A One Mann’s Movies review of “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022).
So the latest episode of the “Take” movie podcast by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo generated the most heated discussion I’ve yet seen between the generally polite bickering that goes on between the pair. (You can see it on Youtube here.) Mayo thought “Thor: Love and Thunder” was quite jolly and fun, whereas Kermode (who is obviously ALWAYS right!) thought it was “genuinely properly terrible”. I wouldn’t go quite as far as the good Doctor in my dislike of the film, but I must admit to being far more in Dr Kermode’s camp on this one rather than Mr Mayo’s. I found it deeply disappointing.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Gorr (Christian Bane) loses his daughter and in so doing denounces his God. Now bestowed with powers, and restyled as “The God Butcher” he sets out to destroy all of the Gods in the universe, including those residing in ‘New Asgard’ – now styled as a fishing village cum theme park. It is up to Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to stop him. But he’ll need some help…
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe, Chris Pratt.
Directed by: Taika Waititi.
Written by: Taika Waititi & Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Twitter Handles: #ThorLoveAndThunder.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” Review:
Positives:
- Christian Bale steals the show here as the tortured soul Gorr. Superb acting that deserves to be in a much better film. Gorr actually makes a nuanced Marvel villain for once, with some genuinely interesting lines. When challenged that he is “nothing like Thor” he retorts “That’s right – I’m not a hypocrite”.
- I’ve seen huge scorn heaped on Russell Crowe for his camp comedic turn as Zeus, but I’ll actually drop this into the “Positives” list, since I did at least find this sequence moderately entertaining. (As were his lovely band of “Zeusettes”, fainting away as Thor’s manhood is suddenly revealed – one of the few decent laughs for me.) Crowe’s accent though unfortunately dragged me straight back to Jared Leto’s horrendous turn in “House of Gucci” though….. traumatic!
- It’s a very pro-LGBTQ film, with Tessa Thompson’s excellent King Valkyrie (should there not be a more gender-neutral version of King and Queen?) firmly coming out for the same-sex team. And even Thor’s silicon-based buddy Korg finds another male to… ahem… get his rocks off with.
- I hadn’t realised before seeing the film that the girl playing Gorr’s daughter is actually Hemsworth’s own daughter India. Hemsworth posted this picture from the first film to the latest, which is really cute!
Negatives:
- It’s clear what the thought process was here. 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok” was a light-hearted, often hysterical, Marvel romp where its tongue was firmly in its cheek and Taika Waititi’s anarchic style of comedy was allowed to peep through. “Let’s do the same again, but more so!” said the studio. But it all feels so desperate this time in self-mocking the Marvel Universe that gave it birth.
- The plot is a nonsensical stringing together of fantasy elements, set against the garish “Guardians of the Galaxy” colour palette.
- The comedy comes as a scattergun of visual and dialogue-based gags. A few of them land, but many fall dead to the floor.
- Some of the comedy ideas like the cameo actors in Asgard, that were novel and hilarious in “Thor: Ragnarok”, are simply rehashed with a careless “it worked before, it’ll work again” premise. (Sorry, but no).
- Even new comedy, like the screaming giant goats, feels tired – based, as they are, on an internet meme already ten years old. (Although I must admit to laughing when they “landed” on the ‘dark zone’ planet).
- What is Waititi’s obsession with dropping cancer references into his comedy films? I really went RIGHT OFF the guy with his (I presumed ad-libbed) line about cancer in the otherwise pretty entertaining “Free Guy“. And now, here is Natalie Portman’s Jane Fonda… sorry… Foster with stage 4 cancer. I understand that it is a dramatic plot point for the story, but for anyone who has suffered either directly or indirectly from this dreadful disease (and I just recently lost a very good friend to it) it’s a reminder of ‘real life’ they want to avoid while being immersed in a fantasy world. Surely to God the writers could have found a different way to reflect that ‘sacrifice’?
Monkeys?
As this is a Marvel film, of course there are monkeys!
- The one mid-credits trots back to Russell Crowe’s Zeus in Omnipotence City (clearly just a flesh wound!) and introduces a new character for subsequent films – Hercules played by Brett Goldstein (who apparently is a lead in “Ted Lasso”);
- A final one, which I won’t spoil, that brings back another long-gone Marvel character. However, given an earlier glacial discussion in the film, this makes no sense whatsoever!
Summary Thoughts on “Thor: Love and Thunder”:
All in all, this was marketed as movie firmly at the ‘comedy’ end of the MCU spectrum. But, for me, it really struggled to meet the “six laughs” test. Sure, there were multiple smiles, but very few decent belly laughs.
I’m sure this will make a ton of money, and those at the younger end of the Marvel market will love it. And I’m sure some will be incensed with my low rating. But this just didn’t do much for me, and my rating reflects that disappointment. I read somewhere that this was the 29th MCU movie. But if this is anything to go by, the creative wheels seem to be coming off the Marvel money train.
Trailer for “Thor: Love and Thunder”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go8nTmfrQd8 .
