Marvel heavily splits opinion

Film Review
Tinashe Kusema

SOMEWHERE along the line, someone at Marvel Studios decided that it would be a good idea to turn Thor from being a god in Norse mythology to a comedy act.

They have since stripped away everything that made the character such a hit on the comic strip and turned it into nothing more than a ‘plain’ comedy act.

Granted, “Kiwi” director and writer Taika Waititi did an awesome job in the last Thor movie “Ragnarok” by adding a little humour into that movie, and the fat suit Chris Hemsworth wore in “Avengers: Endgame” worked to some degree.

However, my gripe with continuing in this current trajectory is that it takes away all the mysticity from the character.

It does not really bode well when a character that has been reduced to being a caricature of its former self comes against a worthy adversary. But, we will get to that a little later.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is the fourth installment of the franchise and sees the Norse god come up against arguably one of his better adversaries in Gorr the God Butcher.

Stuck in a barren desert with his dying daughter Love, Gorr appeals to the deities to save her.

Rather than simply ignore his pleas, a god only identified as Rapu laughs at his daughter’s demise and it is in that moment that Gorr develops a hatred for all the gods.

A god-killing Necrosword weapon appears to him and offers its service, after which Gorr kills Rapu.He then sets out to wipe out the gods from existence, a path that leads him to Asgard and on a collision course with the god of thunder Thor. As a subplot, “Thor: Love and Thunder” also sees the return of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who has been diagnosed with stage four cancer. Her predicament revives Thor’s trusted weapon Mjolnir, last seen getting torn into pieces by Hela in the last Thor movie, and it transforms Foster into the Mighty Thor.

Unfortunately, its healing properties are temporary and only prolong her life rather than heal her sickness.

The two reunite and bond over their attempts to stop Gorr’s crusade to rid all of existence from the many different deities.

Now, none of this spells out comedy as the stakes for both Jane Foster and the many gods that exist in the nine realms are high.

However, Waititi, who directs and co-wrote the movie, dives head first with the comedy gags that while good at some points in the movie come off as overkill.

It is lazy writing at its worst as Waititi copied and pasted everything that made “Thor: Ragnarok” good.

He even gave his voice character Korg, an even bigger role this time around.

The humour totally wastes a great cast and plot. There is an argument to be made that this could very well be the worst Thor movie in recent times.Christian Bale is totally wasted in the role of Gorr as his demeanour and great performance does not really gel well when opposed to Thor’s more comedic presentation.

The only thing that really stands out is Natalie Portman, her character Jane Foster to be more specific.

The two have long been the scorn of the MCU as criticism has been levied on both the one-note character and Foster’s stiff performance. All that changes here, as the cancer subplot adds a little layer to the character and Portman is given some substance to work.

Portman actually comes off rather funny and demonstrates great chemistry with Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie.

Another character and actor that benefits from all the comedy and humour is Russel Crowe’s Zeus, as the 58-year-old also steals the show in his brief but memorable cameo appearances.The fact that “Thor: Love and Thunder” is now tied as the lowest rated movie of the franchise, alongside the disastrous 2013 “Thor: The Dark World”, on Rotten Tomatoes, should tell you everything that you need to know about how bad and forgettable this movie really is. It wastes a great premise and villain from the comics, not to mention some cast members and great actors, and really does do much for the overall narrative of the MCU as we head into Marvel’s Phase Five and Six and the rise of “Kang: The Conqueror”.

As you might be aware by now, “Thor: Love and Thunder” is the penultimate installment of the hugely forgettable Marvel Phase Four which ends with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in November.

Next year’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” will officially launch Phase Five.