Thor: Love and Thunder Movie Review

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is a Marvel movie with the continuing saga of everyone’s favorite beefcake – the “Mighty Thor”. Wait, well actually, “Mighty Thor” is the person who is worthy to wield the powerful hammer (Mjolnir). The hammer was in little pieces, due to an unfortunate encounter in a prior movie, and now Thor holds the “Stormbreaker”. But his super-charged axe is no match to Thor’s super-charged ‘Ex’. Ex-girlfriend that is, and she holds the hammer and is worthy to be “Mighty Thor”. The powerful hammer is able to break mountains, but Thor’s Ex can continue to break his heart.

Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) has been hitching a ride with the Guardians of the Galaxy to fight bad guys all over the Universe. His close friend is a rock-person named Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi), whom he met a while back. The fights and the interplanetary adventures are all fine, but Thor is wanting something more. He and his huge axe “Stormbreaker” can fight and battle and win. It all gets, well, boring. There is word of a new evil bad guy who is killing off all the gods that he can find.  This is a bad dude with a murderous weapon called the Necrosword. Thor finds out that his old warrior friend, Lady Sif (played by Jaimie Alexander) is badly hurt.

Thor and Korg leave to save Sif, along with two massive goats given to Thor for saving a planet from invaders. When they arrive back to Earth, they head to New Asgard. In a prior movie, the mystical realm of Asgard had been destroyed. So anyone who was able to evacuate came to Earth and formed a new little village. They are led by a fierce warrior named Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson). But now as the leader and King of the community, her battles are with bureaucracy. New Asgard is huge tourist sensation and many people come from around the world to see it. Even the remains the mighty hammer, Mjolnir. One particular person comes to see the hammer, because it has called to her…

Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) is the ex-girlfriend of Thor (from prior movies). She is a well-known scientist and researcher. But her life is now in jeopardy because of cancer. She does not have long to live. But she visits New Asgard, and the mighty hammer responds to Jane. Mjolnir senses that Jane is truly worth to become the “Mighty Thor” and she is able to wield the hammer. Just like her ex-boyfriend used to do, back in the day. Jane and Valkyrie can team up to fight off anything that comes to bother New Asgard. But they did not count on him…

The evil guy with the killing blade is called Gorr the God Butcher (played by Christian Bale). He has a tragic back story of how he once trusted a local god. He prayed so that his daughter would live. But she is gone, and now Gorr has a heart of vengeance. He finds the god, who does not care about it. But the Necrosword appears to Gorr, and it lets him have revenge on the uncaring god. That gives Gorr a purpose, to avenge his daughter by slaughtering every god or goddess in the Universe. That is how Lady Sif was terribly injured, and how Thor found out about Gorr’s dastardly plans. But Gorr is powerful and controls demons that live in the shadows. And who knows “What We do in the Shadows”?

Gorr kidnaps all the children in New Asgard. There is a battle and a terrible fight. Mighty Thor (now Jane) meets up with Thor (the other one). In all the confusion, Gorr escapes with all the young kids. But not the massive goats, just the kids… Thor, and Korg, Valkerie and Mighty Thor/Jane decide they must fight as a team. But they will need more than just themselves. They will need an army of gods to take on and defeat Gorr.

They go to ‘Omnipotent City’, which is a secret place where all the gods from all around the Universe hang out. Thor is captured and he too — ‘lets it all hang out’. The mighty god Zeus (played by Russell Crowe) is unmoved by Thor’s plea for help. He is a wizard with his lighting bolt and it he declares that Thor and his friends are stuck there forever. But soon the rag-tag group is out and on their way to face off with Gorr. Plus they also happened to ‘bolt’ out of there – taking one of Zeus’s bolts. Hey, what are friends for?

When they find Gorr, they see that his negative power has drained all life out of a rocky planet. It also drains all the color out of the scene. Gorr has the children hidden away, and he wants to take Thor’s new weapon. Valkyrie and Mighty Thor/Jane are as helpless as Thor is at the moment. Jane knows that the time she is spending being Mighty Thor is pulling out life from her body. She gets to be strong for a while, but it makes the cancer stronger. Valkyrie is afraid that the children will never be able to come back. Thor is thinks that his time has come, where he finally has met his match.

Will Thor, and the “Mighty Thor”, ever be able to overcome Gorr? And will they be able to locate the missing Asgard kids and bring them home for Valkyrie? Will Gorr continue to be the evil, misguided, twisted soul that he has become?  Will Korg be able to find new adventures that he can relate about Thor? Will Jane have a future with Thor, or will her time remaining be short?

“Thor: Love and Thunder” brings a breath of fresh air into the Marvel Universe. Sometimes, the focus is not as sharp in terms of plotting and emotional beats. In the prior “Thor: Ragnarok”, also directed by Taika Waititi, was a (Hulk) smashing success. This movie will repeat that same feat, but it is just a slightly lesser vintage as the prior one. The acting and the overall production design are fantastic. Christian Bale in the role of Gorr is extremely creepy and scary. And of course, there are mid-credit and end-credit little teasers!

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is a new crazy adventure with Thor and a few friends. So, sit down and strap in, because “It’s Hammer Time”.