Waititi’s ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’ As Aimless, Superfluous As The MCU’s Phase 4 Writ Large

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Kill the Gods

It’s probably safe to define Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth film in the main Thor series and eighth total appearance by Chris Hemsworth as the titular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by what it is not. It is not as good as its predecessor Ragnarok. Going a step further, I’d wager to say that it’s likely the worst of the Thor-central flicks – the often maligned Thor: The Dark World included. It’s not well constructed; the story is jumbled and meandering, the tone is all over the place, the character arcs are fairly uninvolving and flat. It’s not as funny as it thinks it is; the jokes mustering some low-grade chuckles here and there but nothing at the level of writer-director Taika Waititi’s best work – nor is it even on par with Marvel’s better comedic showcases. In short, it’s just not very good.

The film is a series of starts and fits, jolting from one scene to the next with no sense of cohesion and little to tie the myriad side quests together other than Christian Bales’ Gorr the God Butcher, the MVP of this 29th installation of the MCU blockbuster machine. After a decidedly screwy intro to Bales’ Gorr, the overarching narrative shifts to being told in voiceover by Korg (Waititi voicing a soft-spoken rock monster) who narrates the story of Thor’s journey to find himself…and love. Korg’s narration reappears three times throughout, often accompanied by a montage. Per the underwritten MCU villain mandate, Bale too often gets the short end of the stick but makes every second of his time on-screen count.
The outrageously-sinewy Hemsworth is joined by Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, a former flame who reappears with a bout of stage-four cancer and – suddenly – the powers of Thor. For those who crave the details of how one event leads to the next – a thing in writing classes called “cause and effect”, an essential ingredient in any story – expect disappointment. Thor: Love and Thunder just kind of meanders from scene to scene, as aimless as the whole of the MCU’s Phase Four films (and that’s ignoring the glut of television shows they’ve produced for Disney+.)

The script from Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Unpregnant) struggles to give much meaning and depth to major developments like Jane’s diagnosis or her sudden god-like powers, opting instead to move through a checklist of plot points with all the sharpies of the rainbow. Avid comic fans will receive all the winks and nods that they’re accustomed to under Kevin Feige’s overlording of the brand.

Those unfamiliar will notice with increasing frequency just how patchy the actual story is – and how superfluous the final product is as an engine to drive what’s to come. Kudos for being self-contained but when the story feels so ultimately pointless, it’s hard to celebrate what is in essence just another installment of super disposable commerce.

What worked so well in Thor: Ragnarok – one of the best installments of the long-running franchise – breaks through now and again. Hemsworth’s transformation from cocky god into dumb bro still warrants some chuckles. But more often than not, the bloom is simply off the rose. What once seemed fresh has begun already to grate. Perhaps this is what happens when a successful vision is copy-pasted ad nauseam, obliterating what was fresh just a few years back into lazy pastiche.

CONCLUSION: ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is an unnecessary addendum to the titular character’s story, one that tries to hide its lack of narrative prowess underneath colorful sets and costumes and behind Hemsworth impressive god bod.