Thor Love And Thunder focuses on reconciling with a character that has gone through enormous change and a broken heart. Our main protagonist has suffered great loss since his last outing and is now trying to find his place in the universe before being confronted by his worst nightmare; his two exes…together.
However, this most recent marvel outing is the perfect example of style over substance. With the ever brilliant Taika Waititi at the helm, we knew he would provide his signature style of comedy, colour and odd way of really providing heart to his films. And we definitely got that. Just not much else.
Much like Thor himself, this film struggled to know what it wanted to be, feeling at times like it was trying too hard to be a bit of everything for everyone. And we have now learned the hard way, you can’t please everyone.
Of course, it’s impossible to ignore how revolutionary Taika Waititi’s films have been for the appeal of Marvel, and how he’s able to bring an element of experimentation to what has, previously, been a franchise on the verge of repeating itself.
But what is equally hard to overlook is how Thor Love and Thunder fell so short of expectations, failing to be quite as effective as Taiki’s previous, fantastic, offering all the while squandering a concept that had the potential for a much needed grounding of the series, ensuring that Love And Thunder will prove more of a frustration than a joy endure.
Ohhh...We’re Halfway There
The fourth outing for the god of thunder seemed, on paper, to be a truly epic movie with a villain to match. However, despite some of the best ideas presented in a grounded story of mortality, especially in a phase 4 film, everything that could have elevated it to greatness was either rushed, and so disappointing in its end result, or was never pushed through to fruition.
Gorr The God Butcher promised a dark and fractured character that has lost everything, and so in turn has nothing else left to lose as he not only vows that ‘all gods shall die’. This character offered the opportunity for a really spine-tingling villain that the audience can both hate and feel empathy for all at the same time; something Waititi has developed before and so should by no means have been a challenge.
However, all we are left with is a character we don’t understand, a man that has descended into the shadows to enact his revenge. There is a line between a great villain who presents a moral quandary for the audience, and one that is reduced to being the antagonist just to drive the plot. By not giving the audience everything we really needed to connect, to empathise with this character, there was little desire to really invest in his origin story, or indeed even to resent him for the challenges he posed to our main cast.
As for our heroes, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster is finally given the chance to grow and become a genuine 3D character rather than just being relegated to the ‘love interest’ as in previous narrative arcs. Alongside this, the dynamic between the Mighty Thor and King Valkyrie is proven to be naturally electrifying and by far one of the strongest elements the film puts forward. Which only accentuates how fleeting these moments are throughout the film, and how underutilised King Valkyrie was as a whole, with her being on the backseat come the final act.
Taika Lite
As for the awe inspiring director himself, this will likely go down as one of his most lacklustre films amongst his impressive and unique roster. Taika has proved time and time again quite how versatile his directing skills are, with not many other directors able to proudly say they made a (quite frankly underrated) comedy about a child joining the Hitler Youth which is simultaneously an astounding piece of comedic story-telling and utterly heartbreaking, sometimes all in the same breath.
Thor Love and Thunder very much felt like a washed down version of the unique style and direction we’ve come to expect from the great Waititi, and it would come as no surprise should we find out later down the line that studio involvement from either Marvel or Disney had a factor in this.
For someone well known for his comedy and, at points risky, but always hilarious jokes, it felt odd to be offered a script that relied heavily on jokes that felt forced, self aware of the success of previous attempts at this kind of humour.
As for the storytelling …Where once again Taika Waititi’s talent lies in delivering some truly heart-breaking scenarios filled with equal parts light and tragedy, Thor Love and Thunder fails to really double down on the heaviness of it’s themes, interweaving this emotional impact properly with it’s signature comedy. In this sense, it feels unsatisfying in a way that Waititi films never usually do.
This is definitely a Taika Waititi film, both his style and unique sense of storytelling are all on display, but they just feel watered down by an attempt to ensure ticket sales and so compromised the great work of the indie director. When in fact all Marvel have done is ensure large disappointment for an audience that was desperate to see a unique and different approach after a bloated phase 4. mainstream that all wanted to see something slightly different from the usual formulaic approach
Verdict
If any film was to define the term style over substance Thor Love and Thunder would be it. For a film that dealt with some truly heavy themes and provided some much needed humanity to the MCU, it was disappointing to see it fall short. Our villain could have been a harrowing and intriguing addition to the roster; but instead we were delivered an ultimately generic – albeit quirky – character with such a rushed descent into villainy if you blinked you missed it.
Marvel does itself no favours with some of its harshest criticisms as it frustratingly squanders moments that have true weight and consequence only to quickly undo all that for a quick tease. Thor Love and Thunder is one that will likely go down as one that had great potential but failed to translate this from concept to screen.
