Anthony's Film Review - Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Another good Marvel Studios movie, not to mention the best Thor movie so far...

Let me first begin with a few notes about the Thor film series from Marvel Studios. If you haven't seen any of the first three Thor movies and you're wondering whether to even bother with Thor: Love and Thunder, I would say, "Don't worry about it." Admittedly, I skipped this movie initially because I didn't watch any Thor movie before. But now I know. One part of this movie includes a very quick recap of Thor's story thus far, covering the key parts of it in under a minute or so. That being said, you may enjoy this movie even more if you watch Thor: Ragnarok before this one. I know because I actually watched Thor: Ragnarok followed by Thor: Love and Thunder in the same day.

Thor: Love and Thunder also includes a quick recap of the character of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), an astrophysicist from Earth who had been Thor's girlfriend. This will help you understand the character as she, in the present day, receives sad news: a diagnosis of cancer. Her condition is grim enough that modern medical science doesn't feel like enough for her. She does find one source of hope: Thor's magical hammer, which has been documented to give great health and vitality to the one who wields it. At this point of the Thor series, that hammer is already shattered to pieces. But as Jane discovers, the magic within it isn't gone. If anything, she becomes a new Thor wielding that hammer, just as her ex had done.

This brings us to the scene in Thor: Love and Thunder in which Thor and Jane reunite. Even in the midst of a deadly battle, Marvel Studios takes the audience briefly into another movie genre: the romantic comedy. By this time, it is clear that Marvel Studios has the ability to tell any kind of story not related to superheroes. As a good friend who is a hardcore MCU fan told me, Marvel makes movies with superheroes, not superhero movies. There's really no genre that Marvel cannot handle. Even the rom-com isn't off limits. (Heck, if you look at what else Marvel Studios has in store, it's also doing legal drama with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.)

Anyway, let's talk about the villain, who is definitely memorable here: Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). As shown in the film's prologue, Gorr was once a man who, along with his daughter, was dying in a desert. Gorr had looked to the gods to help them, but when he meets a god who is more selfish than selfless, he becomes deeply resentful and hateful towards gods for being hypocrites. He then seeks to eliminate them, in what he sees as a glorious act against those who betray mortal beings.

Thor goes on a quest to defeat Gorr, with the help of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Jane as Mighty Thor, and a friendly rock being named Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi, who also directed this movie). One of their efforts involves meeting up with the prime god Zeus (Russell Crowe) in order to warn him about Gorr. But Zeus isn't listening. If anything, this almighty god comes across as, well, sort of a fat slob. But don't underestimate his lightning powers. He is a supreme god for a reason.

This is another Marvel Studios movie where I feel like I've seen it before and yet I haven't seen it before. In other words, you have the familiar MCU formula ingredients (superheroes, action, special effects, etc.) mixed with plenty of original stuff. For one thing, the villain's plot is something that's fairly new, akin to a fantasy version of a serial killer story. But the best thing of all is the conclusion. It's an emotional sequence that is beautifully done. It's definitely not your everyday superhero movie ending.

Now I ask myself this question: which Thor movie is the best? Well, the second one, Thor: The Dark World, was good but not near the top of my list. It's really a decision among the first Thor movie, Thor: Ragnarok, and Thor: Love and Thunder. Well, after some consideration, I'm going to say that Thor: Love and Thunder is the best one yet, by a slight margin over Thor: Ragnarok. Yeah, I'm not kidding. This one was definitely fun and also emotional. I am amazed that, based on the post-credits message that Thor will return (the post-credits scene is hard to forget), this series will still continue, in what will be the longest MCU film series for one specific character. Thor really is a god, isn't he?

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Thor: Love and Thunder, visit the Internet Movie Database.