The New Review - Thor: Love and Thunder

Copyright by Disney/Marvel

Thor: Love and Thunder

Director: Taika Waititi

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale

Concept: Taika's go with Thor, a sequel to Ragnarok. And the 4th in the series. And this one... we get introduced to Mighty Thor, aka Dr. Jane Foster!!!

Slightly Spoilery. That is your warning.

Execution

Here we go...

Cast: Hemsworth Thors it up again. You know it. Tessa Thompson with a great support role. Natalie Portman did a great job as the hero. But the highlight of the movie is Christian Bale. His Gorr the God Butcher was amazing. Creepy. The other 3 brought their A game, but Bale brought his A+ game. Score: 18/20

Presentation: Rockin' soundtrack. Bright and colorful. But... equally depressing and dark. And one of the most depressing starts to an MCU movie do far. Straight to the heartstrings. And set a tone that permeates the whole movie. But... the humor, while expected, did take away from the movie a little bit. It wasn't OVERLY funny, like Ragnarok was. But the timing of some of it was out of place. Korg... isn't necessary anymore. Score: 17/20

Chronicle: this is movie with two stories: one for the heroes(Thor, Jane, Valkyrie) and one for the villain(Gorr). The hero story was... happy, positive with a tragic ending. The villain story was dark, depressing with a somewhat peaceful ending. And... that yin yang type works... just know, they feel like two different movies melted together. Not a bad thing... most of the time. And in this case it does, for the most part. The hero side of the story was filled with so many clichés and tropes(but not the one I expected), but it also turned one around(fridging into a hero's death). The villain side... once again, the villain's motivation was justified. But... justified in both sides(the God he worshipped personally... and then the Gods Thor went to for help). The audience understood why. But... methods are what made him a true villain. So... understandable motivations... but despicable actions. A well developed character, portrayed by one of the best actors. Yay to well developed villains. Boo to cramming in too many clichés. Score: 26/30

Impact: Taika Waititi is the first director to repeat in the Thor franchise. And... I was worried going in that Taika would fall into his own trope: overly funny until a serious tone shift. That DIDN'T happen this time. Yes... some of the jokes weren't necessary. But a few were pretty damn good.

"Call the Axe."

"You need to call the dentist." That... worked so well. But the tone was split. Colorful with happy/dark with dreary. And setting up the concept for a sequel. Taika isn't one of favorites when it comes to directors, but because he DID subvert by negative expectations, he is my only choice for the next movie. Score: 20/20

Extra Oomph: Let's address the negative. And then the positives. The negative... TOO MANY CLICHÉS AND TROPES IN THIS MOVIE. It was a love letter to the 80s action/adventure films. But... that means all the crap with it. And it CAN work. Just don't fill a 1 lb sausage casing with 2 lbs of sausage. It doesn't all fit. And shouldn't. It was cool. But might be too much cool. Make sense? Does to me. But... one tired trope got turned on its head. Fridging. Fridging is a trope where someone dies(usually female)to motivate the hero(like in Deadpool 2). Jane Foster dies in this movie. The power of Thor is accelerating her cancer. She chooses the let the power take the last of her strength so she could help Thor defeat Gorr. She died a hero instead of the motivation(and post credits show he joining Heimdall in Valhalla for it). And that was a great touch. And lastly, I can't say enough about how great Christian Bale was. Easily top 5 role for him(because he has so many great ones). Helps me forgive the movie for the clichés, but doesn't eraae them. Score: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 89/100

FINAL GRADE: B+

Conclusion: The duality of the movie makes this one a bit different than the other MCU movies. And both sides are equally understandable and tragic. Overstuffed with 80s tropes without being an overly 80s movie, but balanced enough that it doesn't matter as much.

It's all a matter of opinion: I cannot stress enough that THIS is MY opinion, you can either agree with me or not. I don't have to justify my opinion, because *clears throat* that's what this blog is about. Whether I like it or not doesn't mean you have to or not...... I'ts just my justification behind MY recommendation... Which leads me to my FINAL JUDGMENT...

FINAL JUDGMENT: Thor Love and Thunder is a pretty good movie with a decently woven story to tell. I was pleasantly surprised. And it is absolutely one of Christian Bale's best roles. As for the movie, I do recommend seeing it, just like most of the other MCU movies. It isn't a top 10 MCU movie, but it is one of the better Thor movies...

-

-

-

-

-

There you have it folks! Thor: Love and Thunder has gotten......... an 89!!!!

Did you see it? What did you think? What would have changed about Jane's death? What would you have done about Gorr's story?

Comment and share!!

Until next time...

Don't forget...