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‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ wants to be a rom-com
By Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service
Someone has got to put Thor out of
his misery. That’s the setup of “Thor: Love
and Thunder,” but it also becomes a larg-
er existential question after taking in this
middling installment, the latest version of
“twee Thor” from co-writer and director
Taika Waititi. While the Oscar-winning
Kiwi darling’s “Thor: Ragnarok” provided
an infusion of fresh humor into the MCU
back in 2017, “Love and Thunder” proves
the bloom is off the rose when it comes
to Waititi’s cutesy take on the God of
Thunder.
“Love and Thunder” is the fourth “Thor”
movie and the second co-written and di-
rected by Waititi, who teams up with Jen-
nifer Kaytin Robinson on the script. The
fi lm is decidedly a “comedy,” rooted in
Waititi’s signature brand of cheeky forced
Natalie
Portman, left,
and Chris
Hemsworth
star in Marvel
Studios’
“Thor: Love
and Thunder.”
Jasin Boland/
Marvel Studios
cheer. It’s a whole lot of silly accents and
bum fl ashes and an ongoing gag involving
screaming goats (remember that?). The
script’s comedic sensibility feels straight
out of 2012 Tumblr, and the abuse of ‘80s
heavy metal font, too many Guns N’ Ros-
es needle drops, and Chris Hemsworth’s
cheerful himbo performance as Thor
can’t salvage that.
It’s a superhero movie that would rather
be a rom-com, but the two genres don’t
play nice here. The story revolves around
the love lost, and found again, between
Thor and his ex-girlfriend Dr. Jane Foster
(Natalie Portman). Jane turns to Mjolnir in a
time of need, and fi nds herself transformed
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into Mighty Thor. A bumbling, but sweet, re-
union between the exes commences. How-
ever, we also need to see Thor in action, so
enter Christian Bale as Gorr, the antagonist.
Gorr has lost his daughter and his faith in
the gods, so he’s taken up a magic sword, a
new nickname (the God Butcher) and a new
hobby of killing gods. Thor’s got to stop
him and save the children of New Asgard,
whom Gorr has spirited away to a cage in
the shadow realm.
Gorr’s arc, rooted in real motivation,
stakes and most importantly, sincerity, is
the most profound emotional journey in
the fi lm. In Bale’s performance there’s a
sense of myth, grandeur and devastation.
He takes it seriously, which the rest of
the characters in this fi lm do not. It’s all
winky-nudgy irony and banter that would
be tolerable if it were at least funny.
The script is lacking, but so too is
the big screen spectacle, which is why
we go to these movies in the fi rst place,
right? “Love and Thunder” might be the
worst-looking MCU movie in a long time,
crafted in the crushingly dull house style
with ironic ‘80s details randomly splashed
about. The most visually interesting part
of the fi lm is a scene set on a shadow
realm bug planet rendered in stark black
and chrome.
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