So, by now, most of you have already watched Thor's latest sequel, Love and Thunder especially since Disney Plus has this trial offer for $1.99 a month and from what I have seen, I'm not too impressed...actually, not impressed.
The start of the prologue shows potential when Gorr along with his daughter "Love," who are the last of their dying race, Gorr pleads to their God Rapu, but as predictable, his prayers aren’t answered as Love dies. Devoid off all hope Gorr, is called by the Necrosword and is lead into Rapu's realm, the deity mocks Gorr after pleading for mercy and worse, strangles him that is until the sword enters Gorr's hand and rightfully so slays the ungrateful God.
Then enters the Marvel Studios fanfare but in an 80's rock tone.
So, are you still excited? Personally, I don't know if I should continue writing about this since Jan had already done a magnificent review. But since I suffered through the 119 minutes, I'm taking out my frustration and dismay via here!
Korg narrates about Odinson's backstory with a familiar song, those who have seen the Kraft macaroni and cheese commercials. I gotta say, that one second scene with Thor running in his comic-based costume, had me hoping for a Tales of Asgard series featuring a very young Thor.
Love and Thunder, is way more of a romantic comedy than a Superhero flick, and it extremely deviates from the previous solo outings of our hammer or now Axe wielding protagonist. Thor's love, Jane Foster has been diagnosed with stage 4 Breast cancer and the prognosis of survival rate is hopeless until she unites with Mjolnir, Thor’s enchanted Hammer as in the comics.
There was so much wasted in this movie and Director Taiki Waitti tried shoehorned more quirky comedy since it worked for the previous sequel Ragnarok, but you know what they say, "Too much of a good thing, is NEVER a good thing!" OK, I kinda made that shit up.
The sequel was highly unbalanced when you add, "screaming goats," a jealous Axe, the fixation with Guns and Roses, via sporadic needledrops, that didn't work well save for "November Rain", where the captured Asgardian kids are given power reminiscent to the Marvel family form 2019's SHAZAM. And not to upset anyone, especially you Gen Zs out there, was Valkyrie as the "King" of New Asgard, necessary? The gender fluidity nonsense is getting way out of hand. Yes, she's a Lesbian. Cool! Yes, she rules over a quaint town that is haven for Asgardian refugees, Great! But why can't she be referred to as a "Queen" in all her glory? Tessa Thompson is not even a "Drag King." But the Old Spice gag was clever. Its moments like these, make many of us no wonder why Phase 4 is a joke along with the uncertainty of the MCU's credibility nowadays.
I did respect the much darker elements like Gorr "Voldemort" taunting the captured children, the loss of Gorr's daughter that made him question the motives of Gods and how he will rectify the suffering he endured by destroying all "false" gods, but most importantly, Natalie Portman's ill-fated reappearance as Jane which was perhaps the best story arc from the film. I'm no fan of Ms. Portman, but I felt she could've had her own film without the stupid humor and Hemsworth appearance being kept to a minimum. Not necessarily a cameo, but enough to get the narrative flowing. As somewhat predicted, Jane sacrifices her life while a defeated Gorr, dies but has his wish fulfilled, Odinson is now the new parent of Love, Gorr's daughter.
Now the two go off saving the world like Batman and Robin!
-The End
But wait..! I can't leave this review without mentioning the Post credits: Jane arrives in Valhalla and greeted by Hiemdall played by "Stringer Bell" himself, Idris Elba!
There's a nice sendoff happy ending, but what or rather who, isn't too happy is, a befallen Zeus who tells his son, Hercules, to avenge him. To be continued...
I don't know whether, this was a Marvel film or one of those satirical Comedies that spoofed other movies. There are too many inconsistencies in this sequel to give a pass, more like a hard pass. The humor was deadpan and it further took me out of the movie.
It was fun to see Russel Crowe as Zeus, who's main concern is where to hold the next orgy. And why does he sound like Mario from the Nintendo games? Aside from solid performances from Christian Bale and Natalie Portman, Thor: Love and Thunder is more "blunder."
This is the one movie that The Dark World, wins out.
😉 Now, that's the movie, I would have made instead of what was sadly given..
