Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) Review

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder follows Thor, who, after an entity known as Gorr the God Butcher starts killing gods and attacks New Asgard, must travel to the Shadow Realm to stop him from reaching Eternity’s Gate. 

It’s crazy to think that, at it’s announcement, this was one of my most anticipated Marvel movies in recent years, expecting a very 80s reinvention of the character akin to what Taika did with Ragnarok back in 2017. And while I was partially right, what we instead received was just more of that ultra dumbed down Thor that we got in Endgame; a great big, bumbling idiot compared to the journey of self discovery it seemed he would embark on as he watches the gods die around him. No, for 2/3 of Love and Thunder, we got Korg doing fireside retellings of Thor’s heroics (and stupidities), while Thor ran around, blissfully unaware of anything until he finally had to face Gorr. 

Gorr on the other hand (played masterfully by Christian Bale) almost didn’t seem to fit with this movie however. On top of so very little screen time, he was also scarily dark, which is fine, had the film not played like a 10 year old’s birthday party until his arrival. His arrival did allow the movie (and Thor) a chance to mature though and mature they did, crafting an excellent final act that was beautifully done in execution. 

I also have to commend them for not only bringing in Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor, but adapting her cancer arc from the comics. It, like most everything here, was obviously rushed, but it was still nice to see that adapted and for her and Thor to get one last chance at love. 

We get a really fun cast too, starring Chris Pratt, Russell Crowe, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth, even through my qualm’s with Thor’s direction, is simply wonderful here and you can tell, he has really come to love this role, embodying that necessary sense of heroism and humor, while Bale and Portman also brought a considerable amount of heart and levity to a very comedic venture.

Thor: Love and Thunder, directed by Taika Waititi, while absolutely a laugh-out-loud space adventure, just didn’t quite land for me, continuing the trend of playing Thor off like a joke and not the mighty god of thunder, though his third act redemption left me very satisfied and hopeful for anymore Thor to come. 

6.7/10