Thor: Love and Thunder

This weekend, Thor: Love and Thunder boomed into theaters as the newest MCU film. Thor: Love and Thunder follows Thor after the events of Avengers: Endgame as he struggles to find meaning in his life. A new foe, Gorr the God Butcher draws Thor back to Earth where he encounters his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster and her newfound identity as the Mighty Thor.

This is a very fun and exciting movie. Taika Waititi brings high energy to his films making them very funny and also visually wild to look at. We were introduced to his energetic directing style in Thor: Ragnarök and it continues to be strong here. The movie is hilarious, almost matching the energy and humor of Ragnarök. Most of the jokes are very well-timed. An example of this is the screaming goats. Initially, a concept that would get annoying quickly but the movie manages to time them just right so that they are funny every time. Thor and Korg also have some really funny moments as well as Jane in her search for a catchphrase. The Jane storyline is very well done. I thought it had a lot of emotion and tragedy to it as well as the ability to tie into the Jane Thor Relationship. It continued Jane's story in a very good way. Thor's arc is also quite good. It allows Thor to discover his purpose and allows for him to be at a satisfying and natural place at the end of the movie. Finally, the villain Gorr is one of the better villains in the MCU. Christian Bale does an excellent job as always. He is scary but you can also understand his motivations and what drove him to kill the gods. The movie makes you feel sympathy for him and like him while also not wanting him to win which is how a good villain should be. Overall, it is just a fun high-energy movie that will make you laugh.

There are a few things, however, that keep this movie from being a top-tier film. One of the main issues was the explanation of how Jane got the powers of Thor. The reason given in the movie makes you think "Really? That's it?" instead of coming up with a more logical reason. It seems like they wanted to give Jane the powers but couldn't come up with a good reason for giving them to her and just settled for what they had. Another issue I had was the whole sequence and handling of Zeus and the planet he was on. It feels like that sequence didn't have much of an impact on the overall story other than to add a few funny moments. They also play Zeus as more of a spoof of himself instead of a legitimate god of lightning. Finally. I felt that some of the humor didn't play as naturally as it could've. It's like the movie is trying to reach the levels of humor in Ragnarök but doesn't quite get there.

Overall, this is a fun exciting MCU film that will make you laugh but just has a few too many issues on a plot level that keep it from being top-tier MCU.

Grade: B Score: 7.5/10 Recommendation: Go see it.