Thor: Love and Thunder (or Thour as I like to call it) is the MCU’s latest Phase 4 entry from their long-running superhero franchise and the fourth feature film of the God of Thunder, with Taika Waititi returning as director after its widely-successful predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok.
So, is Thour a worthy addition to the MCU?
A Tale of Two Thors
The movie’s plot follows Thor and his quest to defeat Gorr, dubbed as the God Butcher, who has been slaying gods across the universe with the Necrosword after being disillusioned by their arrogance and self-centeredness. In this adventure, Thor is joined by Korg, whose charisma remains ever wholesome and innocently comedic, Valkyrie, the king and head administrator of the kingdom/tourist spot, New Asgard, and finally, Dr. Jane Foster, who has been transformed into the Mighty Thor after wielding the now reassembled Mjolnir, much to Thor’s surprise at their sudden reunion.
The movie is a tale of two Thors, and I mean this in two ways: as the story of both Thor and Jane’s reconnecting, and the two differing versions of Thor’s character from the early stages of the MCU to the latest one.
Jane’s plotline as the Mighty Thor was loads fun but felt like its potential to be a more compelling story arc a little half-baked, and felt that it lacked focus at times, especially when her story was a race against time with her own waning mortality as she battles against terminal cancer. In those moments of vulnerability, these were the times the movie needed to lessen its comedy and extend its dramatic moments so Jane’s story of "running out of time" becomes more urgent. However, this isn’t to say that her story is devoid of any heart and soul. In those brief moments we get, we feel the weight of Jane's decision to keep fighting, even with the added risks to her health—how she goes from a demigod revitalized and seeking adventure, to a hero making the hardest choices for the good of all. Still, the movie definitely could have benefitted from more of those slow and careful moments, without banter or interrupted by a running gag.
One of Jane’s strongest moments as the Mighty Thor was her renewed confidence and strength, enthused with the power imbued in her as well as her driving force of heroism as she does new combo attacks with Mjolnir against her enemies. While her dialogue as the Mighty Thor gets awkward and cheesy more often than not, I can’t help but also find it a tad endearing, especially when Natalie Portman really shows how much fun she’s having with the role, loosely adapting one of Thor’s greatest story arcs in modern comics.
The movie also does the liberty of filling us in with Thor and Jane’s previous relationship through a montage backstory narrated by Korg, and while it was cute, it wasn’t entirely successful at making us invested (or re-invested) in Thor and Jane’s relationship, and we’re better off seeing their chemistry at present than in retrospect. However, it did provide an explanation as to how she wielded Mjolnir, albeit a little lazy in execution, but a forgivable one at that.
Now for the latter, Thor has undergone through several character developments throughout the different phases of the MCU, and has since been a topic of rather heated debate over social media by several MCU fans. While Thor’s comedic goofball manner was highly welcomed in Ragnarok and was treated as a breath of fresh air, the same can’t be said here. Thor here, while retaining that fun, happy go-lucky energy, has also become reckless and even a little childish, which somewhat deviates from his character arc in past films. While one could make some counter-arguments and explanations for this (he’s spent some time adventuring with the Guardians, he’s no longer king of Asgard) a good chunk of the audience and MCU fans including myself couldn’t help but feel that it’s become misplaced a lot of the times, and becomes comedy for the sake of comedy than it is of building his character. Chris Hemsworth, nonetheless, retains the fun charm as the God of Thunder if not a little more exacerbated—a space viking venturing through the different realms making quick back and forth banter between friends and foes.
Thor here feels more like a character independent from the past films than he is part of a long line of well beloved movies established, to which the cons outweigh the benefits.
The same could also be said about the rest of the Thor gang, who’ve mostly taken a back seat in this film to give space for both Thor, Jane, and Gorr. But the enjoyment we get whenever we see Valkyrie and Korg, either in battle or in conversation, is undeniable. After their story in Ragnarok, and even in Endgame, it would have added to more their lore if we got to know more about their lives post-Endgame apart from glimpses and mentions. This especially falls for Valkyrie, who rose from her bravery to fight against Hela one more time in Ragnarok, and ascend to Kinghood after Endgame.
All gods must die
Plot-wise, I find the movie’s execution of the story to also come out half-baked, with its thinning plot masked with more and more comedic banter and recurring gags as the movie progresses. Plot points here either felt rushed or lacked urgency. When it should be a race against time to save the Asgardian children from Gorr, the tone of the movie felt like the Thor gang was having just another rousing adventure, and when Gorr needed more time to flesh out his character and establish how big of a threat he was, they’re often done off screen.
Even when it got a handful of laughs out of me (screaming goats, a literal dumpling god and all that), I couldn’t help but notice how loose the story threads were here. Love and Thunder had a lot of compelling concepts about Godhood, arrogance, and love but was often stuck between wanting to make banter or wanting to turn it into something grim and serious, but didn’t make these elements seamless. Gorr’s arc did feel a little wasted here. His character introduction, paired with Christian Bale’s performance of a broken man fallen from piety was the perfect setup for his story and for how the film’s tone was supposed to be, but sadly we didn’t get to see more of it. What could have been a clever and thorough commentary on power and arrogance, what we are given instead is the different dimensions of love and the lengths we’ll do for them, which still fits the themes of the movie and I still welcomed overall despite the loose execution.
Thor Love and Thunder might not be the strongest entry of the Phase 4 MCU nor does it trump its predecessor, Ragnarok, but the movie remains a visual spectacle to behold and another journey into the wild cosmos that expands the lore of the MCU.
