Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow Reviews where I put pen to paper and break down the latest movies, shows, anime, and games. Today the topic will be based on 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder (SPOILER WARNING AHEAD FOR THE MOVIE!!!!) Foreword:
To say I was not a fan of the first two Thor movies would be a massive understatement. I loved his character and the world of Asgard, but there was still something missing. Between the weaker villains, lackluster action, and banal story, Thor never jumped from the shadows of his MCU counterparts. That was until Thor: Ragnorak came around. Just as Captain America got the Russo Brothers to upgrade his movies, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok breathed fresh life into the franchise and the character, resulting in one of my favorite MCU movies. Overall: Despite the great success and new direction implemented in Ragnarok, Waititi’s second outing helming a Thor film left me feeling largely underwhelmed walking out of theaters. If I had to point to one key flaw, I would highlight the excessive use of comedy in the film. Yes, I’m well aware and even appreciate that not every MCU needs to be Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home in terms of seriousness, where the universe is a stake. Coming into the movie, I knew that it was going to be more of a light-hearted romantic comedy than its action-oriented predecessor, and I was looking forward to seeing what Waititi would do with that angle. Honestly, I feel like he nailed all the comedic elements once again by infusing nearly every scene in the movie with laughter. Between the weird love triangle with Thor, his hammer, and his ax, the introduction of his screaming, mythological goats, and Bao, the god of dumplings (the real MVP here), I was dying throughout half of the movie. But, that may have been the problem. It was too funny and silly at times, and the overall story and characters suffered for it. Yes, movies, even superhero movies, can be too funny for their own good. The Foster Experiment: When presented with the movie, the most unique aspect of the story was always going to be Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor. We already have seven films of seeing Thor fight bad guys, but we have never seen him interact with someone that could be his sidekick or who shares the mantle with him. Cap has interacted with not one but two characters that have dawned the Captain America mantle in the comics. Spider-Man teamed up with two other versions of himself. Iron-Man created a second suit of armor for War-Machine. Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Hawkeye all have had numerous interactions with characters in their movies that share similar powers to them. The list goes on and on. But, there has never been someone with similar abilities to Thor for him to interact with to deepen and push his character. What did it mean to be Thor? How would she be different than he was as Thor? Did she come to understand him more after having his powers? Does he see her and his powers in a different light? Can he offer her advice on dealing with her new gifts? These are all questions that would normally always go into these situations, but not a single one was addressed. The summary of Thor and Jane's arc of dealing with their shared powers was him simply stating that the look worked for her, and she looked great. This pivotal moment of a human becoming a god was more used as fuel for their romantic subplot, allowing more comedic lines and situations than helping to take the characters to new heights. That one phrase, lack of depth, was what really hindered my enjoyment of the film. There were just too many great ideas that didn’t reach their potential due to that lack of depth. Missed Opportunities Even the journey to Omnipotence City, a huge location that could have added more depth into the worlds of Moon Knight, Black Panther, The Eternals, and the MCU in general was largely treated as a joke. Yes, it was a funny joke, hilarious even, but instead of getting more background on the Necrosword, the nature of the universe, or perhaps a devastating attack by Gorr to show how dangerous he was, we got Zeus doing lightning tricks. Yes, I know it did its job in pushing the plot along and showing how terrible and cowardly the gods could be, but that idea felt like an afterthought. For an entire movie built on the notion that the gods needed to die because they were unworthy, Thor never takes any real time to grapple with that notion, which is crazy because Thor’s sense of worthiness is a consistent topic in all his films. The only time he does confront an idea that could make him question his very existence and purpose was treated as a throwaway line to “never meet your heroes.” So, instead of diving deeper into the themes, the movie was based on, we get more jokes, which doesn’t allow it to reach the heights it is capable of. For me, that was one of the biggest misses the movie had. The only one greater was the disservice Gorr’s character as a whole. Missing Gorr Now, I’m a huge Christian Bale fan, but I felt like his talent and compelling character were wasted due to both being overshadowed by the surplus amount of comedy in the film. Gorr was meant to be this chilling character, a being consumed by death and darkness. His comic counterpart has such a big impact on Thor, that it makes him unworthy to even lift his hammer for a time. Yet, we only see that side of him in flashes. Every since the Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, all superhero movies were hit with one of the golden rules of storytelling they all need to follow. A superhero story can only be as good as its villain. There is a reason that some of the most highly rated Marvel films all have something in common: compelling villains that mirror the hero. The Winter Soldier has Bucky and Cap dynamic. Civil War has the Captain American and Iron Man contrast Black Panther has T’Challa and Killmonger relationship The Eternals has the Icarus betrayal against his family. Spider-Man: No Way Home has the Green Goblin rivalry. Superhero movies thrive on this idea. When the hero looks at the villain, they need to see parts of themselves there, or the villain's existence has to challenge their beliefs in a fundamental way. For Thor, Gorr was just a crazy guy with a sword. They had no connection and nothing to link them to each other outside of one wanting to kill the other. That’s what made Loki and Hela work so much better as villains for him. Their personal connections and differing ideology helped challenge and push him to grow. Now, don’t get me wrong. Despite excess comedy and the underutilization of Gorr, I still really enjoyed the movie…until the very end. All is not fair in Love and Thunder I hate to say it, but for me, Thor: Love and Thunder had the worst ending of all the MCU films. For a movie dealing with rekindled love, love triangles between weapons, and the extinction of deities across the universe, Thor adopting a child as the grand ending to this movie doesn’t seem right. The end felt rushed and thrown in there to generate a superficial, happy ending that the entire two-hour run time never built up to. Now, I get it. Thor's journey has been one characterized by loss. He lost his family, his home, his hammer, and the love of his life. The idea that Thor finally gets to start a new family to help him finally recover from that loss is a beautiful idea. It just wasn’t well executed. There is no real build-up to Thor wanting a family since his whole focus is just on Jane and his lost hammer. No matter how sweet the ending is, I feel like it that there wasn’t enough cohesive writing to help establish that big point that effectively changes his character in a way that no other movie has done. Final Verdict Thor: Love and Thunder was an entertaining film that had me laughing the entire movie, but the lack of true development of the characters and story suffered for that comedic ride. Pros:
Cons:
Wishes:
Grade: C+ (Entertaining, but very flawed) Comments are closed.
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July 2022
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