When director Taika Waititi took over the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Thor movies with 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, he deliberately distanced the series from its first two entries, which are often considered weak spots in the monolithic MCU. With the new Thor: Love and Thunder, Waititi reaches back to those earlier Thor movies, putting his own spin on some of their major plot elements. Primarily, he brings back Natalie Portman as Thor's scientist ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who was a somewhat bland presence in the first two movies, but here she takes a more proactive role in Thor's superheroic adventures.
That's because Jane becomes a superhero herself, a version of the Norse thunder god who goes by the title of Mighty Thor. The original Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is still feeling a bit lost, processing the events of the last several MCU movies and their multiple universe-threatening catastrophes. At the end of 2019's Avengers: Endgame, Thor joined up with the spacefaring Guardians of the Galaxy, but Waititi dispatches with them fairly quickly, glossing over a series of offscreen adventures via narration from Thor's buddy, the goofy rock-covered alien Korg (played by Waititi). The unwieldiness of the MCU necessitates a lot of recapping, but Waititi eventually streamlines the movie down to Thor, a few allies and a villain who threatens the existence of Thor's home and his people.
Although Thor's realm of Asgard was destroyed in Ragnarok, the Asgardians are thriving in their new home on Earth, until they're threatened by the sinister Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks vengeance on all gods for forsaking him and his late daughter in their hour of need. Bale makes Gorr both menacing and tragic, but his seriousness is a bit out of place in the lively, joke-filled style that Waititi established with Ragnarok and continues here. The tonal imbalance is one of Love and Thunder's biggest issues, as it lurches from heavy discussions about death to wacky banter, sometimes within the same conversation.
That makes Gorr seem like less of a threat, even though he's on the verge of annihilating all gods. Thor recruits Jane, Korg and Asgardian leader Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to help him defeat Gorr and rescue a group of kidnapped Asgardian children, but their downtime is often more compelling than the big action sequences. Waititi retroactively makes the romance between Thor and Jane more interesting, with flashbacks that fill in the gaps between movies. Portman's physical transformation into a musclebound action hero is impressive, but it's only one aspect of Jane's journey as a character.
A detour to a city filled with gods (including Russell Crowe and his bizarre Greek-ish accent as Zeus) comes off as filler, although the tossed-off vibe of Love and Thunder is mostly appealing. When every movie is about the potential end of existence, the MCU can feel exhausting, and Love and Thunder tells a story that is vitally important to its particular characters without having to encompass the entirety of Marvel's superhero lineup. Gorr continues the MCU tradition of underwhelming villains, especially in the finale, but the movie isn't really about him anyway.
Visually, Love and Thunder doesn't deviate from the established MCU template, although Waititi adds creative touches where he can, aiming for a sort of 1980s hard rock aesthetic (reflected in a soundtrack filled with Guns N' Roses songs). At this point, the special effects, costumes and set design in these movies are largely interchangeable, and the various intergalactic and mythological locations have the same bright, slightly plastic look. The variations within the MCU remain minimal, but Love and Thunder finds a fun approach within its limited scope. ♦
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
