Thor: Love and Thunder
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Jaimie Alexander, Chris Pratt, Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy, Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, Simon Russell Beale, Stephen Curry
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios
Runtime: 119 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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This is Thor’s fourth film besides his appearance in the Avengers movies. He is called on to get fit, confront the villain, Gorr, team up with his past love, Jane Foster as well is his friend, Valkyrie. Action scenes, comic scenes, and special effects spectacle.
For 10 years and more Chris Hemsworth has been the Marvel Universe embodiment of Thor (for his own films, appearing in four Avengers movies, and guesting in a number of video games and shorts). More recently it looks as if Thor has been taking it far too easily – becoming lazy and putting on weight. Now he has to go through a health and fitness regime so he can combat the archvillain, Gorr, whose mission is to destroy all the gods. Gorr (Bale) kidnaps the children from the city of Asgard (now a tourist attraction even with a sideshow play about Odin, Thor and Loki – managed by Ben Falcone, his wife, Melissa McCarthy, playing the Mother, Hela, Sam Neill as Odin, Luke Hemsworth (fair enough) as Thor and, of all people, with two comparatively brief scenes, Matt Damon as Loki! And the town, peaceable, is ruled over by King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).
The opening is particularly serious, eliciting some compassion for Gorr, wandering the desert with his young daughter who dies, confronting selfish gods in an oasis and going on a mission of destruction. He is a villain, but we sympathise with what he has gone through – and he is played, very seriously by Bale.
Seriously is not exactly the word comes to mind with Chris Hemsworth enjoying himself as Thor – somebody remarked about his goofiness and that seems a good word to describe his tongue-in-cheek approach to his character. He teams up again with his first love, scientist Jane Foster (Portman) who wants to join with him in his exploits, hoping that this will control her terminal cancer. And, director, Taika Waititi, is back again as the stone creature, along with his New Zealand iccent (this reviewer having a New Zealand grandfather feels free to make accent jokes and references).
In fact, as the narrative goes along, there is a lot of farce introduced. This is especially the case with the surprise appearance of Russell Crowe as Zeus, the king of the gods, with his special effects lightning rod (and, a strange Greek-Australian accent which might remind older audiences of television’s Con the fruiterer).
So, there is quite a deal of comedy, quite a number of battles, but in the accent of Taika Waititi, it is often quite ‘a but sully’.
It has drawn audiences in all around the world – but its main appeal will be to the Marvel Universe fans and those whose funny-bone is quickly and easily tickled. For those whose funny-bone is rather resistant to tickling, somebody said it was Thorful!
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