THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

Thor: Love and Thunder suffers in a way that a lot of MCU properties are at the minute, in that it can rarely be as good as what has come before. In wider terms this could refer to the Infinity War / End Game double header, but here also applies to Thor: Ragnarok.

Ragnarok remains to this day a high point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing everything that one would expect from a Taika Waititi project, but with a Disney sized budget behind it. It brought his unique blend of humour and energy, it resulted in a movie funnier than most comedies, and with better action sequences than most action films.

Unfortunately this energy, which was so integral to Ragnaroks success is a little lacking here. Without Loki to bounce off we lose a lot of the chemistry that made previous entries in the franchise fizz.

The main talking point before release was Natalie Portman returning to the role of Jane Foster, and her transformation into The Mighty Thor. And she is good as The Mighty Thor. She handles the action scenes well and she and her hammer have some cool powers which we, unfortunately, do not see anywhere near enough of.

The Mighty Thor is a much more interesting and compelling character than Jane Foster, which unfortunately means that any time she is not The Mighty Thor it feels like the pace of the film drops, and feels like she just falls back into playing “The Ex”

Her relationship with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor - or should that be his relationship with her - is the main emotional force in the film. Thor: Love and Thunder is the closest we will get to an MCU rom-com.

All of the typical rom-com tropes are here. The good-old-days montage, the awkward reunion, Thors jealousy over Janes new boyfriend (or to be more accurate here - her new (his old) hammer), the will they / won’t they sexual tension. All are present and correct.

It is a change in tone from previous Marvel films, and in isolation they work. It provides a good motivation for the characters, and leads to some genuinely life out loud moments. But it also brings us back to the problem of energy. Hemsworth’s and Portman’s chemistry is serviceable , but not much more than that. Meaning that where, in previous films, the banter, for want of a better word, has elevated the non-action oriented scenes, here they can, at times, feel like a bit of a drag.

Elsewhere, Christian Bale, as Gorr the God Butcher, gives the best Voldermort performance we never had, and when the inevitable reboot comes around Warner Brothers could do a lot worse than look in his direction. He brings a physicality to the role that is genuinely creepy, and is used just sparingly enough that it remains effective throughout.

The editing of the film is another standout positive. Love and Thunder looks excellent throughout, particularly in the scenes set in the Shadow Realm. The switch to black and white, with the occasional flashes of colour is incredibly effective and beautifully shows how quickly one can be corrupted when they let darkness - in this case revenge. Anger - take over.

Russell Crowe also appears as Zeus in a performance that is just on the right side of ridiculous. His accent is all over the place, it is camp and over the top, but, just like the entire locale of Omnipotence City, plays it with just enough charisma, and just enough of a twinkle, to make it work, and it is the segment which comes closest to recreating the magic of Ragnarok.

Unfortunately, the positives I’ve referenced in this review never really gel together as well as you wound like. It can’t help but feel like a series of sketches, linked by the constant of the cast

Thor: Love and Thunder is not a bad film; quite the opposite. It is a fun superhero rom-com with funny one liners and some great action. Unfortunately however, as is happening with much of the MCU, it does buckle somewhat under the weight of it’s own hype