Thor: Love and Thunder is Taika Waititi’s follow up to 2017’s Thor Ragnarok, bringing more Thor’s, god goring Gorr, beards, hammers, and mead for yet another Marvel cosmic journey. More rock, paper, scissors jokes, screaming goat memes, GNR, and a boisterous egotistical Zeus from Russell Crow make for a fairly far out there ride through the cosmos against Christian Bale’s Gorr, in contrast to more personal and grounded plot threads that had potential to strike more raw themes. For Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, it’s hammering time! But does Taika Waititi hammer home another classic Thor adventure, or has this one lost its thunder?
“So, this is my vow: all gods will die”
The last of his people, abandoned by his gods and left to die, we are introduced to the god fearing Gorr, soon to be God Butcher, as his daughter dies in his arms on a dried up dead world. As he grieves and wishes for his own death, Gorr’s god, Rapu, appears before him, showing no interest or pity for the death of his people, or his daughter. With power granted by the powerful All-Black, the Necrosword, Gorr gores Rapu and vows to exact vengeance upon all gods by killing them one-by-one, ridding the universe of their tyranny. It doesn’t take long before we are reunited with Thor Odinson, who discovers Gorr’s bloodthirsty rampage will lead him to New Asgard on Earth and the remaining Asgardians. All the while Jane Foster is diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, but while medical treatments have proven ineffective, she believes reforging Mjolnir may hold the power she needs to heal her.
Taika Waititi opens his long-awaited Thor: Love and Thunder – the thorth Thor instalment in Marvel’s Phase Thor lineup featuring two Thors and a gory Gorr – with multiple plot threads that eventually intertwine as our heroes are united against Gorr. Those familiar with Taika Waititi’s filmography, including the likes of Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, might recognise familiar tropes he employs; setting up dire situations that will carry heavy themes by the end of the film, while remaining contrastingly darkly humorous throughout.
However while Thor: Ragnarok was able to balance it’s Jack Kirby space opera-isms and Flash Gordon pulp influences with Waititi’s wit and laugh out loud humour, Love and Thunder struggles to find the right balance between its, at times, silly over the top humour and more serious themes. For the most part while there are laugh out loud moments – the screaming goats are GOAT of course, and Thor’s pining over his ex-girlfriend and ex-hammer causing jealousy in his new axe make for some subtle and less subtle comic scenes – there are moments where these jokes are repeated too often or worse, undermine more serious moments. This is in part a structural issue as well, though, where there is a general feeling that the Godbutcher story should have been a two part film, considering the epic scale of the comics, while the humour can overshadow driving the plot forward in meaningful ways, coming across as a parody of a superhero film than actually being one.
Thor: Hey, is that the Necrosword? That’s cool. I’ve only ever read about it in stories
Gorr: Then you know this is going to hurt
Anyone familiar with Gorr from the Jason Aaron Thor run will likely be disappointed by how absent he is in the film, where his comic book counterpart sparks an epic that sees Thors from different time periods banding together after Gorr successfully butchers and enslaves thousands and thousands of gods across the universe. Here, Gorr is reduced to being another throwaway MCU villain, even if Christian Bale’s performance is adequately disturbed. Likewise his design, in comparison to his comic book appearance, is a little on the safe side, looking more like the psychotic lovechild of Voldemort and The Conjuring universes the Nun, if he were conceived in the macabre medieval fantasy world of Dark Souls. The underpinning theme that his faith in the gods went unrewarded showing how mortals are insects compared to the immortal gods and deities they worship isn’t touched upon nearly as well in this film, nor the inevitable contradiction that Gorr’s bloody feats make him equivocal to a god himself, marking his undoing. Ultimately it’s a confused and sadly lacklustre use of the source material.
Similarly, much of the promotional material for the film hinged on Jane Foster’s newfound godhood, yet by the end of the film we are frustratingly left with a sensation that we were teased a new powerful hero to appear in the MCU only for her future to be left in a state of uncertainty by the films climax. Though there are interesting uses of the relationship between her condition and what it’s doing to her body being represented by the way Mjolnir empowers her as Thor while draining her energy, positioning her opposite Gorr who is similarly slowly being killed by his mystic sword. These make for some truly empowering yet emotive scenes, recalling Waititi’s ability to develop disarmingly heartbreaking and emotional themes and scenes out of an otherwise comical film. Natalie Portman makes for a Mighty Thor thanks to her thunderous performance and showed the capacity to make even the most sinister of Jötunheimr eat her hammer. We just have to hope that there will be a way for her to bring the thunder again in future Marvel Cinematic instalments.
“It must be hard for you to see your ex-girlfriend and your ex-hammer hanging out and getting on so well”
Powered by an excellent soundtrack that boasts a Guns N Roses playlist, Thor: Love and Thunder dives into hair metal music video territory during Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy’s opening battle against a motley crew (or rather a Mötley Crüe) of fury intergalactic metal heads. Blasting “Welcome to the Jungle” in pitch battle may be the most appropriately metal thing the MCU has done to date, though admittedly the gravity of Gorr’s actions are undercut by the frequent use of pop music, often for comedic effect. Even if the inclusion of G’N’R is always only ever a positive, there are moments in the film – particularly towards the climax – where a sombre more foreboding atmosphere would have driven the villains threat further.
Jane Foster: What’s it been, like three, four years?
Thor: Eight years, seven months, and six days, give or take
Keen eyed fans of Thor comics, meanwhile, might want to take a comically large magnifying glass to watch Waititi’s latest thunder flick because, like Ragnarok, it is littered with fun Easter eggs throughout its run time. The attention to detail he puts into the backgrounds – from minor, very missable artefacts to massive hulking tributes – is truly impressive and makes it clear that, even if the story is a little hit or miss, he is clearly a fan of the comics and their long history. Whether they hint at the future of the MCU is another thing altogether, but as is often the case with these superhero movies, it gives us more reason for subsequent viewings. Even despite its shortcomings, Thor: Love and Thunder is a fun watch, but in comparison to Thor Ragnarok its flaws in structure and balance can be grating and confirm Marvel Studios continues to suffer from poor villain writing.
