Thor: Love and Thunder movie review
By Luis Sanchez
Luis Sanchez
On July 8, 2022, the world was able to witness yet another MCU installment on the big screens. This movie was able to make me laugh, scare and feel all within its 2-hour runtime. This is a spoiler-free review, so feel free to keep reading without fear!
Thor: Love and Thunder was directed by Taika Waititi, produced by Marvel Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/Mighty Thor.
This is the first time we see Thor after the events of Avengers: Endgame. In this film, Thor is called back to action after discovering that Gorr the God Butcher is on a quest to kill all gods. What many people did not understand about this film is that it’s comedy-based. This was not meant to be an MCU-lore filled movie with cameos in every frame. This movie was what Eternals tried to be. With expectations set high after Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, many expected a lot – too much perhaps, and that led to many negative reviews from the public. In my opinion, Thor: Love and Thunder was quite enjoyable. The laughs were great, but the movie remained true to itself and even provided the audience with moments of fear – which made it an all around good movie. It’s a fun way to spend a moment with friends and have a laugh.
Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/Mighty Thor was a surprising character. To not reveal too much, all I can say is that the movie did well on making us care for her, despite not seeing her during Thor: Ragnarok. Her connection with Thor was also surprising, but it remained thoughtful and it kept the audience interested on how it would all end up. Thor was an incredibly funny character, but in the process of making him funny the writers also made him careless. To some degree it remains true to the character, but it takes away from all of the lessons that Odin has taught him about caring for others. Still, this version of Thor works well with the movie’s persona, and I think it was effective in driving the movie forward.
Valkyrie was more or less pushed to the side which is shameful, but Tessa Thompson’s character did not go unnoticed. Gorr was honestly my favorite character. He was amazingly creepy, and it brought a balancing darkness to the light of the movie (Thanos would have been proud). Gorr used darkness as his weapon, and the visual effects were satisfying to see with Gorr. Sometimes he would melt into the darkness, or when he was incoming, the first thing you would see were his extremely creepy eyes. It’s as if they gave the fear of “darkness” a character and filmed how it acted inside a child’s nightmare. If a villain can creep me out or make me afraid of them, then that villain was well written and well performed! Gorr was outstanding. No other way to describe it.
In the end, Thor: Love and Thunder relied a lot on comedy, and it worked out, for me at least. I think that the biggest problem with this film was its audience. When many have high expectations, it leads to harsher reviews because the movie did not reach their expectations. I disagree with many of the “critics.” This movie was a lot of fun and a good break from MCU lore. Its path is its own, and that is something to admire in a movie. To be fair, someone who has not seen a single Marvel movie will enjoy it as much as anyone else.
If you are not willing to spend some money in theaters, then I will recommend waiting for it to come out on DVD or Disney+. I would rate this movie 6/10 and would recommend watching it with people who you know will have a laugh.