Thor Love and Thunder (2022) Dir. Taika Waititi

As someone who’s beginning to tune out of the post-Endgame MCU, Thor Love and Thunder may just be the film that stops me watching these films entirely. After the success of Thor Ragnarok – a film that won me over eventually – director Taika Waititi returns but whatever goodwill he earned from that flick is entirely thrown away on this cheap and disposable superhero film.

In brief, the story sees Thor at a bit of a loss as to what to do with his life – it’s as if the lessons learned in 7 other films have been forgotten – but there’s a new bad guy in town in the form of Christian Bale’s Gorr. After a deity fails to save Gorr’s daughter, he gets hold of a Necrosword that conjures demons and he then vows to kill all the Gods of the universe.

Meanwhile, Natalie Portman returns as Jane Foster who has stage 4 cancer (whoa there, Marvel) and she is drawn to Thor’s broken hammer which temporarily protects her with its magic and she subsequently turns into Mighty/Lady Thor.

Stale narrative aside, the film’s main problem is one highlighted elsewhere by a billion fan-boys who focus in on the movie’s misjudged humour. And the sheer volume of it. But those YouTubers aren’t wrong.

Bale’s character is introduced in an emotional scene of loss but within minutes the mood awkwardly shifts to one of silliness as scenes turn into sketch-show skits. It’s been seen before in other MCU films, but here it feels almost a parody of that criticism such is the unstoppable onslaught of unfunny jokes which undercut every sequence of the movie.

Thor’s recent change into a cartoonish buffoon is also the latest MCU trope where almost all characters are now “the funny one”. Once upon a time, Tony Stark’s wit contrasted with Cpt. America’s sincerity, Nick Fury’s authoritarian attitude and Hawkeye’s down to earth unpretentiousness. But now Thor is the quippy one. Starlord is the quippy one. Hulk is the quippy one. Loki has the quips, Drax has quips and Valkyrie has quips. * sigh *

In one scene we see Thor’s long-term compatriot Sif losing an arm in war and it means absolutely nothing to the film. It’s a pitiful punchline. Remember when 3^rd level bit-part player Coulson died and the entire movie and characters changed course? That was good, wasn’t it?

Well, with nothing and no one being the straight guy/gal then nothing is ultimately serious in any way and nothing is heartfelt. In fact, nothing means anything really. Where’s the earnestness in this? MCU movies have always poked fun at themselves but here the meta-comedy mocks itself so much – “look how silly and stupid this is, everyone” – that I started to believe it. There’s more heart, drama and exploration of serious issues in Toy Story.

Any positives? Well, the Guardians of the Galaxy style soundtrack has its own mix tape full of 80s hard rock (mostly Guns n Roses) and the creature designs are admittedly good. These spooky nasties emerge like shadows into each scene giving a sense of dread and a sequence in black and white near the film’s conclusion showed a lot of artistry lacking from the rest of the film. But it’s too little too late.

I feel most sorry though for Natalie Portman. The brilliant actress is given nothing of worth to work with and although her Thor looks the part, the stodgy material she gets in her anticipated return is nothing short of unacceptable.

There’s too much “stuff” but not enough depth and the terrible script isn’t helped at all by the horrid colour grading which brings attention to its cheap and unrealistic CGI. I mean I could go on and on. Russell Crowe appeared to be channelling Borat in his turgid turn as Zeus and the film may as well have started half an hour in and you’d maybe lose 5 minutes of backstory.

I’m mostly alone in this, but although Thor 1 & 2 had flaws, the films used Thor as the iconic God-man he is (“Shakespeare in the park”) which gave the character contrast to the other multiple personality types of the Avengers. Thor’s genuine love story of previous films is turned into a shitty rom-com flashback and although some may enjoy his (and the wider MCU’s content) lighter tone and comedy stylings, for me without something you can invest yourself in the whole thing is a flimsy failure.

And so here we are. Marvel losing its grip on one of its iconic characters, a director fuelled by his own (misguided) belief in his comedy writing skills and more-than-decent actors wading through boring superhero treacle results in a film weighed down by Mjölnir-levels of unfunny and snarky “comedy”. A thunderous mess.

★★

Michael Sales