Thor: Love and Thunder is an American superhero film drama featuring Thor, the Marvel Comics character. The movie is the fourth in the Thor film series, a sequel to the well-received Thor: Ragnarok, also directed by Taika Waititi, who helmed this film, which is the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Now, Thor: Love and Thunder contains all the ingredients of a MCU film and one directed by Waititi. Facile humour, bright costumes, CG-heavy superhero violence peppered with nostalgic fan-service and Easter eggs. In our view, this film is slightly better than Thor: Ragnarok, as carries on the light-hearted, buffoonish characterisation of the God of Thunder introduced in Thor: Ragnarok and developed in the last two Avengers movies.
READ OUR ANALYSIS OF DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTITUDE OF MADNESS.
Plot-wise, Thor: Love and Thunder picks up from the end of Avengers: Endgame, with Thor having left Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, after the opening battle sequence, the Guardians leave Thor and Korg to chase their own quest concerning apprehending Gorr, the God Butcher. Along the way, Thor recruits allies in the form of King Valkyrie and Jane Foster, now wielding Mjolnir as The Mighty Thor!
The pace of the movie moves fairly quickly, slowly building on the Thor-Jane romance, enduring a slight distraction with what can only be described as some sort of diety convention (introducing the Greek pantheon, specifically Zeus!), before coming up with a plan to stop Gorr from his stated objective – killing all the gods.
Superficial character arcs dominate this film, the action seems to deny any breathing space to such an extent that it is almost impossible to engage with the characters, even when they endure tremendous hardships. Maybe that has got something to do with the pervading flippant tone adopted throughout. Nothing seems serious enough to warrant concern or any sense of tension. That is the fatal flaw of Thor: Love and Thunder. But at least it looked like loads of fun to make …
Now showing in cinemas.
… still there’s more …