Thor Love and Thunder Movie Review
THROW: Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Natalie Portman
DIRECTION: Thor: Love and Thunder
GENRE: Romance, Action
DURATION: 1 hour 59 minutes
Taika Waititi directed Jojo Rabbit, a childish version of Hitler and Nazi Germany. The movie said all the right things, but from a perspective that even kids could relate to. That's what he did in Thor: Love and Thunder. It's a superhero movie where Thor's biggest concern isn't a super villain but whether his adopted daughter is eating the right breakfast and wearing the right shoes before going out. Every child has an imaginary friend, and for Thor (Chris Hemsworth), his imaginary friends are his hammer Mjolnir and his hatchet Strombreaker. He talks to them and they are shown to respond, even becoming jealous if he favors one over the other. Other changes Waititi is making are turning New Asgard into an amusement park, perhaps sneakily poking around Disney. Asgardians live in this idyllic setting, serving as tour guides, hoteliers and pub owners, regaling visitors with plays on the bravery of Thor (Matt Damon, Sam Neill and Luke Hemsworth in brilliant cameos like Loki, Odin and Thor), soaking them in genuine Asgardian mead and taking them on rides atop flying ships. The new Asgardian king, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), has become an influencer and is busy endorsing everything from cereal to designer brands.
Next, the biggest change is turning Natalie Portman's character into Mighty Thor. Mjolnir, who was shattered into pieces by Hela, resurrects when he finds Jane Foster worthy and transforms her into another Thor. She does not take herself seriously and is always looking for a slogan to announce her arrival in combat. And she's also dying of cancer. Again, Waitity tackled fascism and the Holocaust in Jojo Rabbit, and there too he's not shy about putting cancer into a film aimed at children, confident that they're more mature than what adults make them believe. deal with such matters. It's great to see Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman back on screen. They have their ups and downs, like any normal couple, but they also have to deal with a crisis together. There's an air of tragedy behind their jokes, and it pulls you in emotionally. Luckily, the creators didn't search for a magic cure for her, which is a relief.
The film's main conceit is the tragedy that turned Gorr (Christian Bale) into a butcher god. He suffers because his young daughter was killed. He blames the gods for this and swears to kill them all. Waitity showed that the gods are beings of immense power who no longer care about humans and are only interested in living a hedonistic life. Zeus (Russel Crowe) is reduced to being an irritable teenager, more interested in having orgies than saving worlds.
The director can't decide how he wants to portray Gorr. He begins as a supervillain, then emerges as a grieving father. The film, indeed, lacks a compelling villain. We don't even see him fight other gods to find out how good or bad he is as a warrior. He has control over shadow creatures, but even Asgardian children are able to fight them off and ward them off. Perhaps the darkness within Gorr has been toned down because the target audience is children, but that robs the film of its bite. The film deviates greatly from the Marvel canon. There is no sense of danger, no atmosphere building up. Thor seems oddly ambivalent about the fate of the Asgardian children kidnapped by Gorr. There is no sense of urgency towards their rescue. The Guardians of the Galaxy, his main allies, who we see fighting alongside him earlier in the film, aren't even involved in the final rescue. Each situation is summed up in a witty one-liner. Yes, you laugh of course, but you miss the gravity present in other Marvel movies.
Maybe this change in direction is Waititi's way of keeping Marvel that they're taking themselves too seriously and it's time for something new. That's what Sam Raimi did when he turned Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness into a horror movie. Here, Taika Waititi has turned Thor: Love and Thunder into a witty romantic comedy. All you need is love, is the message of the film. It undoubtedly comes with a lot of CGI combat, but all told, it's a love story through and through. And it's a Taika Waititi movie and not a Marvel product. It's great to see that Marvel gives its directors such freedom. Surely this means that they are ready for drastic changes in the times to come.
TRAILER: THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
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