{"id":53954,"date":"2022-07-11T18:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=53954"},"modified":"2022-07-11T18:00:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T22:00:14","slug":"thor-love-and-thunder-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2022\/07\/thor-love-and-thunder-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Thor: Love and Thunder \u2013 Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Thor (Chris Hemsworth) hasn\u2019t been seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2019\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d where he decapitated Thanos, got really fat, and ultimately left to go have space adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. I remembered the first two parts just fine, but I had to be reminded of the third prior to \u201cThor: Love and Thunder.\u201d It seems like the movie had to be reminded of that as well, like it only remembered at the last minute that it needed to include the Guardians. Chris Pratt and company pop up early in this movie, but they and Thor soon part ways. If you saw this movie\u2019s advertising and thought you were in for a 50\/50 Thor\/Guardians split, you are in for a letdown.<\/p>\n\n\n

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            Fortunately, the old-hat Guardians are replaced with something arguably even better: the return to the MCU of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor\u2019s former lover from the Asgardian god\u2019s first two standalone films in 2011 and 2013. Jane\u2019s mind is as sharp as ever, but her body is failing her. She travels to the city of New Asgard, now a tourist trap run by a bored Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), to see if she can be magically treated by the remnants of Thor\u2019s hammer Mjolnir, which was destroyed in \u201cThor: Ragnarok\u201d back in 2017. Due to a protection spell put on the hammer by Thor while he and Jane were dating, the hammer repairs itself with Jane as its new wielder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Jane teams up with Thor, Valkyrie, and Korg (Taika Waititi, also the film\u2019s director) to battle villain du jour Gorr (Christian Bale), a heartbroken former worshipper with a god-killing Necrosword and a grudge against all gods following the death of his daughter. Our heroes travel to Omnipotence City to ask Zeus (Russell Crowe, doing a Borat voice for some reason) for an army to battle the God Killer, but are met with mockery and refusal. It turns out Gorr has a point about gods caring more about indulging in hedonism than doing anything god-like. But he\u2019s kidnapped a pack of New Asgardian children to use as Thor-bait, so he needs to be stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The writing of Gorr is probably the worst thing about the movie. Bale is acting his heart out, and the character is truly sympathetic at times, but he\u2019s just such an afterthought for all but about three scenes. And in between those scenes he\u2019s a sarcastic jerk, which isn\u2019t consistent with his overall tone or motivations. The movie really dropped the ball with this character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            But then there\u2019s the best thing about the film, which is Hemsworth\u2019s effortless chemistry with everybody, especially Portman. The ups and downs of their relationship are much more exciting than any action sequence, which are pretty much what\u2019s to be expected from the MCU at this point. It\u2019s thanks to them that life and death seem consequential in the MCU again, which is refreshing after a few movies where I\u2019ve become convinced that characters can always be brought back via Infinity Stones or Multiverse shenanigans. Second to Portman is Hemsworth\u2019s chemistry with new weapon Stormbreaker. Not since Joan Rivers has an old battle axe had this much personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            I\u2019ll give \u201cThor: Love and Thunder\u201d a mild recommendation, thanks mostly to the efforts of Hemsworth and Portman, and Bale in the few scenes where his character\u2019s pathos really comes through. The humor can be hit-or-miss (this movie thinks there is nothing funnier than screaming goats) and the action is memorable only for being set to the music of Guns N\u2019 Roses. This movie isn\u2019t essential MCU viewing, but it\u2019s okay for something on the second or third tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade: B-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThor: Love and Thunder\u201d is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity. Its running time is 118 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver             Thor (Chris Hemsworth) hasn\u2019t been seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2019\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d where he decapitated Thanos, got really fat, and ultimately left to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[1425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53956,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53954\/revisions\/53956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}