Review - Thor: Love and Thunder

Our man crush (yes we admit it), Chris Hemsworth is back in what is his best role as The God of Thunder, popularly known as Thor. The last time we saw the character was in the mind-blowing Avengers: Endgame, which to this day remains our favorite superhero movie of all time, where he went off to the sunset… well more like space… with the Guardians of the Galaxy on a new adventure and as a way to reinvent himself.

In the latest installment, Thor: Love and Thunder, the superhero sets off on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – one of self-discovery. But his efforts are interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

As we previously mentioned in our Endgame write up, any great action or superhero movie consists of a formidable villain, who, like the hero, is pivotal if not more. In the Avengers Trilogy we got the likes of Loki and Ultron but ultimately the best one came in the shape of Thanos, who didn’t disappoint. In this instance, the choice of the character was interesting and made even more intriguing by the fact that it’s played by Christian Bale, who not so long ago was a hero in his own right in the legendary Batman trilogy… very sneaky Marvel. The question is, is he as good of a villain as he is a hero? We know we’re probably crossing some sort of line with the mention of a DC character in an exclusively Marvel piece but it’s hard not to, especially considering the circumstances.

It won’t come as a surprise to many, considering his body of work, but Bale does a stellar job as the main instigator in Marvel’s latest outing. We liked the fact that his character’s main ‘why’ of what he does is uncomplicated, some might argue that it is too simplistic but sometimes you need that especially in a movie like this which feels more like a fun ride than anything else. Following the heaviness of the two-part Avengers ending, Thor: Love and Thunder calms things down a bit and mostly finds Hemsworth being his goofy and, at times, clumsy self.

Having said that however, the movie isn’t all fun and games with some great fighting scenes and moments of real action where the main characters outside of Thor, Valkyrie and Jane Foster aka Thor (you’ll get it when you watch the movie) go toe to toe with the villainous Gorr the God Butcher. We also especially liked the numerous references to Vikings (which we’re huge fanboys of… nothing new there) throughout the movie. The movie also introduces other interesting and familiar legendary characters that open up further and intriguing chapters in the ever evolving Marvel Universe. Speaking of which, as customary with the majority of Marvel movies, stick around until the end, this one has two end credit scenes.

Thor: Love and Thunder is a great and fun watch that many will naturally take a liking to. It’s a classic Marvel movie full of humor, intrigue and great action sequences. The storyline is a bit thin and isn’t the studio’s best movie (not by a long shot) but it’s one that will be remembered for all the right reasons – the great characters assembled ensure that.

Directed by Taika Waititi (also responsible for Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, the movie officially opens in local theaters this week on Friday (July 8, 2022). Tickets are now available, get yours now, you’ll be glad you did.

Our thanks to Disney Plus for the prescreener.

Post Views: 0

#Thor #Thor: Love and Thunder

Posted By

Thabiso Moloi

With many, many years of PR, digital & influencer marketing work under his belt, Thabiso has worked on a great number of technology, business and consumer brands. In addition, he has become obsessed with most things under the sun including music, series, sports, movies etc which he now regularly writes about. You can find him on Twitter: @Thabz_14