Thor 6f506l Love and Thunder Review: A Madcap Rush That Underuses Everyone

Taika Waititi throws everything at the wall, but not enough sticks. 356w4i

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 7 July 2022 18:02 IST

Thor: Love and Thunder Review: A Madcap Rush That Underuses Everyone

Photo Credit: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios 6j214j

Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Love and Thunder

Highlights

Thor: Love and Thunder released Thursday, July 7 in India
Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale lead Thor: Love and Thunder cast
Thor: Love and Thunder is fourth Thor movie, 29th in the MCU

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Thor: Love and Thunder — out now in cinemas — is simply too rushed. It's almost as if the old folks in charge of Warner Bros., the ones who ensured Justice League would be a disaster, temporarily took over Marvel Studios and mandated that writer-director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) must fit his movie under two hours. The fourth Thor movie runs for 119 minutes, and that includes the usual lengthy Marvel credits. Look, don't get me wrong, I detest long movies, but given how much Waititi puts on his own plate here, Thor: Love and Thunder needed to be longer to do justice to it. Because as it stands, Thor: Love and Thunder suffers from narrative gaps, wild tonal imbalances, and weightlessness. More importantly, it under-utilises nearly every actor and character at its disposal.

At once a romantic comedy, a tale of a grieving father, a god devoid of purpose, a scientist trying to conquer death, a bored king looking for adventure, and a goofball trip through the cosmos, Marvel Cinematic Universe movie does land in one of the aforementioned lanes, it feels like a bunch of different movies are competing with each other for screen space and runtime. And in the edit room, Waititi and his team of four (!!) editors — Matthew Schmidt, Peter S. Elliot, Tim Roche, and Jennifer Vecchiarello — have somehow cobbled together those disparate stories in the best way they possibly could, pasting them on each other with Fevicol or something.

Waititi tries to save the day — constantly — via humour, but alas, not even a pair of screeching goats, a jealousy-driven love triangle between MCU movie.

Everything You Need to Know About Thor: Love and Thunder

Picking up from the end of The Dark Knight) has New Asgard next on his list, the Guardians see it as the perfect excuse to go their own ways, leaving behind Thor, his rock expository friend Korg (Waititi), and the two new giant goats they were gifted. But as Thor returns to (New) Asgard, he's reunited with two exes: Mjolnir, and Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

What is Jane — who's been missing from the MCU since 2013's Marvel movie is more interested in Jane trying to find the right catchphrase. What?!

But believe it or not, Portman's arc is possibly the most fleshed. Bale — second billed — feels underused, existing more as a driver of the plot, rather than a living breathing character who's got things to do. He opens the movie with heavy existential themes, but then remains offscreen for large portions of Thor: Love and Thunder. A sympathetic villain is a wasted villain if he's not central to the story being told.

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Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman in Thor: Love and Thunder
Photo Credit: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios

Others have been chopped from the movie altogether. Jeff Goldblum and Peter Dinklage were expected to return in their respective roles as Sakaar's hedonistic ruler Grandmaster (from acknowledging this ahead of release, and joking that there's enough material left out between her and Thompson that could be turned into a Valkyrie and Mighty Thor spin-off. This results in a choppy film, one that loses its flow as a result.

India's censor board has also got in on the act, thoroughly butchering the viral shot of Thor being “flicked” by Zeus. Rather than neatly blurring it as Marvel did for YouTube, the CBFC has cropped out Thor's butt entirely by awkwardly reframing and zooming into the shot. Additionally, every mention of Zeus' orgy references has been silenced. Speaking of that scene, Thor: Love and Thunder gives us a lot of Crowe as a horny and overweight show-off who's full of himself — Thor its he's based himself a lot on Zeus — but the near-cartoonish performance is definitely over the top.

Hemsworth, meanwhile, finds the balance with his near-cartoonish show-off who's full of himself. It helps that he's given more to work with — by Waititi and his co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Sweet/Vicious) — than anyone else on Thor: Love and Thunder. Not only can he handle the bombastic proclamations that gods of his stature must deliver, he's equally capable when it comes to the comedic aspects of his character. A lot of the comedy comes from how Waititi frames Thor's relationship with his weapons — with Stormbreaker feeling jealous, acting out, and not okay with how happy Thor is to see Mjolnir. And as with on Ragnarok, Hemsworth plays into Thor's vanity and insecurity, regularly turning himself into the butt of the joke across Thor: Love and Thunder.

Thor: Love and Thunder Leaked as Marvel Movie Releases in Cinemas

Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Love and Thunder
Photo Credit: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios

Waititi does his best to complement Portman's character.

But Waititi fails — bigger — elsewhere. The director has spoken about how Thor is going through a mid-life crisis, but though Thor: Love and Thunder sets it up, it's casually brushed aside for “more interesting” hijinks. Instead, it feels like the Thor franchise is going through a midlife crisis, struggling for new purpose in the wake of its titular hero being put through the wringer on Infinity War and Endgame. Where do you take a hero who has seen it all, the lowest of lows and the highest of highs?

Moreover, once again, the MCU has ended up with a villain who's saying the right things, but just going about it in the wrong manner. Gorr's primary argument is that the gods do not care about anyone other than themselves. And then, Thor: Love and Thunder goes on to show that most gods are glib, goofy, and full of themselves. They have no interest in helping those that pray fervently in their name. And when faced with a grave danger, they are more than happy to hide in their cocoons. Maybe all gods should die?

The bigger problem for Thor: Love and Thunder though is that it's unable to handle the many movies it needs to be. It inelegantly switches from being a self-aware comedy to a poignant romance, from grim tragedy to a boisterous adventure. Waititi more or less pulled it off on Ragnarok — the action sequences were still an issue — but he's unable to catch lightning in a bottle again. Thor: Love and Thunder is a Waititi film in-and-out, except we now have an expanded understanding of that term.

While Waititi must absolutely be credited for turning around the Thor franchise — kudos to Hemsworth that he's floated seamlessly over into the new role asked of him — the writer-director is playing his greatest hits here. That's reflected both in the soundtrack that feels tacked on, and the return of Matt Damon and his fellow Asgardian thespians for a round two of the stage play. When you've seen them once before, they don't quite hit with the same impact. And ultimately, there's just not enough love and thunder in the fourth Thor movie.

Thor: Love and Thunder is released Thursday, July 7 in cinemas worldwide. In India, Thor: Love and Thunder is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

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Read Review

Thor: Love and Thunder 4d5x5h

Release Date 7 July 2022
Language English
Genre Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Superhero
Cast
Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe
Director
Taika Waititi
Producer
Kevin Feige, Brad Winderbaum

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