Movie Review - Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

[Dave Gray]

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Premise: The God of Thunder reunites with an old flame, but with a new dynamic, as a powerful being works to exterminate all Gods from the universe.

Rating: I seem to like this more than most.

Some background -- I watch a ton of movies all the time.  This isn't normally one I'd review, but it seems like the reviews are all over the map, so it's interesting to me and I wanted to put my two cents out there.  Also, it should be known that while I have seen all the Marvel movies, I'm not super Mr. Marvel guy who re-watches this stuff and is particularly invested in the lore.  I'm also of the belief that these movies have a ceiling and floor.  None of the movies have been bad, IMO.  But also, they're never incredible, IMO.  I seem to think movies like the Incredible Hulk are better than the consensus, while I feel that Avengers: Endgame isn't as great as people say. 

....all that said.

This movie is about tone.  The people who like or don't like it -- it's all going to come down to whether the shifts in tone work for them.  And, it works for me.  In fact, it's what makes the movie interesting.  A more serious take on this same story that's longer and hashes out the details seems like it would be a boring, dreadful, slog.

The movie is farcical.  It's silly to the point of being a gonzo film.  Everything is a joke, it makes fun of itself all the time.  To me, that's super smart.  Because I think the very concept of Thor is dumb.  The idea of trying to ground a movie about Gods wielding the power of lightning and transportational bridges in a grounded manner, alongside something like Captain America: Winter Soldier in the same style, just would come across as foolish.  That said, there are very serious dramatic moments in this movie that envoke tears....or that attempt to.  It's deep.  There is no question that the movie swings HARD from foolishness to hard drama.  And it's not like it's from scene to scene...often it's within a scene.  There will be build ups of great dramatic tension capped off with a goat screaming to great comedic effect.  But that won't work for everyone.  For me, it always reigned you in and capped it off with humor to relive the build-up, but I see people that feel those things undercut the emotion.  It will vary from viewer to viewer.

Also, a criticism I have of the Marvel movies as a whole is that 1) they're samesy and 2) they are often serving other properties.  They have to finish up this other movie's story and lay the groundwork for this next movie's story, while respecting this ongoing crossover TV show.  It's just too much and sometimes they collapse under their own weight.  What I liked about Thor 4 is that it seems only concerned with itself.  It really is about the evolution of its own characters.

Christian Bale and Natalie Portman are both great.  Hemsworth is funny and does a good evolution from total meathead in previous film to being somewhat more self-aware and introspective.  There are several bit parts that also deliver good moments, but discussing them would potential spoil some things.

What the movie lacks (in my opinion, to it's benefit) is that it's not really concerned about having you understand the mechanics of its plot.  It "yada yadas" a bunch of the God powers stuff -- it doesn't really take the time to explain why certain things do things -- why this hammer can teleport, this can't -- this lightning bolt is needed to do this thing.  I just take the movie's word for it, for the same reason I don't want a longer, more explanatory cut of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure that explains the nature of the phone booth's travel mechanics.   And the movie's voice over will do a comical explanation of "and then he did some God stuff..." for a laugh, but also to put the plot.  All that works for me, and I think if that stuff bothers you as a cheap shortcut, you'll be annoyed.

In short, I don't think you're going to find a consensus about this movie's quality -- I think that in both positive and negative reviews, reviewers are likely to cite the same reasons for those reviews.  It's all going to come down to whether or not you embrace and enjoy the tone to turn this into what is almost a Marvel spoof, or if doing so hurts your overall sensibilities for how it relates to the larger Marvel universe.

[Brian Fein]

Good review.  Shockingly, I almost completely agree.

The beginning of the movie had the feel of a length SNL skit, for me.  But the film evolved once the hero encountered the villain to establish the primary conflict.  The goats, IMO, were the best part of the movie.

I struggled a bit with the lack of explanation on some of the main plot points, but I am able to fill in the blanks internally and move on.  Some of it was established in prior films.  I've seen people compare this movie to the "Scary Movie" series, considering it to be a parody of older Thor films.  I won't go that far. 

In all, I enjoyed the film, but I can completely respect its criticism.  I wish they didn't steer into the skid as much on the comedic plot points and just stick to the story, but it all works.  Its when people start trying to pull deeper meanings out of surface comedy, that the entire feature seems to fall apart.  I'm interested to see where it goes from here...