said, “To some extent, Love is a bit of a “token child” for Thor to focus his energy on after Jane’s death, but Waititi manages to make it far more palatable.” Through Gorr and Jane’s deaths, now neither Thor nor Love will be left alone. Love and Thunder teaming up leaves the door open for new stories into fatherhood and even Love reconciling with her origins.

Spoiler alert: the mid-credit scene gives a really unexpected appearance by Hercules, played by Brett Goldstein, who is being forced by his father Zeus to go after Thor to get vengeance for what happened in Omnipotence City. Zeus isn’t about to let Thor get away with trying to kill him! Lovitt noted, “With the success of Ted Lasso, it’s no surprise that Goldstein has made his way into the MCU, and honestly, he’s the perfect Herc. Hercules has been a vital part of the Thor comics since the 1960s and there’s really no telling how they’ll work him into their Phase 5 plans.” Will he make an unexpected appearance in “She-Hulk?” Because Jennifer Walters did represent him one and slept with him.

When my cousin and I watched this yesterday, we both thought this was on par with “Thor: Ragnarok.” It had some great humor, a great team up, and all around a great, enjoyable time. Expect cameos again from Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, and Melissa McCarthy as the theater actors in New Asgard. If you have a Disney+, see this movie, you will have an enjoyable time watching it, I promise. This is another one of my favorite comic book films.

Thank you for joining in on my review tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow for when I review another film.