The cracks in the MCU formula have given way to a full flood of problems, most notable in Taika Waititi’s follow up to Thor: Ragnarok, which artfully knows how to pull jokes from its cast of characters but fails to deliver a meaningful story arc.
(Mild-spoilers ahead)
Let’s be fair about what I’m about to say: Love and Thunder is a fun ride and if that’s all you need from the MCU these days, then you’ll likely have zero problems with this latest installment. Given how abysmal the first two Thor movies have been aside from Ragnarok, it wasn’t going to take much for this film to be excellent in the fun department.
Most of the crew from Ragnarok is back: from Chris Hemsworth as the title character (who’s shed the offensive fat suit from Endgame), Waititi voicing Korg, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie (running New Asgard’s territory on Earth in fabulous function), along with series regulars Natalie Portman as Jane Foster (wielding Thor’s old hammer Mjolnir as the new Thor) and Jaimie Alexander as Sif (who is taken about as seriously as the Mighty Three in Ragnarok).
We also get a quick cameo from the Guardians of the Galaxy crew to establish where Thor has been and what type of personal journey he’s been on since Endgame. And that’s where the primary problems start with this film: Thor is always unsure of his purpose and he’s always on a journey of self-discovery. And that wouldn’t exactly be a problem if this was consistent across movies, however when we take the MCU’s complete portrayal of Thor, it’s been underwhelming. As I’ve admitted earlier, those first two Thor films were rather lackluster. But they didn’t suffer from characterization issues; they understood what they wanted their character to experience and go through. Thor started in a place and ended in another that the audience could understand. Even if I personally disagree tonally with some parts of Ragnarok, Waititi had a clear goal of where Thor should start and end in that film.
What Are You the God Of Again?
With Love and Thunder, Thor is grappling with his lingering feelings towards Jane, and at a time where Gods are dropping left and right, this would be a great way to explore his feelings in a meaningful way and give Jane more agency at the same time.
However, the film chooses to explore this in a very weak manner.
We get the occasional fawning over each other and trying to reignite a passion that wasn’t there in their previous two movies. Say what you will about the recent Matrix sequel, but the chemistry was still there nearly 20 years later so what’s Hemsworth and Portman’s excuse? If these two are expected to carry the film, they do so rather poorly and are only bailed out by the excessive number of gags and jokes that Waititi peppers throughout the film. In many ways, this film is reminiscent of the problems Iron Man 2 faced when the characterizations in that story weren’t tight: sure there were ample doses of RDJ to keep us entertained but it’s ultimately a weak entry because those issues are glaringly obvious and fail to hold our attention.
The Mighty Thor aka Lady Thor aka Dr. Jane Foster
Portman takes on the larger role of Thor’s mantle, after gaining the ability/worthiness to wield Thor’s hammer and potentially heal her from her ever approaching battle with cancer. The stage was set to really explore Jane’s past since she split from Thor, but the narrative isn’t really interested in answering those questions (aside from one flashback) or re-connecting the leads in a meaningful way (as they’ve been apart for a considerable amount of time). Given how impactful or daring Portman’s performances have been in other films, I left this film feeling rather let down. Seeing her take down enemies or yell a catchy phrase (which becomes a running gag) are fun comedic moments, but the lack of impact will become more glaring on repeat viewings.
This arc suffers due to its timing: it would have been a great pre-Endgame story. It’s very akin to Black Widow’s story being nearly pointless aside from establishing Elena (Florence Pugh). It doesn’t mean that the story is entirely bad, but some of the impact or excitement is lessened when you realize this character won’t be around long. As fond as we are of Jane, neither the MCU or Natalie Portman are interested in reprising the character anymore, so this film needed to wrap up her arc, even if it means sacrificing some narrative consistency to do so.
One last observation about Portman: her portrayal of Jane has always tried to straddle a line between someone enamored by Thor’s arrival, the realization of her life-long work along with her brains, and her confidence as a scientist. This film seems to forget the latter in order to create an overwhelmed Jane that lacks that confidence she built over two movies. Even if the movie is saying that her cancer struggle is the lynchpin, it doesn’t spend nearly enough time there, so we have little reason to believe why she wants to fight (especially as it’s killing her).
Gorr the God Butcher Has A Point
The MCU loves to give their villains great motivation only to pull the rug out at the last minute. While many will praise Christian Bale’s performance as Gorr, which is sufficiently creepy (and finally lets more audiences hear his real accent in a film), it’s ultimately lackluster because his main point is never refuted. The narrative simply moves that argument aside to wrap up the film with an ultimate point that love prevails, even if it hurts. Gorr is killing Marvel deities for legitimate reasons; they have wronged him, they have hurt people, they haven’t held up their part of the deity / mortal relationship. There’s some real gold here that could be explored that the film doesn’t seem interested in tackling aside from cheap lip service.
What’s worse, is that Jane’s ascension and Thor having already dealt with the issues of godliness/godhood would have been perfect ends of the spectrum to explore Gorr’s question. It’s such a slam dunk that it’s difficult to accept what’s presented on screen. If the screenwriters still want love to be the answer (although as an atheist, that’s sort of a condescending answer to Gorr’s legitimate pain), they can certainly propose that answer. But there’s a difference in saying a thing vs showing a thing, and Love and Thunder never actually proves it.
Headscratchers
This section is going to rapid fire a few thoughts about parts of the film that don’t really deserve full paragraphs, but that I’m still very curious about or want answers to:
- Tessa Thompson is absolutely wasted in this film; I know fans are going to love the hint at her sexuality, but representation in 2022 looks like full storylines instead of whispers so this should be insulting to anyone who identifies with her. Either give her character the attention she deserves or quit baiting fans like this.
- Russell Crowe’s atrocious Greek accent is about as bad as his breathy voice in Les Miserable. Do with that what you will. Somewhere Jared Leto was taking notes.
- So…Gorr, who just spent the whole movie killing Gods for their callousness, decides to give his daughter to Thor…a God…so he can raise her…for reasons…
- Gorr gets how many wishes at the gates of Eternity? Does Thor not get a wish because Gorr opened the gate? Why not heal Jane AND get his daughter back? Why not kill all the Gods AND get your daughter back? We never hear how the rules works so I’m legitimately confused. This plot point is bad and felt tacked on to just quickly resolve the film. It’s about as contrived as the Avengers not wishing Natasha back to life in Endgame when you have the MacGuffin of MacGuffins in the palm of your hands.
- So, Thor didn’t kill Zeus? What gives…also…they dragged Roy Kent into this? Jesus!
- Getting Zeus’s thunderbolt was a nice aside to see the rest of the MCU pantheon…but it’s effectively a fetch quest with no impact on the story. You could snip it out and nothing would change narratively.
Standalone Complex
What’s interesting about the current phase of the MCU, is whether they can successfully navigate standalone movies like this, that may tease some future entries, but have less direct push towards an eventual big baddie like Thanos showing up to wreck the place. One aspect I enjoyed about this film is that it was clearly attempting to be and do its own thing, but that will likely cause some conflicted emotions with the Marvel faithful. If fans are hoping this film will give them a concrete puzzle piece about the universe going forward, be prepared for disappointment.
Conclusion
Love and Thunder will satisfy the itch that many avid and casual MCU fans have enjoyed since Ragnarok, but the lack of character development and cheap returns on jokes will only raise more questions on repeat viewings and on the overall progress of the MCU.
5 out of 10
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