Harry Situation Reviews: Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is the newest MCU film featuring the Norse God of Thunder himself, Thor (reprised by Chris Hemsworth). It also features the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Tesse Thompson as Valkyrie, Chris Pratt as Star Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Taika Waititi (who again serves as writer/director) as Korg, and introduces Russell Crowe as Zeus, the king of the Greek Pantheon, and Christian Bale as the deadly Gorr the God Butcher.

Thor is back. He's back in shape and in action. But he also discovers that his hammer Mjolnir has been re-forged and moved on to another worthy wielder, his old girlfriend Jane Foster, who has become the Mighty Thor. But their touching and awkward reunion is cut short when a new enemy, Gorr the God Butcher, seeks the death of all gods of the Marvel Universe.

I was definitely excited for this next installment of Phase 4. I like the character, I like the cast, and I like Taika Waititi. So why didn't I like this movie? Well, it's not that I didn't like it, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for.

First, let's talk about some of the positives, however I should point out that some of the positives follow with some negatives. First positive is Thor and Jane Foster. I like seeing these two characters (and their actors) reunite after all these years. Hemsworth and Portman have great chemistry together, and their characters just make a great couple.

And if anyone is wondering how Jane Foster is able to become the Mighty Thor, just know that it is exactly like the comics.

Christian Bale was great in this movie as the main villain. I know there's probably a ton of memes out there right now quoting "you either die a hero, or you live long enough to become the villain" since he originally portrayed Batman for DC in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Regardless, he's still pretty damn awesome in this movie... when he's on screen. Sadly, his character only has limited screen time. Gorr from the comics is a recent and very compelling villain from Marvel. He's actually been able to do some significant damage against the titular God of Thunder in many encounters. What we do get is good. You understand his plight and why the character is such a misotheist. I just wish we could have seen more of him.

And there were some pretty good jokes. Waititi can write some pretty witty dialogue that has me rolling. Check out Jojo Rabbit and What We Do in the Shadows sometime. And while having funny dialogue is a common factor in these MCU movies the problem here is that it completely offsets the kind of tone this movie is trying to be. Is it trying to be a comedy? Is it trying to be a romance? Is it trying to be dark because there's a bad guy that can summon shadow creatures with his god-slaying sword? I'm not entirely sure, and I don't believe the movie knows either.

Finally, I hate to admit it, but the film starts to get boring in the second half. I cannot pick a point in the movie where I started getting bored but I certainly felt it. I wasn't even entertained during the final act, the epic hero vs villain fight. It was like all the fun I was having in the first half suddenly got drained out of me in the second.

The sad truth is that the Thor movies haven't been the best that the MCU can offer. Don't get me wrong I like the character Thor. I love how he is and how he fits in the overall MCU. Too bad his movies don't really do the character any justice. The first one was okay. The second one I can't for the life of me remember. And lastly the third one was a fun watch. Sad to say, none these films have reached the top tier when it comes to be Marvel's best. My guess is how do you make a character, who is essentially a god, a likeable and relatable character?

I finally understand why this film is considered divisive among the MCU fans. There things I liked and things I didn't like. Whether you like or hate it is your call. Let's just hope that if a fifth Thor does get made it at least can be called worthy.

Positives:

-Thor & Jane

-Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher

-Some good jokes

Negatives:

-Unbalanced tone

-Underutilized villain

-Boring second half

Final Grade: C

So those are my thoughts on Thor: Love and Thunder. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts on it? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

Best Quote:

Jane Foster: "Not bad for a human?"

Thor: "Not bad for a god."

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