There is a sublime stretch of Thor: Love and Thunder—around the point where Russell Crowe, as Zeus, appears to be auditioning for either House of Gucci, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, or some combination—when the movie drops all pretense of being a coherent narrative, much less a portentous installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) shares a drink with the rocky Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi), who has been reduced in battle to a stony face that is propped up on the bar. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has a heart to heart with his axe, Stormbreaker, trying to convince the jealous weapon that he no longer thinks about his once-beloved hammer, Mjolinr. Both conversations take place on a Viking ship sailing through space, pulled by a pair of screaming goats. Sure, there’s a larger story underway—something about Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who hunts celestial beings like Thor—but who cares? Cue up the Guns N’ Roses and let Thor rip and roar. As director, Waititi seems eager to increase the slaphappiness of Thor: Ragnarok another notch or two, but this time his film is spread too thin. Gorr, a theologically provocative adversary, deserves a weightier movie, as does Thor’s former love interest Jane (Natalie Portman), who returns here, dying of cancer, to wield Mjolinr herself and spend her last days as The Mighty Thor. Both are woven into the overall plot in ways that make thematic sense and might work on the page, yet feel woefully underdeveloped on the screen. Still, the movie has enough side gags (love the reveal of Thor’s “R.I.P Loki” tattoo) and silly comedic sequences to distract from such shortcomings—including an opening battle that Thor wins by performing the splits, in the air, between two enemy aircraft. He’s like the Yogi of Thunder. As someone who has bemoaned the franchise’s overreliance on the “punchplosion,” I have to admire the freshness of a move like that.
(7/11/2022)
