There is just so much to love in this movie. It is laugh out loud funny. It is irreverent. It is so full of heart. Thor: Love and Thunder might look, and feel, and sound like yet more superhero fare, but it is, in fact, a deeply meaningful meditation on how and why we love the way we do. Every character that we encounter in this movie is searching for love. They are confounded by it. They are broken by it. They have been betrayed by it. All of them confront it differently. Bound by the shackles of their past. Burdened by the baggage they carry with them. But they continue to fight for it in their own way.
This complicates the idea of heroes and villains. The movie never judges its characters. It weaves in a layer of grey into their lives that makes them narratively complex in ways we’ve not previously encountered in a Marvel movie.
God, Taika Waititi is a very clever man. And watching this will remind you of why he is one of this generation’s greatest filmmakers. His use of comedy as a conduit to address tragedy, and grief, and generational trauma is so cunning, so compassionate, and so calculated that each and every one of his movies reconfigures your view of the world. Thor: Love and Thunder is no different. And I promise that it will move you in unexpected ways.
Whosoever Holds This Hammer, if She Be Worthy, Shall Possess the Power of Thor
The movie picks up where Avengers: Endgame left off. Our titular hero is back in fighting form after teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s worked off that dad bod, and is now traversing the universe (Korg by his side!), and using his God powers to help those in need. But no matter how much good he does, no matter how many planets he saves, there nevertheless remains a void in his life. A gaping emptines left behind by all those he’s lost. Odin and Frigga are gone. So is Loki (ish). Tony is dead. Steve is somewhere in time. And so Thor spends his days going through the motions, doing what needs to be done, all in the hope that he will somehow, some day, find something or someone that will make him feel again.
It finally happens when he runs into his long lost ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster, who, for some reason, is in possession of Mjölnir and is now The Mighty Thor. (For anyone who is confused by this, think of Thor Odinson as the person, and The Mighty Thor as his title.) Jane’s return also coincides with the sudden appearance of a new big bad in the universe, Gorr the God Butcher, whose name kinda tells you everything you need to know about who he is, what he does, and what he wants.
Faced with the extinction of his “kind” (Gorr is in possession of a badass MacGuffin called the Necrosword that can make light work of even the mightiest of Gods), Thor and his ragtag team of misfits set out into the unknown, on a galleon that’s dragged by a pair of screaming goats, in order to recruit an army and take down a palefaced Christian Bale.
Introducing, The Mighty Thor!
Thor: Love and Thunder is the best Phase 4 MCU movie yet. Black Widow was the first Marvel movie that felt completely dispensable. Eternals was boring. Shang-Chi would be forgettable if not for Tony Leung. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was entertaining, but lacked any real emotional heft. And Spider-Man: No Way Home was incredible, but mostly for reasons of nostalgia.
The greatness of Thor: Love and Thunder, however, lies in how beautifully crafted the movie is. Everything here sings. The character interactions. The dramatic visuals. The music choices. The humour. The conflict. The performances that Taika Waititi has managed to extract from his actors are nothing short of sensational. Christian Bale’s Gorr is obsession personified. Natalie Portman switches back and forth between mortal and immortal with such control that it is an absolute joy to watch. But the heart of this movie remains Chris Hemsworth. His ability to balance comedy and emotion, to traverse that fine line between the serious and the silly, is what brings everything together.
This is also truly a Thor movie. (Unlike say, Multiverse of Madness, which was very much a Scarlet Witch movie.) It dives deep into the mythology of the character. It embraces the absurdity that is very much inherent in the comic books. And it grows the character in an interesting and unique manner.
No, Not Lady Thor! The Mighty Thor!
Thor: Love and Thunder feels like like a rare standalone installment in the MCU. Yes, these characters have an established history and are dealing with the consequences of everything that has come before. But the story that Taika Waititi has chosen to tell is intimate, and self-contained, and focussed. There are no gratuitous cameos. It doesn’t concern itself with multiversal problems that have apocalyptic consequences. It doesn’t set out to set up the next five movies in the seemingly never-ending story that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, there are two post-credits stingers, but neither of them feel like they’re just there to keep you on the hook for the next movie.
Thor: Love and Thunder is a movie with a beginning, a middle, and an end. (Which, funnily enough, feels like a unique experience in this age of interconnectedness.) It is complete. Which is, ultimately, very very satisfying. And I don’t know about you, but I want more Marvel movies like this one.
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