Movie Review: Thor - Love and Thunder

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good story, action, fun

Cons: A couple things from the ending didn’t work for me

The Bottom Line:

Stopping god killer

Mostly light with good action

End does not quite work

Better Than I’d Heard

I’ve heard almost nothing but bad things about Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth solo outing for this particular Marvel character.  I’d even heard people say it was much worse than Ragnarok, which I didn’t care for.  So I went in expecting to be really disappointed with the movie.  But I actually found myself enjoying it.

This movie picks up with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bouncing from planet to planet with the Guardians of the Galaxy helping anyone who needs them.  However, a personal plea takes him back to Earth, leaving the rest to continue on their quest (and set up why he isn’t in their next movie).

Meanwhile, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has been given some horrible news.  But then she starts being drawn to the Asgardian settlement on Earth.  What she finds there is shocking not only to her but to Thor when he arrives.

And, just as he arrives, the kids of Asgard are kidnapped.  They’ve been taken by Gorr (Christian Bale) who has one goal in mind – kill the gods.  Thor sets out with Jane, Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to stop him.  Can they do it?  Or are they just walking into a trap?

I was actually pleasantly surprised they brought Jane Foster back since we haven’t seen her since the second Thor movie in 2013.  I always liked Jane’s relationship with Thor, and they gave it an interesting twist here.

I think one reason I liked it was that this movie didn’t wander.  It had a story to tell, and it focused on telling it.  We get enough backstory on Gorr to understand his motives, for example, but that’s all.  It certainly helps that we already know the main characters, so we don’t need more than just a few updates on them.

And the story that we are told is interesting.  The action scenes aren’t over the top but help tell the story.  Don’t worry, there are some good ones, but they don’t take over the movie at any point.

Most of all, this movie has a sense of fun.  There’s plenty of humor, and I laughed multiple times over the course of the film.

The special effects are mostly good, although some of them get a little cartoony.  I can’t quite tell if they were supposed to or not, so it must not be too bad.  The actors all do a great job.

So what is my hesitation?  The ending didn’t quite work for me.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to get into specifics, but I felt like they could have given us a better ending.  The entire thing didn’t have to be changed, just a couple of specific parts.

I guess despite all my griping about Marvel movies, they can still entertain me.  If you haven’t seen Thor: Love and Thunder yet, give it a shot.  You might find that you enjoy it, too.