Film review: ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Taika Waititi’s previous instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Ragnarök was, at least for a while, a strikingly odd experience and refreshingly different flavour in what had become the bland cinematic equivalent of a fast-food franchise.  Suddenly, droll, pisstaking Kiwi humour had entered the overblown Wagnerian Marvel superhero fantasy universe. At first, it felt quite subversive but the film quickly succumbed to juvenile gags that undercut the minimal drama, sense of adventure and thrills the Marvel world had to offer. Has anything changed in Waititi’s latest effort, Thor Love and Thunder?  Not much, for the most part it’s a very loose, rambling pisstaking comedy wrapped in a gaudy elaborate space fantasy and superhero action adventure. A few more serious moments briefly puncture the adolescent mockery but they hardly qualify as compelling drama.

This film clocks in around two hours but there’s really only an hour of plot which means the comedy, the quirky byplay between characters and the over-the-top action sequences have to do alot of the heavy lifting – increasingly all of this feels like padding.

With a quick recap from Thor’s buddy Korg (Taika Waititi) we learn that, after losing much of his adopted Avengers family to Thanos, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) lapsed into a torpor and slothfulness in which he began to resemble the dude from The Big Lebowski before teaming up with the Guardians of The Galaxy to battle space monsters.  After a kind of Razor’s Edge-style revelation he has apparently retired to Byron Bay to meditate. Fast forward to the present and his wellness journey ends abruptly when a mysterious and embittered alien with convenient 80’s pro-wrestler name of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) acquires a magical sword that allows him to slay gods, leaving Thor and his kind in grave danger.  Reuniting with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Thor and Korg journey across the galaxy to battle the murderous Gorr.  As the title suggests, this is also a love story and it’s no spoiler to reveal that, while battling the fiendish Gorr, Thor is joined by former lover Jane (Natalie Portman) who oddly enough has a acquired superpowers of her own.

The 1970’s panel van art font of this film’s title suggests we’re in for a freewheeling, hallucinogenic ride.  Unfortunately, it’s not as out there as we might hope. Waititi constructs a few elaborate action sequences filled with giant toothy monsters who prove astonishingly ineffective, acrobatic fight sequences and magical energy beams but its formulaic and bloodless.  Increasingly, it feels as if we watching a bland, neutered version of Ragnarok.  Also, tediously, this film leads us into that shaky world of Marvel mythological waffling including something about ‘Eternity’ that makes no sense to the uninitiated.

The art direction, which was one of the most striking features of Ragnarok, is still pretty impressive, though. Drenched in vivid comic book colours and filled with ornate set designs, that owe more than a small debt to Flash Gordon, this film is, if nothing else, pleasing to the eyeball.  Also, Waititi’s added a few more strings to his bow as director, fashioning some impressive visions of alien worlds including a stunning black and white rendering of Gorr’s strange home planet. Waititi also once again shows a talent for pairing cartoon violence with great rock music, in this case a selection of Guns N Roses classics.

As the god of thunder, Hemsworth seems a little too eager to embrace the sillier aspects of the role making Thor more like goofy frat boy than a noble Norse god. Still, looking like he could bench press the Empire State Building, he has the physicality to convince as an action hero.  Natalie Portman adds to the film’s dramatic cred and looks believable in the action scenes but seems uncomfortable in the comedy sequences.  Waititi’s rock monster, Korg, who looks like a blue version of The Thing from Fantastic Four and talks like a character from Flight of the Conchords, is occasionally funny but we’re pretty familiar with his schtick now.  As the villain Gorr, Bale is a puzzling figure, we don’t learn much about his back story apart from a tragedy immediately preceding his sudden transformation into seemingly all powerful fiend.  His motives and intentions, though, are a little fuzzy.  He’s really just a baldy in toga with some body paint that makes it look as if he’s just come from an eco-rave.  As the trailers have also revealed, Russell Crowe has entered the Marvel universe playing king of the gods, Zeus.  Rather than an imposing all-powerful being, however, he’s more like a Monty Python character. With his vein comical posturing, long stringy hair and a questionable Greek accent, he gives a weird performance.

Thor: Love and Thunder is occasionally fun and visually inventive but this messy, at times directionless, film too often feels like something cooked up by comic fans over beer and pizza.

Nick’s rating: **1/2

Genre:  Action/ Adventure/Superhero/ Sci-fi/Comedy.

Classification: M.

Director(s): Taika Waititi.

Release date: 7th July 2022.

Running time: 119 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

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