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DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MUTLIVERSE OF MADNESS hasn’t quite left the cinemas yet, but Marvel is already at the doors of theatres with the next big title. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER will be the 29th film in the MCU and will once again feature a veritable fireworks display of movie stars. In addition to the well-known actors from the THOR solo films, characters from the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY will also be seen. Director Taika Waititi thus unites two worlds that were already brought together in AVENGERS: ENDGAME and now receive significantly more screen presence.

Here’s what it’s all about

Having lost everything in life that was dear and sacred to him, Thor has let himself go quite a bit lately. But when he learns that a madman is doing his mischief in the universe and gradually destroying the gods of the various planetary systems, it is time to return from the valley of sorrow and resume the fight for good. Among other things, his path leads him back to Earth, where in the meantime the surviving Asgardians have settled down and are building their new home, “New Asgard”. Threatened by Gorr the God Butcher, Thor has to mobilise all his forces to stop the enemy and receives surprising support from his former partner Jane Foster, who, in the course of her severe cancer, has been looking for a way to defeat the disease and finds a way out in the mighty power of the destroyed Mjölnir.

Together with Valkyrie and Korg, the two set out to follow Gorr and destroy him once and for all – whatever the cost. The four see a promising chance in turning to the other gods and together forming an unruly army to confront the horror, but this too is to prove a difficult undertaking. Is the end of all the gods now at hand?

Review

Marvel is increasingly presenting us review writers with an extremely difficult challenge. On the one hand, we are willing to look at each film as a work in itself to weigh the qualities of individual cinematography; on the other hand, we cannot help but decipher the MCU as a complex series and assess it as a body of work. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER is in itself a pure mix of genres that can be considered entertainment and not go beyond that. Unfortunately, the term “entertaining” is increasingly mutating into a word with negative connotations thanks to productions like this. Nothing in this work is really new. Instead, we get a potpourri of the past 28 films in a wild mix of ideas and superstars.

Acting icons of today’s generation are giving each other a run for their money and being worked through like checklists. Who hasn’t yet, who wants to again seems to be the motto, because even characters who were thought dead or written out of the plot suddenly reappear, even if only indirectly as a picture or TV recording. Those who have never made an appearance before are now given the opportunity to show themselves here in the best or worst light, so that even role-fright Russell Crowe can show that a long film career does not necessarily mean being able to act well. Admittedly, this is not only due to him, but also to a terrible script that portrays Zeus as the biggest flitzpiepe ever to exist in the universe. Newcomer Melissa McCarthy isn’t blessed with the best role either, but is also only seen for a fraction of a moment.

Shapeshifter and multi-talented Bale

But the fact that even a less than outstanding role can be compensated for by an outstanding actor is once again brilliantly demonstrated by Crow’s colleague Christian Bale. Not only has the real-life shapeshifter once again starved himself into a puny figure of himself, he also manages to deliver a stellar performance that functions on a similar level as all his works. This fits the bill perfectly, as Bale had actually once said he didn’t want to be in any more comic book films, having realised in the Batman trilogy that the genre was uninteresting from a performing perspective.^[1] In fact, the Oscar® winner gives us a performance that matures the antagonist into one of the most interesting of the entire MCU in terms of his basic idea. Tragically, however, this strength is not adequately played out and Gorr the God Butcher appears far too rarely and briefly on screen.

Instead, Waititi much prefers to showcase his two leads, Chris Hemsworth, who incessantly flexes his pumped-up muscles, and Natalie Portman, who just can’t stop ogling the son of Odin. Recently at odds and not speaking to each other for years, it doesn’t take an hour before the two are back in each other’s arms, tightly embraced, and Portman, despite a revamped role, is once again just the lapdog of the Almighty. As if that weren’t bad enough, almost all the female roles are inferior to Thor’s powerful appearance, so that even Zeus’ playmates fall into a spontaneous swoon as soon as the god of thunder unintentionally swings his hammer. And as usual with Marvel, the only LGBTQ+ characters remain only a shadow of their former selves and are not pushed too conspicuously into the background. Except, of course, Korg, who is, after all, played by the director himself.

Genre war in the Thor family

In addition to the acting mishmash, the plot is no better, and so we get a banal mix of WAR OF THE WORLDs together with its persiflage SCARY MOVIE spiced with a cocktail of all the genres the film lexicon has to offer. From children’s adventure to slasher, from pink romance to silly B-movie comedy and from adventurous action hit to brightly coloured drug trip – it seems that everything is there. And if you want to cry a round, you just have to sit through the work long enough. We do get a highly dramatic scene to break fans’ hearts, but the only thing that makes us cry is that after three hours of film, just one full hour has passed on the clock.

And just when you think it can’t go on any longer, an even crappier punchline comes from somewhere that is neither appropriately timed nor of the right quality and turns THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER into a joke of a series. Of course, there are one or two laughs that are even heartily and accurately placed, but even a blind chicken finds a grain of corn once in a while and is even more successful than the two giant goats Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher, which only wear on the nerves after the first bleat at the latest. How good that Waititi never tires of his own jokes, so that every idea has to be played out repetitively countless times. When everything is once again done to keep the joke character of the film Korg alive even in the face of death, in order to start the great fairy tale lesson a third time, then it is clear how the rabbit has to run.

No time for boredom

To keep everyone in the team busy, even THE SUPERTROTTLE and PITCH PERFECT 2 composer Mark Mothersbaugh was allowed to browse through the hits of the 20th century the entire time, so that every genre mash-up gets its own unforgettable song to let the last bit of seriousness leave the scenes in favour of silly kitsch. At least cinematographer Barry Baz Idoine was able to try his hand a little and play with the newly developed StageCraft technique he used previously on THE MANDALORIAN. Admittedly, this results in some quite chic images that enhance the wretched CGI backgrounds – after all, it’s enough when far more than 10 different special effects studios are busy shooting colourful flashes in all directions as often as possible – at least the backgrounds can look reasonable.

FSK 12 – SAW meets DADDY (Waititi) WITHOUT A PLAN, because Kevin Feige was obviously once again behind the camera with a raised index finger so that no one would get the idea of developing this film beyond the limits of the youth rating. After all, 7-year-olds are supposed to see live and in colour (or not) how cold-blooded slaughter takes place and the spawn of evil kidnaps children as shadows – in short: classic RTL 2 afternoon programme. But at least the entire team seems to have uniformly made the decision not to put any effort into the film, because otherwise someone might have noticed that when they leave the “New Asgard” fairground, the same extras are standing on both sides of the wharf and the most conspicuous ones are even placed in the front row. Why the billy goats then gallop through the air in Rudolph the Reindeer style is then no longer worth asking.

The new front-runner?

But after a tirade of emotionally charged sentences on my part and affective and world-destroying decisions by Thor, let’s end with a few positive thoughts: THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER will once again trigger streams of enthusiasm from the audience, and with the most banal superficiality and lack of love, the God of Thunder will once again take up the fight for the throne and, flying low, will contest TOP GUN: MAVERICK’s place as the most successful film of 2022. It should be said, however, that the potential for a strong film was there and is hidden in many small individual stories. Especially the dark part around antagonist Christian Bale sits meticulously and could have, with more courage from the production studio, finally meant the hoped-for turnaround in a still completely screwed-up Phase 4 of the MCU.

Conclusion

Even though THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER left a hint of positive vibes right after the viewing in view of some nice gags and the comprehensive galactic plot, a retrospective view seems downright shocking and devastating. A lot of money doesn’t make a good film, and even if the flick once again has a lot to offer visually and features one of the best antagonists the MCU has presented so far and is overall a much better follow-up to the first three Marvel phases, Waititi lets the work degenerate into a silly joke, bursting with insane stagings and featuring many logic gaps even without comic book knowledge. Every scene must be forcibly garnished with a punchline, and every silliness is repetitively fired off. Ultimately, Waititi has tragically ensured that this production lands very far down in a personal ranking of Marvel films.

How did you like the movie?
(4 Bewertungen, Durchschnitt: 3,00 von 10)

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[1] Thor: Love and Thunder – Trivia, imdb.com, abgerufen am 02.07.2022