Thor: Love and Thunder

Wow as a HUGE! Marvel fan I'm shocked at how bad this was. So many cliché jokes, no character development, and Chris Hemsworth is no longer an actor in my opinion but a Disney prop just generating revenue with the same old schtick. I personally think Disney buys reviews because how these disasters just debut with higher rating and falter when us fans speak our mind is shocking. Only good thing was I was able to go see Back Phone after 80 mins of this crap and actually found a movie I really enjoyed that I normally wouldn't have seen. Way better filmmaking and acting. The jokes in this Thor aren't even funny, it's like they try to get the audience to laugh with them but we end up laughing at them. Films don't care about good storytelling anymore, they want to be "politically correct" and enlighten us with how they want us to think. All hogwash. Save your money. Disney is 3rd rate.

It is a decent movie, but it focus much on comic reliefs. Christian Bale is under utilized, Gorr should have given more screen time and the back story would make it a better relief.

The ones who know a bit about norse mythology or at least have read some of Thor's comics know that he isn't just a jester guy with a hammer. Sadly in MCU Thor was only once really Thor and it was in Avengers: Infinity War, where we finally feel that he is the protector of Midgard and the God of thunder as in mythology. I'm not saying that Taika Waititi is a bad director, but the fact is he wrote and directed this empty movie with some jokes. He could maybe make a great Deadpool movie but Thor should have been more than this. Even Christian Bale's outstanding performance as Gorr couldn't save it. The real Thor fans aren't going to enjoy this movie.

This review will come off as very negative, but I had a decent time, laughed a lot, and was fairly entertained. As a big-time MCU fan though, Love and Thunder is highly disappointing, even more so for an OG Avenger.

For reference, I loved all of the previous Thor movies. Many people view the first two as bottom tier MCU but I think they're beastly and beautiful in a Shakespearian way, while also being funny and visually stunning. Then they went in a new direction with Ragnarok, and I was completely on board. I enjoyed the infusion of style and almost all of the humor works.

Love and Thunder goes so far past Ragnarok in every way. So much of it doesn't work for me. So much of the humor is predictable and goofy, to the point of bordering on cartoonish. And there isn't nearly enough serious to balance out the comedy. Combine that with some odd decisions later in the movie and... it kind of feels like they're turning Thor into a joke.

And don't get me started on a repeated joke involving two goats that made me think of Jar Jar. I didn't laugh the first time or the 20 times after.

Other than the comedy, a lot of Love and Thunder doesn't feel fully natural. Something feels off. The action scenes aren't memorable. By comparison, Ragnarok has multiple action scenes that make my jaw drop. There are some beautiful shots, but not nearly as often as the artwork in the previous ones.

But my biggest disappointment is the villain. I don't watch trailers and didn't know Christian Bale is in this movie. He is my favorite actor ever, and has been for the last 15 years. Even with all the amazing talent in this remarkable MCU cast list, IMO Bale stands out above them all. I was ecstatic...

Until I realized he's barely in the movie. He gives a great performance, but the script does not flesh him out, does not explore his character, and in effect, turns him into another forgettable MCU villain. Wasting Bale like this is a horrendous decision...

Especially after an amazing opening scene that made me think this movie might be on a different level. I can only imagine what could have been if 40% of the movie was dedicated to that character. I can only imagine how amazing it would have been if they treated the God Butcher like The Dark Knight treated Joker.

Why couldn't they balance out the serious and the funny? A good example: Guardians 2 is so funny and can get pretty goofy, but it has tons of serious and emotionally powerful scenes. Another example: Deadpool 2 is primarily a comedy but has SO many emotional moments, some to the point of tears.

IMO, Love and Thunder doesn't come close to the last two MCU movies (Multiverse of Madness and No Way Home). As it stands today, this is bottom 3 in the MCU for me.

EDIT: I decided to give this another shot. Sometimes it's easier the second time without the hype and knowing what to expect. But I felt pretty much the same. I enjoyed a lot of it, but the stuff I disliked bothered me just as much.

The two things that stood out to me the second time around, Bale's performance is amazing and they are idiots for underutilizing him. And the goats are the single worst thing in the entire MCU. Changing rating from 6 to 5 stars. (2 viewings, opening Thursday IMAX 7/7/2022, IMAX 7/20/2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder does attempt to explore themes of love and loss whilst introducing the Mighty Thor and putting Thor on a journey of self discovery. However, it sadly doesn't work as well as it should due to a rushed pace and way too many jokes that are almost never funny.

Chris Hemsworth is still going strong as Thor but the extreme goofiness is getting a little stale. Natalie Portman has never been better as this character and Tessa Thompson is still great as Valkyrie, even though she doesn't really get much to do.

Taika Waititi massively overstays his welcome as Korg this time, who becomes very annoying really fast. Christian Bale is one of the better MCU villains with a good motivation and an unsettling presence but is let down by limited screen time.

Takia's direction on the other hand is stronger, there's some nice visual imagery and the colour palette is pretty vibrant but the MCU grey is still present throughout sadly. The CG is consistently inconsistent from start to finish.

The music by Michael Giacchino is fine, there's one new theme that's pretty memorable but the lack of Thor's theme is annoying. The soundtrack is really good, all the songs are classics that fit the tone and style well but some could have been used better.