REVIEW #194 Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Love and Thunder rejoins us with Thor and his Guardians of the Galaxy companions as he sheds the weight and gets back to his fighting peak. His journey of self discovery is cut short when he is called back to New Asgard to face a new threat, Gorr the God Butcher.

I want to start by telling you all straight off the bat, Taiki Waititi doubles down on the hilariously silly comedy we witnessed in Thor Ragnarok and for me it worked really well. However if you’re a person who isn’t the biggest fan of his style and approach then it’s fair to say you probably won’t enjoy it. There’s no hiding the fact that the MCU has been guilty of forcing comedy into otherwise serious films, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But with Taiki’s approach he leans into it and doesn’t try to hide the fact that it’s silly and over the top and that’s why it works incredibly well for me. Through its entire two hour run time, which was full of humour, I’d say there was only a couple of occasions where it come across as cringey and that’s a pretty good ratio! Now on to the performances, Christian Bale was amazing as Gorr the God Butcher and even when he was being funny it was still really creepy and dark. It looked like he had a tonne of fun in the role and I mean that in the best way, it’s definitely one of the strongest antagonists we have seen in a solo MCU film. The same can be said for Chris Hemsworth, he really is in his element with this comedy centric version of the God of Thunder and it’s clear that it’s working a lot better compared to the first two Thor films. Natalie Portman made a highly anticipated return and The Mighty Thor looked great and she certainly done well to keep up with Hemsworth’s energy. Tessa Thompson performed well but was kind of sidelined in the second half of the film which was a shame. I’m not sure how I felt about Russel Crowe’s Zeus, I can’t say I was the biggest fan and we see a certain character in the credit scene, I have even more doubt about that casting but we will see how it goes, maybe they’ll surprise me. 

The cinematography for the most part was really good, creating colourful and extravagant visuals that were really pleasing on the eye. There were a couple of patchy moments with the green screen, which seems to be a frequent feature with the MCU as of late but nothing too distracting. Zeus’s Thunderbolt was a weird inclusion for me, where Mjolnir and Stormbreaker look really cool in action and create wonderful visuals, the Thunderbolt just stuck out like a sore thumb. It also felt like it was added to the story just for the sake of it, the plot would have worked just fine without it. On the subject of the plot, I really liked Gorr’s character arc and although there wasn’t a lot of time dedicated to his backstory, there was enough to create a strong sense of sympathy for the character. You understood his intentions and his motives as the antagonist. I also loved the relationship between Thor and his weapons, it was absolutely brilliant and a stroke of genius from the writers! The conclusion was strong and it tied in nicely with the title, Love and Thunder with love being the core of the film and ultimately what saves the day in the end. I can imagine this latest Thor instalment being quite polarising amongst fans, I for one loved it but I completely understand why people would also really dislike it, it’s a strange one. But one thing I’m certain on is that the film was one hell of a cinema experience; the visuals, the soundtrack and the action sequences were made for the big screen. So I would definitely recommend getting out to watch it if you can. Just remember this… it’s a comedy film, so don’t go in expecting any different and you’ll be sure to enjoy it.

Overall (8.8/10)

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