We Agree: Thor: Love and Thunder

2022, Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) -- Disney+ 

A chat with Kent, and his post, told me a couple of things about the movie: that it didn't play true to the source material it mined for the underlying plot (the God Butcher comic run of Thor), and it might be too funny. Out of curiosity, I went back (back where? did I take a time machine to read the comic when itt came out?) and read the comic story; and it was alright. If I am no longer That Guy for movies, I haven't been That Guy for comics for decades; I cannot remember the last time I even bought one, but at least a decade ago. But, still pirate sites let me read what I want to read. It was a dark and fun, convoluted story involving timelines and cosmos spanning battle at an epic scale. It was not the sort of material that someone like Waititi could do justice (and I acknowledge, I am just parroting Kent's post here), but nor would I expect him to. Marvel handed him something, he worked around it, and in the movie's context, it was also alright. But, then.... the comedy.

Like all this current phase in Marvel's movie stable, it relies heavily on What Came Before. Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Spiderhead) met Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) in his first movie, they had a relationship, and broke up somewhere a handful of movies ago. Thor's planet (?!?!) of Asgard was blown up in the last (Thor) movie, and then half of the survivors were slaughtered by Thanos. The remaining people settled somewhere on a Norwegian coastline (or Newfoundland), and became... a theme park? The remaining Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, Westworld) is King, but she is not happy on the throne. Thor got rid of his Thanos induced, pizza & beer fuelled dad bod, and is seeking to once again find some purpose in life. He has a brief run with the Guardians of the Galaxy but the pissing contest becomes too much. As we caught up with all of this, I was already lamenting there being too much Guns & Roses.

So, while still with the GotG, Thor comes across an injured Sif, who lost a battle against a creature named Gorr (Christian Bale, Terminator Salvation), who is killing gods across the universe. Behind them is a colossal monster god that Thor recalls befriending. Sif (Jaimie Alexander, Last Seen Alive) lost an arm trying unsuccessfully to defend the god. And she warns Thor that Gorr's next stop will be Asgard. This is the point that made me wonder; are all residents of Asgard some form of god? Or was it just the ruling class, and the rest are just ... powerful people? Not sure, and it doesn't matter, as Gorr and his shadow monsters invade quaint coastal New Asgard. With his Bifrost Axe, he gets there in time to fight along side.... She-Thor (sorry, sorry just a nod to She-Hulk) *ahem* Jane Foster who is now The Mighty Thor, because she was drawn to the shards of Mjolnir and deemed worthy enough to have it reform for her use. Problem is, she has cancer and the transformations aren't helping; but they do keep her mighty and blonde, while she is wielding it.

Gorr is driven away but not before he kidnaps a bunch of Asgardian kids, leaving Thor and Mighty Thor and Val desperate to find them, but also to get some extra fire power. If he has been killing gods all across the universe, these three will be no match for him on their own. Interesting that they acknowledge that but also weird they don't think about involving some other superheroes. While it might be a keep-god-things-to-gods, Mighty Thor is obviously not a god, and Hulk & Captain Marvel can match Thor, so.... But anyway, off to some mystical planet city realm that is the hangout zone for many gods of the universe, especially those that have been supplanted from their belief systems, including the Greek Gods, including Zeus (Russell Crowe, Romper Stomper). Recruit help? Nope, the gods would rather just hide. And the god of bao would only be tasty. So, they beat up Zeus and take his thunderbolt, and then it's off to a special place where Gorr might end up getting a Wish that could solve all his problems, i.e. kill off the rest of the gods in one fell swoop.

So, sounds pretty superheroic movie standard? Yep, except every fucking scene is sitcom level comedy. I swear, in some of the scenes, Waititi even framed & lit the shots to look like a single camera & studio audience sitcom. And while I loved the bright & colourful in Thor: Ragnarok, here it comes off as cartoony. Sure, we are chuckling the entire time, but so often it ends up just diminishing the weight of a scene. 

For the most part I was along for the ride. Everyone is charming and give their 110% -- Waititi can't be accused of getting good out of his actors. And I get, that at some level, this was a sitcom, for it could all be framed as the story Korg (Taika Waititi, What We Do in the Shadows) was telling the children, including all the Guns & Roses, and bright colours, but at time it became all too much. 

Oh, and I finally got the rock, paper, scissors joke about Korg. Better late than never.

Oh, and yeah, the credit scene with a cameo got a big chuckle; thanks for not spoiling it Kent :)