By Megan Bianco
Taika Waititi Thor: Love & Thunder it almost acts as a cautionary tale of what happens when you buy into your own hype as an artist.
The writer-director’s quirky humor seemed to work for the previous Marvel sequel Thor: Ragnarok (2017), based on solid critical and audience reception.
What happened to be done Love & Thunder not only one of Waititi’s lowest-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes, but also one of Marvel’s?
The title, Thor: Love & Thunderalready sounds like a cheeky take on an episode of a 1980s morning cartoon. The use of classic rock music for the soundtrack, as with many MCU films, also fits.
Based on the cast – from Thor regulars like Chris Hemsworth as the God of Thunder himself. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster’s flame. Tessa Thompson as soldier-turned-leader of New Asgard, Valkyrie. and Waititi as assistant Korg, who is mostly CGI comic relief; to Christian Bale and Russell Crowe joining as the last two big names to appear in an MCU film-Love & Thunder should make for decent entertainment.
Even so, the incredible posts and tweets continue this week on social media.
Well, here’s my take. Imagine the familiar cliché of the hot quarterback who wins the big game at the end of the school year and goes straight with the prom queen to his prom king. You know, the one where said big shot peaks in high school and never fully recovers or moves on?
This is Thor inside Love & Thunder. He helped save the universe with the Avengers and now he’s just struggling to defeat local threats and dangers. The Guardians of the Galaxy even shun his contributions to the superhero team, and he still thinks about Jane, who is seemingly preoccupied with her massive success as a scientist and author.
This new take on Thor is played for laughs at the hero’s expense, but I actually found it mostly pathetic and missed the mark.
Portman and Thompson are terrific as Jane and Val ready to kick butt, but are often sidelined for the male leads.
Crowe has a fun cameo as Jupiter, though one has to wonder what accent he was going for during this sequence, while most of Bale’s screen time is wasted as a twist on Harry Potter’s Voldemort.
Some parts of it Love & Thunder showed potential, such as a scene in “The Shadow Realm” where the film suddenly goes black and white.
But starting in July 2022, I would officially prefer to re-watch completely fresh, original stories or my favorite movies over anything new in the MCU.
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