Thor: Love and Thunder

'Thor: Love and Thunder' suffers from a lack of both of the elements present in its subtitle, and is an astonishing step back from 'Ragnarok.'

The deficit of care in this phase, however, remains troubling, at least in comparison to the previous films in the MCU. There were always dogshit filler movies meant to act as stop-gaps between important and/or risky films, but they didn’t define the whole of a given era like they have now. Credit’s due: At least they didn’t make a meaningful attempt to conceal Mighty Thor’s identity, which was one of the most irritating things about that arc (editorial dictate seeming to get in the way of good storytelling, which is a tale as old as time in comic books), and gave it a proper ending, though they did jettison the whole reason that the storyline was in any way coherent on a character level. Once Gorr kidnaps Asgardian children as a means of luring Thor and his magic axe to a confrontation in a shadow realm, the foursome decides that they need help, and so they seek the aid of Zeus (Russell Crowe) and other Gods in order to stop him. Yet a number of things have been changed: Gorr is now a true believer in a gold-suited God who let his followers (including Gorr’s daughter) die in the desert while he enjoyed the bounty of an oasis, which simplifies some of the complexity of his character; and instead of attempting to create a “Godbomb,” which only can be stopped by three Thors from throughout history (Young, Current and King), he’s seeking to wish the Gods out of existence. The bare bones of Aaron and Ribic’s story are preserved: A vengeful mortal named Gorr (Christian Bale) has acquired a mythical weapon known as the Necrosword, which can slay Gods, and only Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and buds can stop him before he finds a way to rid the universe of deities altogether. – and Ribic’s gorgeous Vermeer-colored artwork gave the storytelling a painterly majesty normally reserved for material much grander like, say, the destruction of Pompeii. Yet above all else, it was metal, which is to say that it was both hyper-serious and knowingly ridiculous, as well as somewhat blasphemous, at least to comic nerds (for an even bigger head-trip and something genuinely worthy of the Vatican’s scorn, check out Aaron’s The Goddamned, which is a brutal revisionist retelling of the book of Genesis from Cain’s perspective). Whatever Taika Waititi is – a swell comedian, a decent filmmaker, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter – he’s not goated with the metal sauce.

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The problem lies in the intermittent efforts to get serious about matters of life and death. It’s this tradition that gives us Russell Crowe playing Zeus as an amalgam of Hulk Hogan and Con the Fruiterer, a far less successful comedic turn than Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster in Ragnarok. For my money, Waititi is at his best when he keeps the stakes low and the scale modest.

By far the most arresting character in Thor: Love and Thunder, the twenty-bajillionth Marvel movie, is the splendidly named villain Gorr the God Butcher.

Thor: Love and Thunder is what we'd imagine you'd see if you could live inside the head of director Taika Waititi. To Marvel fans, Waititi is best.

Waititi is back as the co-writer, director and the voice for the stony Korg, with Chris Hemsworth as our space Viking, a man who really needs to get more credit ...

There is very little logic and the connections between scenes are tenuous, giving the film a feeling of not building to anything clear. The whipsaw from death and suffering to idiocy is staggering, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson credited alongside Waititi for a script that seems like it was pasted together after gerbils ripped up a bag of words. He is surrounded by lackeys — some called Zeusettes — and frustrates Thor, even stripping him of his clothes, to the delight of many in the audience. “The gods will use you but they will not help you,” he snarls. One problematic character back is Jane Foster, Thor’s ex whom he still pines for eight years after they broke up and she skipped the third film. His ability to pronounce superhero things dramatically and then become a goofball is endlessly endearing.

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The fight sequences have verve, the cadre of child actors are cute and the delirious visuals are feasty. Just like Thor: Love and Thunder needed to be contained. It just doesn’t connect particularly well when everything is coming at you at a frenetic pace. Disjointed and, at times, verging on incomprehensible, Love and Thunder is a mishmash of genres that doesn’t always flow. Jane has taken on the mantle of Mighty Thor, powered by a reconstructed Mjolnir. He doesn’t have the same bloodlust for battle as he once did and he’s questioning his purpose in life.

Is Taika Waititi the most exciting person making movies at the moment? Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a ...

And the music deserves its own special billing. His turn as Gorr the God Butcher is menacing and heartbreaking. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hemsworth and Waititi have described the film as a rom-com, and it certainly has more of a romantic comedy structure than any previous MCU entry, but the pair have managed to balance light action and comedy with some truly moving scenes. Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a character in the new Lightyear film and producing pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, to writing, directing and starring in some of the best movies of the last few years.

Is Taika Waititi the most exciting person making movies at the moment? Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a ...

And the music deserves its own special billing. His turn as Gorr the God Butcher is menacing and heartbreaking. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hemsworth and Waititi have described the film as a rom-com, and it certainly has more of a romantic comedy structure than any previous MCU entry, but the pair have managed to balance light action and comedy with some truly moving scenes. Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a character in the new Lightyear film and producing pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, to writing, directing and starring in some of the best movies of the last few years.

While Marvel movies review much better on average than most films, Thor: Love and Thunder is currently in the bottom five of all scored MCU movies on Rotten ...

Captain Marvel goes from a 79% critic score to a much-lower-than-anything 45%, which was absolutely due to review bombing after star Brie Larson upset some “fans” with various comments, and this was actually the moment that Rotten Tomatoes started requiring “verification” for audience scores. Black Panther, the #1 critic scored movie with a 96% has a 79% audience score. As reviews came rolling in yesterday for Thor: Love and Thunder, it became clear that something was somewhat amiss with the scores.

But after several fake deaths, Loki tragically met his demise at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, and while his adventures continue in another ...

Whenever that face-off finally comes, if Loki does come along for the ride, the interactions Thor could have with a redeemed and heroic version of his brother could be amazing. In the wake of Loki's death, Thor: Love and Thunder will be the first in the franchise not to feature Hiddleston, a detail that has left many worried for the film. Just moments before making the ultimate sacrifice in a bid to stop Thanos, Loki delivered his poetic final words to Thor in Avengers: Infinity War in a way that implied the two will meet again. Loki director Kate Herron recently caught an early screening of Thor: Love and Thunder and shared her spoiler-free reaction to the latest Asgardian adventure. Not him, but the character of Loki." The brotherly dynamic between Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Tom Hiddleston's Loki has been at the crux of the God of Thunder's solo franchise since the beginning.

Taika Waititi's follow-up to the beloved Thor: Ragnarok has epic silliness, terminal illness and Russell Crowe in an almost tutu.

Is Taika Waititi the most exciting person making movies at the moment? Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a ...

And the music deserves its own special billing. His turn as Gorr the God Butcher is menacing and heartbreaking. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hi! I've been a journalist with the Advertiser newspapers in Macarthur since 2014, covering all sorts of news, entertainment and sport. Hemsworth and Waititi have described the film as a rom-com, and it certainly has more of a romantic comedy structure than any previous MCU entry, but the pair have managed to balance light action and comedy with some truly moving scenes. Our talented Kiwi neighbour seems to be everywhere right now - from voicing a character in the new Lightyear film and producing pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, to writing, directing and starring in some of the best movies of the last few years.

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Love and Thunder doesn't live up to the incredible stories that inspired it. Love and Thunder merely alludes to this, and largely reduces Gorr's villainy to kidnapping Asgardian children as part of a grander plot. It feels like this movie couldn't wait to get away from the pesky continuity and back to the Asgardian storyline of Thor's solo movies. Though the movie fails to explore her ennui enough, Thompson infuses the character with sufficient mischief that she's a joy to watch. But the God of Thunder totally outclasses his new allies, making him seem like an overpowered video game character as he crushes their enemies and leaves the Guardians looking a bit useless. Thor: Love and Thunder seemed guaranteed to be a slam dunk.

The nth sequel in the sprawling MCU is expected to bring in anywhere from $145 million to $155 million over the weekend, with some estimates reaching as high as ...

That being said, Hemsworth isn’t the only Norse god who can summon a Mjölnir. In this flick, Natalie Portman, returning to the series as astrophysicist Jane Foster, has gained her own superpowers to become the Mighty Thor. Together, this hammer-wielding duo embark on a journey to defeat Gorr the God Butcher (a terrifying Christian Bale), a galactic villain whose name sheds light on his mission to arrange the extinction of all things divine. Disney’s “ Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth standalone story about Chris Hemsworth’s hulking God of Thunder and the second (of three) Marvel movies to play in theaters in 2022, is gearing up to turbocharge the domestic box office. The film debuts on Friday in 4,300 North American theaters.

'Ragnarok' director Taika Waititi returns with more space-Viking shenanigans in 'Thor: Love and Thunder.'

More and more, this cinematic universe feels simultaneously too big to fail and too wide to support the weight of its own endless machinations. Bale is appropriately ghoulish and sepulchral, though the difficulty-setting on this part seems low for an actor of his caliber; mostly, he just has to snarl from dark corners and not lose too much squid-ink spittle when he talks. And God Butchers are exactly the kind of business Thor ( Chris Hemsworth) and his cohort were born to thwart — if only the former king of Asgard, now essentially unemployed, can pull himself out of an immortal-life crisis adrift in beer and bad ponchos. (If you've seen the trailer, you have some idea of the leather-and-lightning rivalry to come; Portman wears it well as a costume, though she still seems more at home as an earthly scientist.) When he turns to the heavens for help in the opening scene, his desperate pleas for his dying child are treated with casually cruel dismissal by a Dionysus too busy peeling grapes and burnishing his crown to care. And so, disillusioned and depraved by grief, Bale's Gorr becomes the God Butcher, armed with a death-eating blade called the Necrosword.

Where 2017's Thor: Ragnarok was a welcome jolt to the MCU, its follow-up feels short on fresh ideas, falling back on 80s nostalgia and familiar jokes.

The film's gruesome sentimentality, one of Waititi's weak spots (see: JoJo Rabbit), creeps up to the point of deadly earnestness. (I won't be the first to suggest that the movie should have been called Thor: Guns and Roses, nor to wonder what dirty secrets Axl Rose is holding over the Disney corporation in order to deserve this massive payday.) But his routine here, like many of Waititi's bits, has curdled into the over-familiar. His reign of hirsute heroism is about to be shaken by the return of his ex, astrophysicist Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), whose terminal illness has somehow led her to get her hands on the beefcake's hammer — not a euphemism — and channel its power into becoming Mighty Thor. As our hero's rock alien buddy Korg, Waititi himself brings the audience up to speed with the events of the last three films (including 2011's Thor, and 2013's Thor: The Dark World), relaying the man, the myth and the legend with all the cheerful comedy of a Father's Day novelty T-shirt. (If there's one thing that remains endearing in Waititi's films, it's his dedication to goofy, homespun fables.) And while clocking the dominance of recycled culture might be the easiest game in town at this point, movies like Disney-Marvel's fourth and latest Thor — entitled Love and Thunder — play right into their audience's taste for the familiar, making it hard to respond with much more than weary indifference.

Thor: Love and Thunder doesn't reinvent the Taika Waititi or Marvel Cinematic Universe formula, but it's a thoroughly entertaining movie nonetheless.

Thor: Love and Thunder isn't the surprise thunderbolt out of the blue that Ragnarok was from narrative or character reinvention perspectives. Pre-release, the film's cast and crew regularly suggesting that Gorr is one of the MCU's most terrifying villains ever, so it's a pity Gorr doesn't appear more often. Like 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi's comedic flair is evident throughout Love and Thunder. It's a movie that isn't shy about mocking itself and the MCU at large, nor is it one afraid of parodying the fantasy or sci-fi genres. Here, Foster is front and center of Love and Thunder's story – and it's a marvelous decision on Waititi's part to effectively have Portman co-star alongside Hemsworth's Norse god. One particular sequence even trades in the film's dazzling, color saturated visuals for a monochromatic look – a block of scenes in stark visual contrast to the rest of the movie, but equally as stunning to gaze upon. As the MCU's first rom-com – one with multiple layers that humorously sees Thor also pine for his ex-weapon Mjolnir, much to the chagrin of Stormbreaker, his ax – it does a stellar job of capturing the awkwardness of running into your ex. Gorr's backstory and his acquisition of the Necrosword – the blade that imbues Gorr with his superpowers – also lack context. To combat the MCU's latest supervillain, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (Waititi) – oh, and Foster who, to Thor's surprise, wields a reassembled version of his former hammer Mjolnir. Together, the quartet set off on a cosmic quest to stop Gorr from enacting his masterplan and destroying the universe in the process. And, with Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi at the helm once more, Love and Thunder looks to build on the success of its predecessor with a progressive story filled with Waititi's signature blend of surreal humor, heart, and captivating twists. Thor: Love and Thunder is another entertaining installment in Marvel's juggernaut franchise; a superhero film that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself and one that largely strikes a pleasing balance between its multiple parts. Thor: Love and Thunder is the Norse god's fourth solo Marvel movie – the first MCU character to achieve such a feat. The god of thunder's transformation from a serious and somewhat egotistical warrior, to a heroic and charismatic goofball, has made for fascinating viewing.

Taika Waititi shared insight into a Thanos-related Easter egg from Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder.

The people could be using this as a way to move forward from that event, but at the least, the ice cream at this shop is something visitors are sure to seek out as they enjoy their vacation. The Asgardians were one of the first groups to meet Thanos' wrath as he embarked on his Infinity Stone quest in Avengers: Infinity War, so it's a bit bizarre that the residents of the town are now poking fun at the Mad Titan and subsequently those that perished during the five year gap. Thanos' impact on Love and Thunder may only be minimal after the Mad Titan turned to dust in Avengers: Endgame, but he'll only be part of the tributes to the past that this movie will bring.

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This year's streaming festivities are planned for September 8, which is 64 days after Love and Thunder's release date. Most recently, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw the shortest time exclusively on the big screen as it started streaming only 47 days after release in theaters. Love and Thunder has been a long time coming, as fans eagerly await Marvel Studios' latest theatrical adventure.

Writer-director Taika Waititi brings his magical flavor of Marvel mania back to the box office this weekend, with Thor: Love and Thunder set to hammer the ...

I’ll be back with more box office updates for Thor: Love and Thunder in the coming days and weeks, so be sure to check back soon. So, take care of yourselves and of each other, and make sure the fun of seeing movies in theaters again doesn’t have to include a life-or-death risk. Some will point to those films having shorter theatrical windows and debuting on Disney+ streaming as a contributing factor to their box office struggles. Likewise, Top Gun: Maverick appears to be on course for a $1.2+ billion finish, riding high on the same tremendous outpouring of audience good will. No audience scores yet, of course, but word of mouth is going to be a lot more important than reviews. Despite the continued Covid pandemic and surging variants with higher transmissibility, audiences are enthusiastically filling theaters and should easily drive the final worldwide opening cume north of $300 million.

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To a large degree, modern blockbuster moviemaking has depended on the appeasement of fans to keep franchise juggernauts smoothly humming.

The kid army that helps save the day in “Love and Thunder” is just the latest uprising in Waititi's ongoing war against adulthood. The love of “Love and Thunder," which Waititi co-wrote, most directly applies to relationship between Thor and Jane, but it also relates to other aspects of the “Thor” sequel, including Christian Bale's grieving villain and the kidnapped children who play increasingly central roles in the film. The primacy of kids in “Thor: Love and Thunder” is also very much in line with Waititi's other films. “It’s more just the idea of Burbank as a place,” Waititi clarifies. That includes collaborators like Jemaine Clement (with whom Waititi made “What We Do in the Shadows”), Rhys Darby (currently paired together in the HBO Max series “Our Flag Means Death”) and many others. “The way Taika directs, the way that he does things, it’s about spontaneity,” say Harjo, who next month will debut the series’ second season. “Ragnarok” grossed $850 million worldwide, and expectations are similar for “Love and Thunder.” His ability to connect with mass audiences — despite his best efforts to subvert expectations — is surpassed by few current filmmakers. “My job is to go in and have as many ideas as I can and not think about the consequences too much, and let them keep me in the Marvel lane," Waititi adds. It was a massive leap in scale for Waititi, who after spending years painting in his late 20s turned to making comic independent films ("Boy," “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) with deadpan absurdity and freewheeling tonal shifts. His “Jojo Rabbit,” a child’s view of Nazi Germany in which Waititi played an imaginary Hitler, received six Oscar nominations in 2020. “I wanted to show him in a light that most Thor fans wouldn’t really want if you were to tell them,” Waititi says. In “Love and Thunder” there are things that usually never enter the MCU, like kids and cancer.

Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo talks about the costumes in 'Thor: Love and Thunder' for Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Read more here.

It was an interesting textile — it was handwoven and that gave it that kind of antiquity and ancient feeling to this God Butcher who comes from a very archaic world.” We created a wonderful, lightweight, dynamic and very ’80s [headpiece], and the [costumes’] colors, we wanted to make them similar to old Thor, but because Thor has all these new colors, we wanted to do something a little different for her.” For the character, Rubeo wanted to reflect his ancient background, so she referenced old marble statues and created an intricately draped costume for Bale. “It really is an explosion, and I don’t think you can go any louder than with Thor’s costumes.” She produced other versions of Thor’s uniform by incorporating more vibrant colors, like reds, blues and metallic golds to match the exaggerated aesthetic of the film. “He is a constant fountain of wanting to do a lot of new things with new technology.

Wondering how to watch Thor: Love and Thunder? We have all of the details about the latest Thor movie showtimes and streaming info so far.

Thor: Love and Thunder will be in theaters as early as tomorrow afternoon with the wider release date of July 8. The vast majority of MCU movies, including all three previously released Thor movies and all four Avengers movies, are available to stream on Disney Plus, rather than Netflix or HBO Max. If you currently have a Disney Plus subscription, you can stream those movies for free on the platform. One of 2022's biggest summer blockbusters is upon us, as Thor: Love and Thunder finally hits theaters this weekend.

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The film is looking at a $300 million worldwide opening — an estimated $140-$160 million of that in the United States and Canada. In a new behind-the-scenes video from Entertainment Tonight, director Taika Waititi and star Chris Hemsworth take viewers on a tour of the Love and Thunder set, showing off a bit of New Asgard, including that interesting ice cream shop. The shop features a large Infinity Gauntlet protruding from the building holding an ice cream cone, the ice cream itself decked out with candies that are an homage to the six Infinity Stones. It's kind of a clever idea, though given the destruction that Thanos caused to the universe writ large but specifically the horrors that the Asgardians endured due to Thanos' quest to gain the Infinity Stones, having an ice cream shop devoted to him seems like a really strange choice.