Jul 27, 20225 min read

Film REVIEW: Thor: Love and Thunder - ★★★

Thor: Love and Thunder arrives like a flying hammer! It's the latest instalment in the MCU Phase 4.

Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robins

Based on: Marvel Comics

Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Natalie Portman

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Themes: Superhero, Marvel Comics, Superheroine

Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.

It is the sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The film earned praise for its light-hearted nature and the cast's performances, particularly those of Bale and Portman, while criticism was aimed at the screenplay and tonal inconsistency, with several critics deeming the film inferior to its predecessor.

In Cinemas Now

MIX UP REVIEWS:

★★★

Daniel (Age 12) - ★★★

"I thought that it was cool seeing Natalie Portman with thor armor on but apart from that it was kind of boring with some ok action scenes and a mediocre story that wasn't very exciting to watch. My favourite character was korg.

Overall it was a mediocre movie that I would maybe recommend little kids but no-one else."

Have you seen it yet?

SIX KEY MOMENTS FROM THE TEASER TRAILER...

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #1 –

CHAIN GANG (0:24)

After his beer and Fortnite binges in Avengers: Endgame, the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer sees Chris Hemsworth’s character getting back to superbuff ways.

Clearly, no self-respecting thunder god would be seen dead on a treadmill, so Thor’s fitness regime includes a battle ropes workout using the chains of a long-dead imprisoned giant. As you do.

While we’re on the character’s physical appearance, did you notice that both his eyes are now blue at the start of the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer (whereas the false eye given to him by Rocket in Avengers: Infinity War was brown)? Director Taika Waititi is far too smart to make a continuity error, which leaves us wondering how/where Thor got his new baby blue.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #2 –

GOAT BOAT (0:40)

The first two Thor movies were stellar, but also kinda serious. When Waititi took the reins for 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, the saga suddenly found its funny bone, and the controls are still set to comedy in the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer, where we see an airborne galleon dragged by, er, two flying goats.

In fact, the creatures have roots in both the Marvel comic books and Norse mythology (they’re called Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr). According to Marvel writer Zack Stentz, they were meant to appear earlier in the Thor franchise – until risk-averse MCU bosses shot down the plan.

Stentz tweeted: “A big way I know Marvel has loosened up creatively since Phase I is that we proposed Thor riding to battle in his goat chariot pulled by Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr back in 2009 and Feige & company looked at us like we were nuts. Now there they are in the L&T trailer!”

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #3 –

NEW GIRL (0:45)

All our favourite female characters make quickfire appearances in the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer. Exactly a minute in, we see Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie as the leader of New Asgard, suited, booted and looking thoroughly bored by the bureaucracy. There’s a big callback for Natalie Portman (Star Wars Episode's I-III)’s Dr Jane Foster, too. But we’ll come to her.

There’s one face that doesn’t fit, though. At 0:45 in the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer, Hemsworth’s character is seen smooching a blue-haired pirate girl aboard the goat boat. Dream sequence? Flashback? And who is she anyway? For once, even the web’s wildest conspiracy theorists seem stumped.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #4 –

GOLDEN GOD (0:52)

You want the SFX money shot? Then check out the moment when Thor journeys to Mount Olympus, an eye-popping cloud city where the gods from Greek mythology work, rest and play. Presumably, Thor is here to warn them about Love And Thunder’s main villain, Gorr The God Butcher, who is living up to his billing.

But never mind that. The biggest deal with this scene is a split-second snatch of Russell Crowe’(A Beautiful Mind, Man of Steel)'s Zeus, pictured from behind, wearing a golden breastplate and holding aloft a 24-carat thunderbolt. We already knew the star was on the cast list, but to see him in action is something else.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #5 –

FALLEN BEAST (0:55)

If you’re a comic fan and feeling a flash of déjà vu, that’s because the scene halfway through the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer – where the thunder god stands atop a snowy mountain looking sadly at a gigantic dead creature – is lifted directly from artwork in Issue #3 of the Thor: God Of Thunder comic book.

Revisit those pages and you’ll learn that the fallen beast is Falligar the Behemoth, the patron god of the galactic frontier. It suggests that Gorr’s killing spree has already begun – and if he can take down this AT-AT sized animal, then perhaps no god is safe.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER #6 –

NO PLAIN JANE (1:20)

For a while now, there have been whispers that Jane Foster will be stepping up as a superhero in her own right. Now, the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer confirms them, with the thunder goddess clutching the mighty Mjolnir war hammer without breaking a sweat.

It all suggests Waititi has dropped a darker mooted storyline, which would have seen Jane battling breast cancer. With her tree-trunk biceps, this character looks the picture of health.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER TRAILER –

WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW?

Blink and you’ll miss them in the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer, but this movie will feature one of the MCU’s most stellar supporting casts. Doing double duty, director Taika Waititi will once again voice Thor: Raganok’s crumbly cult-hero gladiator Korg.

We know the Guardians Of The Galaxy crew will play a big role, too, and in the first Thor: Love And Thunder trailer, we’ve already had sightings of Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel’s Groot, Pom Klementieff’s Mantis and the Bradley Cooper-voiced Rocket Raccoon.

The big omission from the Thor: Love And Thunder trailer, of course, is Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Trilogy) as Gorr the God Butcher. Hopefully, that’s because he’s just too terrifying to fritter away on a two-minute teaser.

How do the previous three Thor movies tie into Thor: Love And Thunder?

Thor is the only MCU character to have four solo movies under his belt – so you’ve got a bit of homework to do before Thor: Love And Thunder.

Released in 2011, the first Thor movie showcased a very different thunder god, with Chris Hemsworth playing the character as worthy and a little dour. It’s a great movie, though, and an important pre-watch to get the measure of the relationship between Thor and Jane that looks to be a big strand of Thor: Love And Thunder.

Thor: The Dark World followed in 2013, and although it’s hardly the best-loved in the MCU catalogue, this sequel is far better than Marvel web forums would have you believe – while ScreenRant reckons it’ll be useful context before you watch Thor: Love And Thunder.

“Thor: Love and Thunder set photos have shown both Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Natalie Portman's Jane Foster wearing wigs that give them the same looks they sported in Thor: The Dark World,” writes John Orquiola. “[It] indicates that Love and Thunder will have flashbacks to The Dark World and this makes sense. It was the last time Thor and Jane were romantically together and it's a happy time the thunder god still thinks wistfully about.”

If you do nothing else, at least watch 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, which was Taika Waititi's first foray into the Asgardian God's expansive character arc.

This universally acclaimed third adventure wasn’t just a rip-roaring return to form – it also introduced characters (from Thompson’s Valkyrie to Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster) who’ll return for Thor: Love And Thunder.

It also introduced an enfant terrible even worse than Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), in the form of long-lost sister Hela, played to devilish perfection by Cate Blanchett.

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