In our accelerated age of pop culture ADHD, it is remarkable how quickly something that feels fresh, can feel awfully familiar just one solo film later. Director Taika Waititi’s “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) was a crucial step in the evolution of Marvel’s Asgardian god, transforming the character and franchise from stuffy, airless Shakespearean theatre to comical, immature clown who has so much to learn despite the thousands of years he has lived throughout the galaxy. ‘Ragnarok’ reinvented the franchise midstream, and made it much more entertaining, fun, captivating, and hysterical without ever forgetting the emotional ideas of tragic personal loss that have suffused each chapter of Thor’s MCU story (Thor’s mother, father, and then Loki three films in a row). So, the impulse to try and recapture that magic— that delightfully ludicrous and irreverent vibe— and push it even further makes a lot of sense to the star, filmmaker, and Marvel, who all likely view ‘Ragnarok’ as a soft reboot or even a new “Part 1” chapter in the Thor narrative.
Unfortunately, however, Waititi’s “Thor: Love & Thunder” feels like a bit of an uninspired retread, especially when you consider the Russo Brothers already convincingly shepherded what Waititi brought to Thor and the franchise in ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ which famously gave us Fat Thor—an extension and manifestation of everything the character now embodies, humor and painful emotional burdens.
So, technically, the fourth chapter of this new Thor iteration (‘Ragnarok,’ ‘Infinity War,’ ‘Endgame’ and ‘Love & Thunder’) beyond just the fourth solo film, ‘Love & Thunder’ fails to do much with the character other than taking him on a wild new adventure with decidedly mixed results. Because it’s Waititi and star Chris Hemsworth again, plus a totally stacked and totally game supporting cast, ‘Love & Thunder’ does have a lot of laughs and enjoyably, albeit, fleeting moments. But as a satisfying sequel that attempts to sustain this new era of Thor, it’s unnecessary and, at times, barely adequate.
Even at a brisk sub-two-hours in length—one of Marvel’s shortest films in recent memory—the not-very-memorable ‘Love & Thunder’ story is full of bloat. The film has at least two long-drawn-out prologues before the movie starts in earnest. One is the back story of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), spelling out how the character earned his moniker and trying to engender empathy for his tragedy. The second is about how Thor eventually parted ways with the Guardians Of The Galaxy following the events of ‘Endgame’ (essentially just a super expensive, meaningless extended cameo, with an action set piece tacked on).
Then the two-fold story finally begins or the paper-thin plot anyhow: Gorr’s shadow army attacks (CGI monsters) and steals the children of New Asgard—last seen in ‘Endgame,’ now a tourist destination to stimulate the economy— where King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is now ruler. And during this battle, where Thor, Valkyrie, Korg (Waititi), and the Asgardians face off against Gorr’s army, the mysterious Mighty Thor, aka Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), appears in battle. From there, they must rescue the children of New Asgard, but Gorr— who has a big beef with all gods and needs vengeance— has other ideas in mind. And that’s the only actual plot, aside from the discursive and rambling narrative detours the movie keeps taking on the journey of this rescue mission.
How and why the Mighty Thor came into existence is mostly unremarkable (hint, it’s from the comics), and not that important, but suffice to say, her appearance is largely overshadowed and shortchanged in service of Thor. Yes, she gets a few amusing lines— her female neurosis and insecurity at being an inexperienced hero can yield some chuckles— and a few fun action moments, but ‘Love & Thunder’ is so overstuffed with characters, cameos (Erik Selvig, Meek, and pretty much everyone who has appeared in the ‘Thor’ franchise at one point, etc.) and frantic ADHD tangents—see the entire prolonged tangent with Russell Crowe’s Zeus—but basically, her entire appearance is an excuse to give Natalie Portman another kick at the can in the franchise, only in heroic mode this time.
Again, as zany and unfocused as ‘Love & Thunder’ is, the creative minds can’t help but drop at least half a dozen funny moments into the film, which helps the film from not being a wash. Some backfire (the Asgardian theatre troupe, again *cough*), but some, like the extended flashback to the rise and fall honeymoon to the dissolution of Thor and Jane’s relationship, are just hilarious.
“Thor: Love And Thunder” purports to be a mid-life crisis film, Thor is “no longer a hero,” and at peace with that while simultaneously without direction, aimlessly looking for a purpose in this life. In one clumsily-written early scene, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), even spells this all out the entire theme in dialogue, only for ‘Love & Thunder’ to essentially throw all of that overboard, ignore it all, and get on with the business of Thor being a hero, saving the day, etc., with only mild and minor personal conflict within the hero himself (aka the meaty good stuff that has made the last three Thor appearances in the MCU terrific, elevating him to one of its best characters).
Superficial in comparison, even to the ridiculously silly ‘Ragnarok,’ ‘Love & Thunder’ is so concerned with being bombastic and over-the-top at all times (cue, a seemingly endless stream of Guns N’ Roses, the only really inspired use being the melodramatic “November Rain” in the climax) that it just can’t keep its eye on the prize of telling a coherent and satisfying story. Yes, there can be some great laughs, but they are often at the expense of the movie, flattening the emotional moments the film tries to imbue itself with and sullying the special sauce recipe of humor and heart that makes new Thor so great. Additionally, Bale suffers the ignominy of being one of the worst and undistinguished MCU villains in recent memory despite what should be an emotional purpose, and Portman, is, as mentioned, largely underserved, just one of Thor’s wacky teammates on this goofy quest.
Ultimately, “Thor: Love & Thunder” can be enjoyable in spots, but disposably and inconsequentially so. Results will vary on Marvel’s latest theme park ride and how enjoyable it is, but there’s decidedly much more thunder than heart, despite an element that tries to tease the “I believe the children are our future” theme. Laughter is ultimately either disposable or echoing in its belly-fullness and let’s just say it’s super doubtful the ’Love & Thunder’ giggles are going to sustain themselves enough to end up on any of the all-time MCU lists like ‘Ragnarok’ has. [C+/B-]
“Thor: Love & Thunder” hits theaters on July 8.