Movie Review - Thor: Love and Thunder….and underwhelming (SPOILER FREE)

Prior to watching this movie, I had high hopes and expectations for it considering it was based off Jason Aaron’s run of Thor back in 2014. However, in this movie all the important plot points were unnecessarily rushed, poorly delivered, and the overall comedic tone drowned out any serious plot points that were occurring.

As seen in the trailers, the Guardians of the Galaxy make an appearance in the movie, but their appearance just felt like it was out of obligation as they did not serve any real purpose being in the movie. Thor being oblivious to the fact that the Guardians are not interested in teaming up with him anymore (or at least for the time being) was so forced, that it was a bit cringe to watch. The Guardians of the Galaxy crew would have served a much better purpose had they just appeared at the end of the movie rather than the very beginning.

Thor in this movie tries to be serious at times but his overall comedic demeanor gets in the way of that. For someone who is a God with a high ceiling of strength and abilities, he poses no actual leadership abilities and is mentally a shell of what he used to be when he was first introduced into the MCU.

The movie basically copy/paste the overall comedic theme that made Thor Ragnarok successful, however that comedic theme did not translate well in this movie. In moments where the movie should have been taken seriously, just doesn’t come off that way since there is a comedic antic that occurs every 5 minutes or so.

One story arc I was most excited about was Jane Fosters journey into becoming the new Thor. Though it followed most of the story line from the comic on how she becomes the new Thor, it felt incredibly rushed for no reason and pre-maturely introduced early into the movie with very little explanation on how all the pieces of the puzzle connected to where she becomes the new Thor.

One of the most interesting new characters in the movie is Astrid (Who identifies as Axl in the movie). He is a spitting image of his late father, Heimdall. His persona and abilities is a great representation of following in the footsteps of his father. He was a well-balanced character in this movie.

As powerful of a God as Zeus is portrayed to be, he comes off as arrogant, fraudulent, and ignorant. He puts up a circus act of his abilities and does not affect any of the outcomes that occurred in the movie. I wish they would have made him more daunting and mightier but instead he is a comedic act that chooses to use his abilities for entertainment purposes rather than defense.

After being a small supporting character in Thor Ragnarok, Korg is back but has too much screen time. He is a character that you can only take in small doses and in this movie, he is forced to being the driving factor of comic relief but ends up talking way too much. He is a character that should only have about 5-10 minutes of screen-time at most, but ends up being in the entire movie, and after the first half of the movie, I got annoyed with his presence. Korg in this movie is what Jar Jar Binks is to the Star Wars Prequels.

Gorr the God Butcher felt like a sub-par villain overall, as he did not kill anyone significant. Not once did I feel like Gorr was intimidating or relentless, rather he always seemed to be a step behind instead of being a step ahead. Gorr is the type of villain that does not fit well with the Disney era Marvel movie formula where they have to throw in comedy relief before being taken “Serious” yet they tried to do that with Gorr and it clearly did not work.

As a result of Jane Fosters rushed story arc, the movie does not give the audience the opportunity to appreciate her or want her to continue to carry the mantle. The fight scenes between Gorr, Thor, and Jane were cinematically great, but I never felt like Gorr had any kind of advantage at any point of the fights. Per the usual Disney era Marvel Movies, once the villain is defeated (Gorr in this case), they have an epiphany on how their motive was wrong and how they now see the error of their ways, though it is much too late for that. It is a tiring formula that I wish Marvel/Disney would just let go of already.

*Like all/most Marvel movies, there is a Mid Credit and End Credit Scene*

Final Verdict: 6/10

Though the movie is visually entertaining to watch, the important plot points has a short fuse instead of a slow burn when there was plenty of screen time to develop those important points. It also drowns itself in comedy at moments where it should be taken more seriously. Its comedic formula worked well with Thor: Ragnarok, but does not translate well with this movie. The direction of where Marvel is taking its next phase of its MCU Franchise still seems to be in Limbo, and the moment to build up something of a bigger scale is dying down with every new release.

Thor: Love and Thunder is now in theaters. Ticket information and movie times near you can be found here