Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Director: Taika Waititi
Quick Impressions:
It’s been a long time since I saw a movie in the theater. We bought tickets to Jurassic World: Dominion, but at the eleventh hour, it turned out that my seven-year-old “didn’t really like” Jurassic World: Dominion, after all. (We were going to reschedule for three, but at that point it seemed like nobody really liked Jurassic World: Dominion too much.) My seven-year-old just will not watch movies. I could say, “You have to go and sit quietly.” But I mean, does he? Isn’t going to the movies supposed to be fun? (He has recently decided he likes Stranger Things—mainly because he wants to be in on family callback humor—so I guess that’s a small victory. Mildly elated synth music?)
Then when my sister was down for a mysterious bridal shower, I decided to take her and my daughter to Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis (which I have been dying to see), but when I pitched that plan, it turned out they “didn’t really like” Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis.
It’s been a hectic summer. My cousin had an aortic dissection, but after a night of open-heart surgery, he pulled through, inspiring me to see a doctor who immediately put me on blood pressure medicine. (I guess when your mom, her dad, her aunt, her brother, and her sister’s son have aortic dissection, your Stage 2 hypertension should be treated. I tried to explain, “I have white coat syndrome,” but he correctly insisted, “Your diastolic pressure should not be over 100.” True.)
I decided to stop writing movie reviews when we watched the Dr. Strange sequel on Disney +. I was like, “I have Marvel fatigue! I have nothing to say about this. I am done with my movie blog! I am done with Marvel movies.”
Then my daughter asked me, “So what are you going to see for your anniversary?” And I replied, “Thor: Love and Thunder.” She was like, “What?! What happened to your ‘Marvel fatigue’?”
The thing is, I really like the Thor franchise. I love Chris Hemsworth, and not just because he was my mom’s celebrity crush. (How she would swoon over him!) I also think he’s really funny (funnier than he should be. His dog Mike Hat in Ghostbusters amused me far too much). For a ruggedly handsome man (and what a ruggedly handsome man he was! You should have heard my mother sing his praises!), he seems so non-threatening and willing to laugh at himself. He was our household’s favorite Chris before hating Chris Pratt was cool.
I’ve also loved Natalie Portman ever since she did that first rap on SNL. (My sister and I got wildly offended about some offhand remark she made about Texans chicken frying everything back when she was living in Walmart (because if you want to get an accurate sense of an entire state, definitely camp out in a Walmart), but then she did that rap, and I was like, “Oh never mind!” Also I did really like Annihilation, Black Swan, and Paris, je t’aime. (Revenge of the Sith is a favorite of mine, too, and she does have one of the best lines even though Ian McDiarmid kind of steals that movie.)
We could have seen Elvis today. (I still want to!) But we bought tickets at the last minute, and when only the front row of an opening movie is available, there’s this delicious sense of urgency. I had to see Thor!
The Good:
Jojo Rabbit was one of my favorite movies that Oscar season. (And yet it took me forever to remember the name of it as I wrote that sentence. I kept thinking Scarjo Rabbit.) And Taika Waititi did a fantastic job with Thor: Ragnarok, which may be the strongest film of the Thor franchise. (I’m so excited he’s supposed to direct a Tower of Terror movie. I hope that actually happens.)
I can’t shake the sense, though, that this time perhaps he was given a bit too much free rein. This film at moments—at every moment, unless Christian Bale is there—becomes almost too silly. Things this pervasively silly are usually camp, but that doesn’t seem like the right descriptor for this. Silly is more accurate. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like Thor: Love and Thunder, but I don’t consider myself a paragon of taste and certainly not of restraint. So if you’re looking for something really refined (or dark and gritty) Thor: Love and Thunder is not going to be the superhero movie for you.
It is a lot of fun, though. Watching it has convinced me that I’d love to hire Chris Hemsworth to dress as Thor for my Halloween parties. (I don’t know why he would do that, especially because I’m not going to pay him.) He makes me miss being in improv troupe in high school. He appears to be making up every single thing he says. Sometimes it works. It’s never unpleasant.
I can say this for the movie. It is tonally consistent. It has the aesthetic of an 80s Trapper Keeper mashed up with some glow bracelets and a birthday party at the roller rink. Is it a touch too silly? Maybe. But the whole thing is silly. It isn’t uneven or jarring. All of the lines seem to be delivered by actors having the time of their lives making the dialogue up as they go along. And I suppose there’s something to be said for that. When you hear Thor and Valkyrie talking, you feel that you’re getting an authentic conversation between two friends who communicate by bantering back and forth. Sometimes their jokes hit, sometimes not, but that’s how it is when you’re actually talking with friends and family, and everyone’s trying to be funny. So despite the hyperreality of the Trapper Keeper/glow bracelet/roller rink world, the character interaction feels down to earth (even if it is between gods) and realistic (but a bit obnoxious because it’s so off kilter but not quite funny enough). This may be important given that the self-presentation of certain other gods seems scripted and ridiculous, and the meditations of Gorr (the villain) also seem scripted and nefarious (though well acted).
I’m not convinced that anyone told Christian Bale what movie he was in. He’s sinister, nefarious, tragic—obviously taking the whole thing quite seriously (though he’s not unfunny at moments). I like the way he plays Gorr. (How can you not like Gorr? He’s like a cockney Voldemort plus a nose and some teeth that remind me of Danny DeVito in Batman Returns.) Bale looks like he’s dressed for a supporting role in the Alien franchise (the more recent ones), not the Thor franchise. I loved Cate Blanchett as Hela in Ragnarok, but she embraced the humor of the movie. Gorr is more sinister. (Does Christian Bale count as a Chris? If so, I have to rethink all of my Chris rankings. I’ve had a crush on him since Empire of the Sun.) (Well, I don’t really have a crush on him now. That’s the wrong word. It’s not like I look at the Cockney Voldemort and think, “Gorr! How dreamy!” But he is a great actor.) I wish we saw more of Gorr. (Of course, my husband and I would have seen a bit more of him if the concessions line hadn’t been so long. I’d guess we missed about five minutes of the movie. We walked in while Gorr was talking to his god.)
It’s nice to see the movie packed with familiar Thor franchise faces. (I’ve been missing Darcy!) I do wish we got a bit more time with some of these characters, but I suppose cameo appearances are better than nothing. At least Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (Taika Waititi) are back for the entire film.
Best Scene:
I do like that play-within-a-play. I love that those actors are back, and the portrayal of Hela seems to fit that company of players perfectly. (That this was one of my favorite parts of the movie seems ridiculous, but honestly, I thought it was one of the segments that worked the best. I also like the later moment featuring these actors.)
The other moment I find extremely well done is the way the film shows us why Jane is able to wield Mjölnir. This is highly effective exposition hidden in a fun little “let me tell you a story” montage.
I guess this just shows my love of metadrama. What did you like about the movie, Sarah? The play and the story!
Best Scene Visually:
Gorr sitting in the cage with the children tickled my fancy. I don’t know what I loved about this. Christian Bale’s Gorr seems should be hanging out in some collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman. He looks like he should be in a live action Dark Crystal. What a delicious creep!
The best part is that he’s not actually a creep. His cause is somewhat just (if warped). I know he’s under some sort of curse, but he makes a terrifying amount of sense. At a time when the world’s trying to recover from feeling all topsy turvy, Gorr’s determined Nihilism is unsettlingly compelling. (Well, it’s not exactly Nihilism, I guess. It’s basically just God murder. That sounds less sophisticated.)
The goat-drawn ship looks pretty cool, too, and we get plenty of views of various paradises. But I prefer Gorr in the child cage.
Best Action Sequence:
A wonderful moment of payoff comes in the final battle against Gorr when Thor finds an unexpected army. Early on, I was wondering, “Why would you have a character take a new name, then show the protagonists as reluctant to call him that? This is a weird joke.” (It’s not even a joke exactly, but the back-and-forth, improvised feel of the dialogue suggests humor.) But then at this late moment, as the battle begins, I relented, “Okay, well that is funny.” (Maybe “funny” is not the right word, but it’s cheering with a touch of nostalgia.) A+ here for most clever use of the soundtrack. (What did you like, Sarah? I liked the play, and the story, and the song! I’m not so sure about the “reality” they’re showing us, but the fiction within that fictional world is top notch.) (The flashback with Jane’s mom is compelling, too.)
The Negatives:
I’m so baffled by Russell Crowe’s performance in this movie. At one moment, I was thinking, “Does he need that accent? He kind of sounds like one of the Mario brothers.” (It may be spot on. It’s been so long since I’ve been to Greece.) But then the way he walked down those steps brought a genuine smile to my face (chased by a pang of, “But should that be funny?”)
Does this character work for me? I’m confused. When he becomes more menacing, he’s good. (It is Russell Crowe.) I found that sequence largely confusing. (I don’t mean on the level of plot, just the whole vibe in there was a lot to process. I really want to know if a visual was cut when they mentioned “the carpenter God.” (I swear I heard them say that, but my husband didn’t catch it.)
I wish we got more of Valkyrie. She’s in the entire movie, but I felt like there was a story going on with Valkyrie and Jane that I was barely getting to see. For some time, we watch Thor bumbling around with the Guardians of the Galaxy. What Jane and Valkyrie are doing during that interval seems more interesting to me, but we don’t get to see that. I suppose that saves the audience from another origin story and creates the perfect “surprise” entrance for Jane. But every time we get a moment with Valkyrie, I find myself thinking, “We need more time with Valkyrie.” (You know how you joke and joke and joke and joke with someone and then later get to the serious part of the conversation? By the time we get through all the non-stop jokes, there’s not much time left for the serious part of the conversation. What’s there is good, but I’d like more.)
I’d like to see more of Jane Foster in action. Her storyline feels pretty accelerated. (There’s a reason for this, of course.) What really bothers me is that I think I like Jane better when she’s sick than when she’s being the Mighty Thor. Maybe Natalie Portman does better with the dramatic scenes than the super-hero stuff. Watching Jane as a hero almost makes me uncomfortable because she’s dying and in denial. (Maybe my discomfort means that the movie is working.)
Honestly, this movie might be better on a second viewing. I assume we’re supposed to feel the discomfort when the gods turn out to be less appealing than the villain, and when Jane flounces around with her golden hair, not healing, merely denying her illness. The non-stop improv (or what feels like non-stop improv) does give me the sense that we’re just hanging out with some friends. Meanwhile everyone more rigidly scripted is somehow a threat to us, one kind of a villain or another. There’s something to be said for the naturalness of the core characters vs. the artificiality of both the gods and the god killer.
Then again, the more philosophical aspects of this story raised some ugly sentiments in me. It’s so easy to be like, “You’re right. Nobody loves us. We should kill all the gods. In fact, let’s just kill everyone. Why stop there? Let’s kill ourselves, too.” Why not?
I’m also confused about the ending. Three people are in that scene. Why does only one of them get a wish?
Overall:
Probably the most complimentary thing I can say about Thor: Love and Thunder is that even after watching the entire thing and feeling it leaned into its silliness a bit too heavily, at the end I was curious about the next Thor installment and actively excited to watch it. When you watch this one, note that Gorr’s daughter is played by India Rose Hemsworth. Her real dad is Thor.