Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee and Jason Aaron
Directed by Taika Waititi
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson and Taika Waititi
Running Time 2 hours and 5 minutes
MPAA Rating PG-13 for Intense Sci-Fi Violence, Action|Language, Partial Nudity, Some Suggestive Material
Available to watch in theaters July 8

by Rosalie Kicks, Editor in Chief and Old Sport

“The Gods will use you but they won’t help you.”

Thor: Love and Thunder is fine.

I go into all superhero movies with very little expectation. There are times I have a thrilling time (ie Guardians of the Galaxy) however mostly it is a way for me to shut down for a bit and ignore the horrors of this cruel, dark world. Often I have no knowledge of the source material as I feel devoting two plus hours is enough time spent on this sort of thing. Learning all the ins and outs just to understand some “Easter eggs” simply does not seem practical to me, especially since the material is not that hard to grasp. I truly believe that this superhero genre of film has one strict purpose to serve and that is to be entertaining propaganda. They are created by the overlords (Gods if you will) of Hollywood as a way to numb our brains into submission to ultimately achieve the result of the highest form of patriotism: mass consumption.

“Suffering for your Gods is your only purpose…”

Thor: Love and Thunder opens with the death of Gorr’s (Christian Bale) daughter. After her demise, Gorr stumbles into the God of Light who is basking in joy over his kill of the dark deity, Knull. Gorr is flabbergasted to learn of the God’s existence after just experiencing the painful death of his daughter. He questions why no one answered his prayers for help. Isn’t it the function of Gods to protect and serve? The God of Light pontificates to Gorr about the relationship of humans and Gods explaining that the purpose of mortal souls is suffer for the almighty ones. While being choked by the God of Light’s hand, Gorr summons the fallen Knull’s necrosword and uses it to slice the God of Light’s throat. With tha,t a new “villain” is born: Gorr the God Butcher.

“There’s only death after death…”

Meanwhile the God of Thunder has lost his Dad bod and has teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. There is a bit of a “wore out your welcome” mood in the air as the Guardians seem to be over Thor’s antics and bombastic attitude. Upon learning the news of the God Butcher’s evil doings and pursuit to slay all deities in his path, Thor believes his strength may be needed elsewhere. He decides to hit the burning rainbow with Korg (Taika Waititi) and two deafening shrill goats (they were recently gifted to Thor after assisting a planet defeat a villainous enemy) named Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder.

Of course Gorr finds himself in Thor’s hometown of Asgard, which has continued to be ruled by King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Gorr uses the power of the necrosword to summon shadowy creatures that attack Asgard and kidnap a gaggle of children. With the help of Jane, Valkyrie, Korg, and a couple of goats, Thor hopes to pay a visit to the living Gods and persuade them to help battle Gorr in order to rescue the children, keep him from murdering more Gods and, oh yea, stop him from getting to Eternity - a wishing well of sorts. This visit ends up being fruitless due to the Gods having no purpose other than serving themselves. I assume this was a jab at our own situation in terms of the American political figures.

This if the fourth stand-alone Thor flick and I don’t feel that is the worst in the series but for me it did not bring the same energy as Thor Ragnarok. THERE IS A LOT GOING ON! With Taika’s previous Thor tale, I felt that he brought some much needed energy and absurdity to what had previously been a floundering, banal series. Whereas, with this latest installment, there are definitely signs of the Taika touch, but there is so much Marvel madness that had to be jammed in that it inevitably creates disjointed storytelling.

With the announcement that Taikia would helm the fourth film, it brought stars crawling out of the woodwork for the chance to work with him. Christian Bale taking on the villain role, Russell Crowe as Zeus, and Natalie Portman making her return to the series as Jane. Unfortunately, I found each of their presence to be somewhat of a hindrance to the film itself. Bale is essentially a CGI skeleton with blackened fangs and, although he plays for a good villain, one may not even know it is actually him under all the computerized garb. Crowe is a caricature of chaos which, in fact, may not be that far of a stretch from reality. Something I was not expecting to see was Crowe doing a curtsy with a lightening bolt. For some, this may be something to behold. For me, I am hopeful this image will soon be forgotten.

As for Portman, she came off as trying too hard to be charismatic. I often felt like she was attempting to upstage Hemsworth, who appears to deliver his comedic lines rather casually. There is an entire plot line between the two about Thor’s old hammer, Mjölnir choosing her rather than him, which transforms Jane into a version of Thor. There is a montage of Thor and Jane’s relationship from years ago that explains their fondness of pancakes and a moment in time when Thor asked the hammer to protect Jane at all costs. In Ragnarok, the hammer had previously been destroyed by Thor’s sister, Hela Odinsdottir (Cate Blanchett). When Jane learns that she has stage-four cancer the hammer calls to her and she interprets this messaging that it is calling to heal her. She goes to Asgard and finds the pieces now scattered under a glass display case which, with her appearance, now come together to reform the famed weapon. In holding the hammer, Jane is transformed into a mighty God herself and obtains similar powers to Thor.

I guess in the end what I really wanted to see was more of a Thor and Valkyrie team up. This movie instead gave Valkyrie a third wheel feel as the non-steamy love saga between Jane and Thor takes center stage. It seems this movie is trying hard to do a lot of things but in the end gets lost in itself. It wants to make a statement about the problem with putting faith into higher beings and the idea that love conquers all but falls flat. I also could have done without the tired Guns n’ Roses playlist. Although, maybe this is the perfect soundtrack to a bloated blathering tale (OMG! very similar to this review) about space vikings.