It is never a good sign when I am rooting for the main villain to kill all the heroes.

It is also not a good sign that freaking Deadpool did a better cancer story than this.

One of the most irritating movies I have seen in a while. Annoying in terms of how every character (except Gorr) is a comedian and annoying how much potential is wasted.

The movie felt like Saturday Night Live sketch stretched out to two hours.

The movie could have been a dark finale to the character of Thor. I mean, this is the same god who lost his mother, father, brother three times, his home, and lived with guilt for five years after failing to kill Thanos the first time. If that wasn't bad enough, his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster is dying from cancer, and on top of that, there is a new villain who seeks to kill gods. Again, this could have been a dark finale, as he is the most tragic character in the MCU, but here he's just a goofy idiot. Chris Hemsworth has comedic chops, but they did this character dirty. They turned Thor from "Thor making jokes" to "Thor is the joke".

Christian Bale always delivers, and he was creepy and campy as Gorr the God Butcher. His storyline is the only serious part of the movie that unfortunately gets undeveloped with very little screen time. His character work was rushed because at the start he worth ships the gods, but as quick as a light switch, he wants to kill every god possible. Since he is called The God Butcher, you don't see a lot of God killing. The ones he does kill in the movie were an afterthought.

Natalie Portman was good, but sadly the dramatic elements of her character didn’t pull on my heartstrings. On the other hand, there are some cool action scenes with her, even though it’s strange how fully experienced she is in fighting with these powers despite how recent she got it.

The whole movie is one big joke, with no clear focus on what storyline it wants to go. The short runtime does not help either, as it needed more breathing room for development like character work and story.

I could talk about the visual effects, but I will not since the visual effect artists have been through enough already. Seriously Marvel, treat your employees with respect.

The Guardians of the Galaxy team are there with no purpose than to help Thor lose weight, and then they leave.

Director Taika Waititi went way over his head with this one. One of the most unusual inclusions of these screaming goats in the movie for no reason and there keep repeating the joke of them screaming. Like, WHY????

Is it me, or do the recent Marvel movies feel like quantity over quality? There are like a factory machine, pumping out many movies and an endless line of TV shows. The runtime clocked in under two hours, with this movie and Doctor Strange 2, and yet I felt those movies needed more time to breathe and flesh out the characters because everything feels so rushed and, in a hurry, to end.

Balancing comedy and drama are a difficult task to get right. If a movie has a serious tone while not being a good movie itself, there is a potential for it to be funny and enjoyable. If a film has a comedic tone while not being funny, then the movie would get boring very quickly.

Overall rating: The movie has everything it needs to be fascinating, yet it still turned-out paper thin.

We've kinda come full circle with these superhero films when you think about it.
After the camp of the 90s, directors like Nolan and Singer reset the tone of superhero movies in the 2000's to something that was more grounded and serious, which in turn laid a lot of the groundwork for the MCU.
Here we have Taika Waititi providing a throwback to the Joel Schumacher days.
If that's your thing you'll probably dig it, but it's definitely not my brand of camp.

I’m not exactly a _Thor: Ragnarok_ fan (nor the other two Thor films). I don’t have a problem with its silly tone, because I’m not a manchild who needs to see his childhood validated, but a lot of its comedy didn’t click with me (even after a rewatch). Everything that didn’t work for me in that film is amped up to an eleven here.
There are some serious points in this where the acting choices, slapstick/childish/hokey comedy, overly bright colors, gay undertones, overdesigned costumes (no nipples yet, but give Taika another film and we'll see what happens) and godawful music choices started to give me genuine flashbacks to stuff like _Batman Forever_, not quite the thing you want to remind me of.
It's not a complete disaster; the performances by Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson and especially Christian Bale are generally quite good. I'm also glad Marvel seems to have definitively found the saturation button back after _Guardians 2_, even if the framing/lighting with the visuals remains uninspired and maintains a general level of artifice that makes it look like shit. I believe they used the volume stages for most of the production, and like _Obi Wan_ or _The Book of Boba Fett_, it’s very noticeable for most of the runtime.
The story's not all that interesting, but that's fine given that there is some progression with most of the main characters, even if Thor’s character arc throughout the MCU is all over the place at this point. Instead, it drops the ball for me with the balancing of tone and plot elements. I already thought that the darker stuff in _Thor: Ragnarok_ didn't blend that well with the goofy scenes on the trash planet, but there's even more tonal whiplash here. Christian Bale is giving this excellent, terrifying performance, but he's not in the same movie as Chris Hemsworth, who's playing even more of a Thor parody than he was in _Avengers: Endgame_. One moment we're invested in this heavy, emotional story with Natalie Portman, and then we cut back to a goofy love triangle between Thor, his hammer and his axe. It's an unbalanced mess without a sense of stakes.
I also don't know what it is with Taika's comedy in these films, because I think _What we do in the shadows, Jojo Rabbit_ and _Hunt for the wilderpeople_ are all very comedic and smart, but for some reason he really likes his Thor movies excessive and dumb. Screaming goats aren't funny or clever to me, they're a dated meme at best. Maybe it's because Taika can't go edgy and niche with the jokes here, but fuck I really hate his sensibilities for this character.

So yeah, another major misfire from Marvel if you ask me. I pretty much disliked everything except for a few of the performances. Please go back to making indies Taika, and for the love of god: let James Gunn pick the soundtrack for your next film. Even a film this dumb doesn’t need a Guns ‘N Roses needle drop, let alone four of them.

3/10

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/thor-love-and-thunder-spoiler-free-review

"Thor: Love and Thunder boasts a bittersweet story about finding peace and love in suffering and pain, without forgetting the necessary thunderous action that reaches its best level in a long sequence surrounded by a breathtaking black-and-white color palette.

Christian Bale stands out with a terrifying performance as one of MCU's best villains in recent years, while Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman share excellent chemistry. Visually distinct and with a unique soundtrack, the formulaic screenplay benefits immensely when focusing on the complex arcs of each character.

Still, the continuous comedy bits - far from the hilarious creativity of the past - deny further exploration, removing emotional value from the third act. The action featuring generic CGI shadow monsters holds predictable issues, and an irrelevant plot deviation only serves as a teaser for future content.

Overall, Taika Waititi succeeds yet again, but this time, he fails to reach the full potential of the premise."

Rating: B+

**Thor: Love and Thunder** is a sequel to the 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok. It is written and directed by Taika Waititi and based on, of course, the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee. The film stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster / Mighty Thor, and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher.

And the story? The gods are in danger! The God Butcher is coming for them! And only the mightiest of them all can stop him: Thor. But Thor is in bad shape. He's lost his hammer, his friends, and his confidence. He'll need all the help he can get to save the day. He'll have to relearn what it means to be a hero, and Jane Foster will have to become the Mighty Thor.

I was looking forward to this movie. I loved Taika Waititi's direction in Ragnarok, and the cast is amazing. I was hoping for another fun, fast-paced, and humorous film like its predecessor. But unfortunately, Thor: Love and Thunder falls flat. The story is convoluted and slow-moving, and there are too many characters for any of them to get enough development. The humour is forced, and it frequently fails. And the ending is just...Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

I was disappointed in **Thor: Love and Thunder**. If you're a die-hard Marvel fan, you might enjoy it, but if you're looking for another fun and exciting Thor film, I think you'll be disappointed, too.

As usual for the MCU, 'Thor: Love and Thunder' is a good watch. I did want more from it, though.

Chris Hemsworth remains the star of the show, I'm adding nothing new by saying he is just perfect for the role. Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi and Natalie Portman all make for good support. Christian Bale is also someone I enjoyed, I like the look of his character but kinda felt that I wanted to see more of him - it's like we see a beginning and an end, but part of me feels like we coulda had something in-between.

The special effects are solid, as is the music; even if the track choices aren't the most creative. I probably would've shortened the run time a little, though that isn't anything all that noteworthy to be honest. There are some funny moments in there, which is always something I expect from a Taika Waititi flick.

As for me and my own personal Thor ranking, this - like the 2011 original (also 3*) - isn't one of my favourites (fwiw, I enjoy 'Thor: The Dark World' and 'Thor: Ragnarok' (both 4*) way more) but it's still a fun enough time that I'd recommend it.

I simply cannot (cannot, I tell you!) believe they didn't just call this 'Thor Four' btw... 💔