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Plot Summary: Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.

Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Taika Waititi

Runtime: 1 hour 59 mins

Main Cast:

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Natalie Portman as Jane Foster
• Christian Bale as Gorr
• Tessa Thompson as King Valkryie
• Taika Waititi as Korg (voice)

Review by: Sam

This author’s favorite comic book arcs include:

• Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men
• Jason Aaron’s run on Thor, in which he introduced the god butcher
• Tom King’s Run on Batman
• Geoff Johns’ run on The Flash
• Dan Slott’s run on Superior Spider-Man

Just FYSA, Bendis’ Superman and Tom King’s Mister Miracle bring up the rear and almost made it in. This is to say that I LOVE the god butcher arc in the comics and was so excited to see it on screen. Some things I liked immensely…others not so much.

What I liked

Christian Bale, Christian Bale, and Christian Bale! Oh wow, did he knock this role out of the park- he was BY FAR the best part of the movie. His character Gorr (the god butcher) was probably the most relatable, possibly the most memorable, and definitely the most terrifying part of the movie. He is actually the first character we see as the movie begins and we come to understand his motivation pretty quickly. From then on, he is used sparingly which is good because you enjoy him, even more, when he eventually appears on the screen. And, “appears” is the correct term here because his power involves the use of shadows so when he shows up, you see his piercing orange eyes first in the darkness before the rest of his body shows up. That effect was very cool to see and added to his terror. Again, you understand his anguish and Bale sells it really well- he kind of gives off Killmonger vibes in that you totally get why he’s doing these bad things even if you don’t agree.

Now, if you liked Thor: Ragnarok you will love this; if not, you’ll hate it. The comedy was pushed up to 11 for Thor: Love and Thunder. It is actually more-so a comedy film than an action/adventure or superhero movie. I laughed a lot…a whole lot actually. Taika Waititi continues his hot streak in the comedy department with this one and every actor (outside of Bale, understandably) was all in. The comedic timing of Chris Hemsworth can’t be over-emphasized; it is something that is just intangible with him.

The other thing I enjoyed is, like the recent Dr. Strange movie, this one doesn’t seem overly concerned with using its actual runtime to set up other movies or reference other characters. It is a self-contained Thor story, and you don’t have to worry about seeing a catalog of other films or shows to really grasp what’s happening.

What I didn’t like

Ok so if you saw the trailer, you know the movie. The god butcher wants to kill gods and Thor and friends need to stop him- that’s it, literally. No big twists or reveals here. This is what led to a couple of the film’s problems. First, the story and story devices really fell flat for me. I like the character of Gorr but how he was planning to accomplish his goal and how the heroes were planning to stop him felt kind of lazy. It almost felt like they wanted to focus on the comedic aspects so much that the actual threat and response were put in the background.

Without spoiling, Gorr’s ultimate goal wasn’t dumb and was kind of terrifying but the road there was just so basic to the point it was kind of boring. Thinking about it now, perhaps he was used sparingly because the story/script didn’t permit him to do much. The same goes with Thor and friends- their plan the whole movie was basically “find the god butcher and stop the god butcher” which they rinsed and repeated 3 times over.

The movie is framed as a story from Korg- the rock creature from the last film. He’s telling a group of children the story as a narrator so we see what he’s narrating. This story device didn’t really work for me- I honestly just felt it was cheesy.

However, the BIGGEST problem for the film is its use of comedy. I said I liked how it made me laugh, but I HATED how much the movie relied on comedy- it was basically a parody film. This is not a long movie at all, clocking in under 2 hours and I would say 90% of the film didn’t take itself seriously. It’s almost as if Waititi said “anytime Gorr is not on the screen, we want this to feel like Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure.”  There are some very serious moments (comic fans know what’s up with Jane at this point), and the whole thing just feels like a joke. The problem with Marvel films and their emotional components has been that after a deep or heavy moment a joke immediately follows before you can really feel that moment. In Thor: Love and Thunder, you don’t even get to the moment because jokes are interlaced into every moment of dialogue so there is no gravitas to be found.

It actually gets to a point where you accept this is a comedy so when characters are speaking about the plot or something in their lives…you don’t care. You don’t care about the more serious aspects of the characters in this movie and that is not something I’ve ever experienced in a Marvel film- even ones I’ve hated like Eternals.

The other thing that bothered me was the way the movie ended. The ultimate resolution between Gorr and Thor -which felt very deus ex machina; and, the place where Thor ends up at the end of the film (and who he’s with) felt incredibly forced and honestly just dumb.

Finally, I’m not sure if this is good or bad, but the action scenes are fine- just fine. Nothing blows you away or is innovative but it’s not terrible and there are one or two cool action scenes to witness (especially with Jane’s Thor). The obligatory noticeable green screen in a Marvel film is also present, just as an FYI