Thor: Love and thunder, an action-packed thrilling rom-com

Is Thor: love and thunder really worth the love and thunder it is receiving from the fans?

After the wild success of Ragnarok, Taika Waititi is back with Thor: Love and Thunder starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, and Tessa Thompson. After Thor lost everything and after defeating Thanos, he joined Guardians of the Galaxy for more inter-Galactica heroic adventures. Thor had a Zen-like mindset here and he is learning from his successive heartbreaks. But what Thor is lacking is Love ( that's what Starlord said). And so the Love and thunder adventure begins. It's a hilarious and action-packed movie. It's not as intense as other Marvel movies and the plot never seems to deepen.

The plot of the movie is about Thor's quest for inner peace. Gorr, the god butcher was high on his vengeance for killing gods and wants the total extinction of gods. To fight the threat, Thor along with king Valkyrie, Krog, and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster goes on another inter-Galactica heroic adventure.

What did we like about the movie?

The portrayal of selfish Gods - The movie did a great job of showing the power lust and lack of sympathy among gods for people below them. The film starts to explore this angle with Gorr's character introduction and intensifies it when Zeus refused to help Thor in saving children. Christian Bale did a great job in building occasional terror in the movie and he managed to do it with limited screen time.

The last fight - Though we aren't sure, since when Thor can just lend his power temporarily to others but we really liked how children contributed to the main fight. And also how Mighty Thor played a major role in winning the fight against Gorr. It wouldn't be as interesting to see Thor fight alone.

Love and Thunder: The movie just not explored the love relationship between Jane and Thor but also the relationship between Thor and his weapons. Thor's Stormbreaker acts like a jealous partner which kind of adds to the hilarious angle of the movie. It also explored the love of father and daughter with Gorr's character.

The comical angle of the movie: Many people complained about stale jokes with no timing. But there are a lot of angles and scenes that do crack you up. Like a funny chubby Zeus played by Russell Crowe was a hilarious attempt. The goats who screamed like humans added lightness to heavy scenes. And of course, the goats were not at all annoying or distracting and it was weirdly satisfying to see them on screen.

What we did not like about the movie?

Pacing: The most common complaint that the movie received was about its pacing. This Thor movie was the shortest Marvel movie ever made with a duration of less than 2 hours. Smooth transitions of tones is a bit difficult in such duration for a movie like this which is trying to balance comedy and drama at once. Thus, a lot of things felt rushed. So as expected, a lot of people complained about the film's pacing. Also the film had it rough when it came to CGI. Some of the scenes looked as if Marvel had used a cheap green screen and hired unpaid interns for editing.

The background of God Butcher: Another thing that caught attention was the God butcher. Christian Bale did an amazing job playing the character but what the character needed was more screen time. In the comics, Gorr loses his mother, then his wife, and then his children due to starvation. His backstory in the movie needed some weight. If we got to see a little more of his relationship with his daughter or something that would justify his ideals and motivation behind killing gods, it would have made the character much more impactful. An intensified backstory could have made the ending even hit harder.

Rise of Mighty Thor: The entire idea behind Gorr was to put faith in the higher power. But are Gods worthy of love and praise that they are given for everything that they don't do?
In the comics, Thor realized that the answer is No and that makes him unworthy of Mjolnir. And Jane becomes the next one to pick it up. The way that the film adopted this aspect wasted all the philosophical and moral questions that comics posed. Coming to Jane Foster who didn't get enough screen time. If the film explored a little bit more about her motivation behind choosing to be Mighty Thor, it would have done wonders. How she developed as Mighty Thor is too unclear in the movie.

So that's all I have to say about the movie. Even if you are into the Marvel cinematic universe, this film can be skipped. If you're new to the Marvel movies, then it definitely shouldn't be your first Thor movie. It's a standard Marvel movie that is more with entertainment, visuals, and flashy fights than deep storytelling.

Also read: Did Thor Love and Thunder receive only love or also some thunder from the Janta? Let’s find out!