HipsterZOMBIEJoint Movie Review: Thor Love & Thunder

The newest Marvel Studios film is out headlined by the last remaining OG Avenger, Thor. Love and Thunder is the sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Taika Waititi, who co-wrote the script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Waititi, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman. In the film, Thor attempts to find inner peace, but must return to action and recruit Valkyrie (Thompson), Korg (Waititi), and Jane Foster (Portman)—who is now the Mighty Thor—to stop Gorr the God Butcher(Bale) from eliminating all gods.

The Marvel Studios formula is quickly becoming stale at this point. Despite Hemsworth’s charm mixed with Waititi’s comedic sensibilities, Love and Thunder feels like a shallow imitation Ragnarok. The jokes miss more than hit this time around and Christian Bale is woefully wasted here is the most forgettable Thor villain since Malekith. For Gorr to have the moniker of God Butcher he doesn’t exactly butcher too many Gods. In fact, the film at one point doesn’t really even know what to do with Gorr as the plot turns him from a god butcher to a kidnapper.

Another wasted character that comes across as a complete joke is Russell Crowe’s Zeus. Whereas Odin was treated with reverence and respect, Zeus in contrast is a verbose, gluttonous, clown. Zeus’ part could have been completely omitted from the without affecting the plot of the film. In fact Zeus feels like he is only there to set up the post credit scene.

Lastly Natalie Portman’s return to the MCU feels as out of place as the Guardians of the Galaxy’s minuscule part in this film. Thor and Jane Foster never had memorable chemistry in the first two Thor films. Here, Foster’s story (which was actually very well written and a touching story in the comics) feels rushed here and just hokey. Throwing a returning character with cancer into a comedy film felt strange. Every time Jane transforms into Thor in the comics you feel the weight of her decision become it brings her one step closer to death. In Love and Thunder it kind of just briefly acknowledges it before delving back into jokes.

Overall, Love and Thunder might not be the bore that The Dark World was but it is still a convoluted mess that is flimsily taped together with jokes that just aren’t that funny this time around.

As for that after credits scene:

So we learn that Zeus was not killed by Thor, just injured. Zeus feels like society no longer respects the gods so he wants to instill fear in them again with his own powerful son, Hercules. In the comics, Hercules was as prominent in the Avengers as Thor was and with the current team still shuffling the deck now that Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are gone, another God on the team would go a long ways to bolster the line-up. If you couldn’t tell who cameoed as Hercules but you know you have seen his face somewhere, the actor’s name is Brett Goldstein. To fans of the Apple TV+ comedy series, Ted Lasso, you would know him as the gruff Roy Kent. I actually really love this casting and I can’t wait to see what Marvel does with the character.

In conclusion, Marvel zombies who are trained to love EVERYTHING Marvel and call every film the best Marvel film since the last one will love this film as well. For everyone else, the Marvel Studios formula is starting to show its age and maybe Marvel should consider to stop relying so much on jokes and cheap laughs in future films. HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience gives Thor Love and Thunder a very slight recommend.