Thor Love and Thunder is a rollercoaster ride of heartfelt emotions, comedy and mental health issues. Oh, but there’s so much more!
Thor Love and Thunder is one of the most personal movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe post Endgame! This review contains spoilers!
Thor has joined the Guardians of the Galaxy but he is not the best addition. Mid-fight his depression would just trigger and he would just do nothing. He has become a complete liability instead.
When Thor gets a message from Lady Sif that she is in danger, Peter Quill and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy bid him farewell as soon as they can. But not before Thor destroys a complete temple and gets a couple of goats as a reward as well.
When he arrives at Lady Sif, her arm is cut off and he hopes to get to Valhalla because she died on the battlefield. She won’t because she didn’t die during the battle. She is taken away but not before she tells Thor of a new enemy: Gorr, the god killer.
Gorr and Love
In Thor Love and Thunder, Gorr and his daughter Love’s life are hanging on a thread. And while Gorr prays to his god Rapu, he gets no reply until after Love dies. The Necrosword then calls to Gorr and he is teleported to Rapu’s realm. Gorr, who hasn’t eaten in ages, starts feasting on the food that is laid before him. Or so he thinks.
The food belongs to Rapu who mocks Gorr and his religious beliefs and ends up strangling him to death until the Necrosword takes over and Gorr kills Rapu. After that Gorr makes it his mission to kill every God he can find using the Necrosword. Gorr is granted power of the shadows.
But Gorr didn’t count on the comeback of Thor, Mjolnir, and Doctor Jane Foster.
The introduction of Gorr and his daughter and giving him his motivation as to why he became the God killer was very well done. No nonsense, full steam ahead and tell the story without any distractions or setting up 10 plotlines in a single scene.
Also, Gorr’s story actually makes sense. I would be disillusioned as well if a god that I worshipped all my life and treats me like I am nothing. And if the opportunity arises and I would be beyond heartbroken, I would kill my own god and not just out of spite.
It is also the only scene where there were no distractions with humor or whatsoever. This part of the story is meant to be depressing, dark and macabre.
Jane Foster, Lady Thor extraordinaire
Jane Foster has been diagnosed with stage four cancer and is getting chemo for treatment. The chemo doesn’t work, however. Desperate to extend her life, she rereads books about Norwegian Gods.
She comes across the passage of Mjolnir and reads that the wielder of the hammer was granted extra dexterity, constitution and stamina. She travels to New Asgard in order to get a piece of Mjolnir. Mjolnir was destroyed in Ragnarock and the pieces are now on display as part of a tourist tour.
Thanks to a spell during the time that Jane and Thor were dating, Mjolnir deems Jane worthy of wielding the power of Thor and so begins her journey as Lady Thor who is wielding a Mjolnir who can explode into little pieces and take down large groups of enemies with the little pieces flying into them and then return into one piece.
Lady Thor makes her debut during a fight in New-Asgard killing shadow monsters. The fight was won by killing the shadow monsters but the battle was lost when Gorr kidnaps the Asgardian children. Teaming up with Valkyrie, Thor and Korg they go after the Gorr to free the children.
Thor love and Thunder you would think when you see Jane and Thor together again.
I was so happy when I read that Natalie Portman was going reprise her role as Jane Foster. She was sorely missed in The Avengers movies where they could have used her knowledge and wisdom. But also acted as support of Thor. But then again Thor’s depression went a lot deeper without her. Which makes the story a lot better.
I was even happier when I found out that Jane was going to be Mighty Thor. I really enjoyed Jason Aaron’s run of Lady Thor. It was a bit of a shame that they didn’t keep her identity a secret like they did in the comics. Which took a few issues and I remember speculating on forums about the identity of Lady Thor.
Her storyline was very satisfying and a worthy end of Jane Foster.
Leave it in the lap of the gods
On their mission to find and free the kidnapped children of New Asgard, the team travels to Omnipotence City which is invite only. So in their crummy disguise, they look at all the gods from all planets in the multiverse from all time periods as they walk to their seats. Then comes a big entry, which is Zeus.
Zeus knows how to make an entrance Thor notes. And he does. With his mythological Thunderbolt, he opens the festivities in Omnipotence City. Which includes a gigantic divine orgy.
Figuring out that Thor is an uninvited guest Zeus puts him on the spot. And Thor asks for help but the cowardice of Zeus shows and he goes: Your people are your people so no, I will not help you on your quest to free the children. Besides Gorr wields the Necroblade which could kill each and every one of us.
Thor then asks if he can borrow Thunderbolt, Zeus refuses that as well. He mocks Thor and throws Thunderbolt at him but Thor has had enough and uses his lightning to control Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt accidentally pierces through his master’s chest which goes down and is lifeless.
I was not disappointed by Zeus appearance and I liked it especially because he was played by Russell Crowe. I have been a fan of Russel since The Gladiator.
What annoyed me though was that his appearance was very short. They could have made it a bigger introduction with a bigger scene and they could have expanded a bit more on the background of Omnipotence city.
There are so many gods from so many worlds and I am sure that some of them have interesting things to say.
However I am happy that they included Omnipotence City. It adds to Marvel’s Magic with Doctor Strange and Wanda. The Celestials and the Eternals and now we have deities that will be expanded upon I am sure in upcoming movies. 4
The quest for Eternity
Gorr proves to be a masterful strategist. He sets a trap for Thor’s axe Stormbreaker who is also the key to the realm of Eternity. Eternity is a being who, if you can find him, will grant you one wish. Gorr’s objective is to kill all gods from all realms. And if you put two and two together you will come to the conclusion that Thor’s foe will want to find Eternity to do just that.
Eternity is a very powerful cosmic deity who was created by the big bang that created the universe along with his sister Infinity. He was introduced as a foe for Doctor Strange back in the 1960s and has made an appearance at every cosmic level threat in the comicbooks. So if my hunch is correct then Eternity is the next step in Marvel’s Cosmic Phase with the Eternals, Celestials already introduced in The Eternals movie.
While trying to open the Bifrost using Stormbreaker, Thor fights Gorr and the strategy is to destroy the Necroblade. Lady Thor, who was given up by doctors in her fight against cancer and is bedridden, joins the fight after Mjlornir calls to her and together with Thor they destroy the blade.
However, Thor is too late to prevent the Bifrost and Gorr finds Eternity. Thor and Jane appeal to Gorr’s humanity and instead of killing all the gods, Gorr gives his life so that his daughter Love can live.
Jane dies in the arms of Thor as she succumbs to cancer. If you think that this explains the title of the movie Thor Love and Thunder then no it doesn’t.
Aftermath of Thor Love and Thunder
Thor now has a daughter to tend to. Love’s now his surrogate daughter. Having new responsibilities and someone to dedicate his life to. Thor teaches Love how to fight and how to use the Bifrost. Love is the new wielder of Stormbreaker and Thor has his lifelong companion Mjolnir back.
In the after-credits scene, we first see Zeus who did not die but is heavily wounded. He tells his son Zeus to kill Thor. And so Zeus travels to earth.
In the second after-credits scene we see Jane Foster being welcome to Valhalla by none other than Heimdall.
Thor Love and Thunder: the good, bad and ugly
I love the movie to bits. It was a rollercoaster ride of laughter while at the same time touching themes of responsibility, dedication, afraid of letting go e.g. moving on, friendship, and overcoming fears.
The Good
Finally, Marvel dares to touch on themes like mental health. It was seen before in Avengers: Endgame that Thor was suffering from it. Which was the reason for his appearance where he turned into a fat man who dedicates his life to drinking beer and video games and wandering aimlessly through life.
Jane Foster was the show stealer of the movie in my opinion. Natalie Portman’s performance is always top-notch as she is a fabulous actress with many awards to her name. However, her Lady Thor is what was much needed for Thor to help him get over his issues.
Both had a great relationship and did not want to lose what they found in each other so they build walls around each other instead, instead of letting each other know what was going on. Only when it was too late, Jane was diagnosed with cancer, they found each other again. But letting go was peaceful.
Gorr was very well cast and it once again showed why Christian Bale is one of the best actors of his generation. Gorr was a layered villain who got disillusioned after he was denied by his god and redeemed himself at the very end. The acting was masterful. The pain of Gorr was felt throughout the movie and even his vengeance was overwhelmed by this pain.
Valkyrie and Korg were supporting characters but addressed something very important: they addressed LGBTQ+ism in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a very original way. Korg’s species can only procreate with members of the same sex. Which is really unique. And Valkyrie addresses her bi-sexuality in the movie when she mentions her many true loves.
The Bad
As I mentioned before; the movie is a rollercoaster of laughter. And while I did have a lot of fun while watching the movie, I also have to say that with so much comedy you lose sight of the storyline of the movie itself and I had sometimes trouble to remember who Thor was going to fight since Gorr is the complete opposite of Thor and their contrasting characters are like day and night.
And it also took a long time for me to figure out why the title was Love and Thunder. This is only shown at the end when Love and Thor team up to stop a conflict. The title of the movie was a tidbit unclear is what I am trying to say.
The Ugly
I would say go watch the movie in iMax if there is a theater available near you. If not then 3D because that’s where the movie really really shines. 2D just doesn’t do the movie justice. This is a shame because you would need to fork over extra money for that and I get that that is not always possible for some people. But that is about the only thing that I can find that is ugly.
The Verdict
All in all, I would rate this movie an 8.9 / 10. And that is just because of the redundant comedy. The emotional and heartfelt scenes make the movie a must-see for everyone who loves the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
