Thor Love and Thunder Review: A Classic Thor Adventure
REVIEW:
Thor Love and Thunder was a film that I was highly anticipating as it was probably my third most anticipated film of 2022. I loved Thor Ragnarok and the direction Taika Waititi went with that film so I was looking forward to where this film would go as Thor is one of my favourite MCU characters and of course one of the few original Avengers remaining. Now how would I describe this film having seen it? This movie is a blast and a complete fever dream of colour and jokes. I had a really good time with this film and thoroughly enjoyed most of the film and what it had to offer.
To get my negatives out of the way I will start by saying I still prefer Thor Ragnarok for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I felt that Ragnarok was a more focused film. It seemed to have a more straightforward and planned-out story that didn’t wander too much. Some films can make wandering work but I felt that Thor Love and Thunder sometimes seemed to have to many ideas and it could not decide which one was the most important for the main story. The other issue I think this movie has is that it is too short. This movie is barely two hours and so it felt like a condensed version of a larger story that could have fleshed out many of the story elements and allowed the characters to breathe as they feel like they are on a constant sprint through this film.
Now with my negatives out of the way I can tell you what I thought was great about this film. Firstly, Chris Hemsworth proves to be Thor in every aspect as he owns this character and you can feel that his comfort with how he plays Thor allows his charm and charisma to shine through. I think he sells the action scenes, the jokes, and the heartfelt moments he gets in this movie. I love him as Thor and I hope he gets to continue as the character. Natalie Portman returns as Jane Foster for the first time since Thor: The Dark World and honestly, this is her best outing as the character. There are many layers to Jane here as we get to see her at her weakest and strongest and I think Portman plays it off really well. She also gets to try her hand at some more comedic scenes in this film and I thought her awkward energy worked great for the character. Christian Bale as Gorr is a fantastic choice. He sells every scene he is in as he makes the character super threatening and intimidating as he adds a real sense of danger to the film for our characters. He makes him super scary and this threat from the shadows while at the same time making him a fleshed-out character who is not a one-dimensional evil. Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Taika Waititi as Korg are both fantastic in their scenes though I do feel both of them don’t have enough to do in the movie.
The action in this movie is super cool and I thought they used the particular style of action really well. It’s over the top and cheesy at times with many jokes but it is highly stylized and the weapons draw your attention especially when they fight Gorr on his home turf. You do get enough action spread throughout to keep you entertained in that regard as we get many different fights and team-ups in the film. The comedy is a huge part of this movie and we get to see the style explored in Ragnarok fully unleashed with so many jokes thrown at the audience that you might miss some. Now overall, I really like the jokes in this film, not every single joke made me laugh but most of them did especially the reoccurring jokes that we get during the entire runtime. This movie also makes it clear this is not the end for Thor with two big post-credit scenes and many plot threads introduced in this film that will surely get any Thor fan excited.
All in all, I really like this film, it’s not my new favourite by any means but it’s tied for the second favourite of Phase Four of the MCU as I just enjoy following Thor on his comedic fun space adventures. So head on over to the theatre and see for yourself.
