By Kevin Lopez
The Marvel Cinematic Universe had a strong place in my heart. I loved the hype about what might happen in the movies, I loved the excitement of seeing the characters, and I loved seeing how the story and characters progressed throughout their superhero life. At least that is how I used to feel, almost as if I was in a long committed relationship and despite all the adventures and times we had together, the flame is starting to die. That is where my mind is now and my heart is breaking slowly as “Thor: Love and Thunder” proved to be a great time, though the inconsistency of tone throughout the movie, the bad jokes, and the weird development of Thor himself overshadowed all of that.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” released this month; it was directed by Taika Waititi and is the fourth movie in the Thor Franchise. The movie stars the man of my dreams, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as the new King of Asgard Valkyrie, Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher (the guy Thor fights) and making a return to the franchise is the lovely Natalie Portman as Jane Foster.
You never get tired of the heroes who are trying to save the world and Hemsworth shows how funny and charismatic he truly is in this movie. After the events of “Endgame,” where he was the fat guy threatening Noobmaster on Fortnite, he has now reverted back to his godly physique and goes on adventures as a freelancer with the Guardians of The Galaxy to help those in need.
We get to see how Valkyrie is handling her responsibilities as the new king and by the looks of it, she has turned New Asgard into a tourist destination that many flock to with many gift shops and sights to behold.
However, it is important to point out that Valkyrie is a canonically LGBTQ character in the MCU, the actor and director were adamant about how they were going to dive deeper into her sexuality, unfortunately how they did this in the movie, which was Valkyrie talking about how she misses her dead ex-girlfriend in the middle of Jane and Thor having a moment, it was extremely lazy and could be labeled as queerbaiting.
The film also does a good job of getting you to care about Jane Foster, which had me worried, they use flashbacks and a serious problem that she is dealing with, along with the possible rekindling of romance with Thor gives her a good reason to be in the film.
The villain, Gorr the God Butcher, was a fascinating character because the movie gives you a reason to empathize with him and you almost want to root for him. Christian Bale did a great job portraying the character and our villain had a reason to be upset and you understand why he is doing what he is doing.
I will say for someone who has been given the name “god butcher” you didn’t actually see much of that, rather the movie was telling you that he’s a butcher and that was it, which is unfortunate.
The first thing that came to my mind after watching the movie was that it was just dumb fun. Fans are likely to have a good time with this movie and it definitely has rewatch value, which is what you want in a movie.
The biggest problem is that it just doesn’t take itself seriously, like at all. This is a major issue.
Waititi ramps up the comedy in this movie and of course there are some good lines that made me laugh, but because the movie is consistently trying to make a joke, it feels like a YouTube parody video with a high budget.
Unfortunately, this is what brings the movie down, because even when there are moments when things are supposed to be serious, the actors seem to feel the need to interrupt that moment with a joke.
It gets distracting to the point where I just don’t feel anything during the scenes where they need me to feel something, which is extremely disappointing. Watiti sacrifices emotion and purpose, that would urge the audience to follow our heroes on their adventure, for stupid jokes. Viewers will have fun and enjoy this aspect, but it doesn’t make for a authentic story.
Now, like I pointed out earlier, Hemsworth is extremely funny and just oozes charisma as Thor, but it’s very interesting to consider the evolution of his character.
In the beginning of his story arc, Thor was this Shakespearean god who was aloof on Earth culture, but now after the fourth movie, the best way to describe him would be a dumbass college bro who happens to be a hero.
It’s easy to forget that Thor is a god with how often he jokes around and how often his choices negatively affect those around him. From destroying ancient temples, to kind of being a jerk to the Guardians of the Galaxy, to then making a giant hole in a building with innocent bystanders in it. All of that just ends up making his character almost unlikeable.
When walking out of the movie theater, I was left puzzled. I had so much fun, but I knew that fun was stupid and really meant nothing. To me, the movie on its own was fine, but the fact that it’s supposed to be a part of this vast universe makes it fall flat on its face.
In the end, I felt no Love and sadly I felt a cloud of Thunder over my head. I would recommend this movie to somebody who has never seen a Marvel movie, as it really adds nothing to the MCU other than being a way to a lot of money and you will likely have a good time with this movie.
Unfortunately, many die hard MCU fans like myself, may see this movie as one of the goofiest and least important Marvel movies in the cinematic universe to date.
Rating: 6.5/10
