Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder shows off his naked derriere and lets his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) wield his mighty hammer, in Thor: Love and Thunder† However, given Marvel’s trademark sexlessness, those bold touches don’t change director’s basic PG-13 nature. Taika Waititi’s second Marvel round, following in the crazy footsteps of its prior Thor: Ragnarok, albeit at lower rewards. A rambunctious action comedy cast in brilliant Day-Glo colors and set to the anthemic rock of Guns N’ Roses, Waititi’s latest MCU effort works overtime to deliver hard-hitting humor and romantic pathos. Still, the species can be seen, resulting in an adventure adventure that overdoses on one title element at the expense of another.
[Spoilers follow.]
There’s a lot of extravagant CGI action and ridiculous humor in it Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8), whose story – according to the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame– picks up with Thor (Hemsworth) in the company of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who roam the universe protecting the innocent from nefarious villains. Thor no longer has the paternal body he boasted of in the wake of Thanos’ genocide, but while his physique is in tip-top shape, his soul is a wreck. As he proves during a siege of an alien world that ends with him single-handedly saving the day with his usual cocky ignorant bravado – this time in a vest that looks like the right attire for an ’80s hair-metal concert. – can he be capable go through the heroic moves. Deep down, however, he is empty inside. What he needs to fill that inner hole becomes apparent thanks to a typically ridiculous speech from Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and then a visit to New Asgard, where in his battle against evil shadow monsters he combines him with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and a surprising ally: Jane, who is now blond, pale and waving his hair Mjolnir hammer as The Mighty Thor.
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Jane, it turns out, is dying of stage IV cancer and has become a veritable “space Viking” simply by searching for the shattered remains of Mjolnir, who reformed in her presence, granting her Thor’s strength (and armor and red cape). Thor ends up in a quasi-love triangle with his old weapon Mjolnir and his new jealous Stormbreaker. Still, the Hammer’s decision to turn Jane into a superhero is especially good news for Thor, as after meeting the majestically enhanced Jane, he is immediately attacked by Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a ghostly ghost with an imposing blade called the Necrosword. Thor: Love and ThunderThe prologue explains that after being mocked by his god in the wake of his beloved daughter’s death, Gorr was chosen by the Necrosword to own it and use it to kill all the gods for their heartless selfishness. Thor is Gorr’s latest target, not only because of his divine status, but also because, as we learn later, his ax Stormbreaker is the key to unlocking a magical realm that Gorr wants to reach.
Bale’s pale, tooth-rotten, vampire-like Gorr is easily the most captivating facet of Thor: Love and Thunder, which radiates an uncanny disorder, born of irreparable loss. The film comes to life when he appears, whether he threatens a group of children he kidnaps from New Asgard – a kidnapping that motivates Thor, Jane and Valkyrie to embark on their quest – or convincingly argues against his opponents that they are all victims. of cruelly indifferent gods. The Oscar-winning actor makes you feel Gorr’s heartbreak and tormented anger, which in Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s script matches the grief Thor felt over Jane’s fatal condition – an illness seemingly destined to separate them forever, just while they have their crush.
Thor: Love and Thunder is captivating when it focuses on the tormented love of its protagonists, as it makes them almost three-dimensional. However, for the majority of these proceedings, thunderous cacophony and intrusive comedy take precedence, at the expense of material. While Thor: Ragnarok had fun rewriting his mythical Avenger as a sweet and excitedly arrogant dim-bulb (think a long-haired He-Man with the golden retriever personality), this movie pushes in that direction in an unrelenting measure. He’s a clownish cartoon who can’t go on for a minute without casually destroying property, talking about his fellow countrymen or coming up with a nonsensical me-first comment. Hemsworth still skillfully balances Thor’s clueless narcissism and formidable battlefield flair, but everything is thrown at such an insanely sustained pace that the intended laughter dies on the vine.
Portman and Thompson are similarly swallowed by… Thor: Love and Thunderthe relentless screaming. They barely get a real moment amid running jokes involving Thor’s giant screaming pet goats and a gaudy journey to the council of the gods, where Thor tries to enlist the help of Zeus (Russell Crowe, who lifts it with an exaggerated accent) and – echoing the aforementioned nakedness – Greek legend fights for his sparkling thunderbolt. The jokes fly around so incessantly that they don’t have time to breathe, and the exhaustion sets in quickly. MCU fans will probably enjoy the handful of cameos from the past Thor participants, but even those play as mandatory aspects of the never-ending world-building that is the main guideline of the franchise. They do little to surprise or propel the plot into the inevitable showdown between Gorr and his Asgardian adversaries.
Waititi indulges in a fairytale framing device and doubles up on the heavy metal-style visuals from Thor: Ragnarok, though two of his slam-bang sets are shot in murky darkness that neutralizes the slow-motion italic grandeur he strives for. For much of its two-hour runtime, Thor: Love and Thunder is a case study in more-is-less, which piles on fantasies with unbridled enthusiasm and consequently buries the more moving human story it purportedly wants to tell. Waititi tries so hard to make everything cool that he forgets to pause long enough to spark amazement, excitement, or amusement. Whether it’s Thor’s tender interactions with Jane or the movie’s nods to same-sex relationships—courtesy of both Valkyrie and Thor’s rocky buddy Korg (Waititi), who explains that his race reproduces via male-on -man hand-holding-Thor: Love and Thunder operates as if it were a frenzied race to the finish, in the process going beyond the things it does best.
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