Thud and Blunder

Remember how the first two Thor movies were kind of joyless, po'-faced self-serious slogs? And then Taika Waititi came along and goofy romp? Well, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) really takes that and runs with it.

It opens seriously enough, revealing our villain's origin: stripy-headed alien Christian Bale and his daughter are dying as their planet dies up. In spite of Bale's prayers, she does in fact die. He manages to stumble upon the lush garden where his god lives - a sun god who has killed a monster wielding the necrosword - a blade that can kill gods. He is completely contemptuous of Bale and his suffering, so Bale renounces him. Since the necrosword is right there handy, he kills his god and swears to kill all other gods in the universe. He becomes the God-Butcher.

We move now to a cave one evening, where rock guy Korg (Taika Waititi) is telling the tale of his old pal Thor (Chris Hemsworth). He summarizes the last few movies, talking about all the friends and comrades he has lost (although the Warriors Three are called, "this guy, this guy, and ... this other guy"). He then talks about Thor's love for Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), their time of living together, and how they broke up. That is handy, because we can skip that movie, which looks like it would have been kind of boring (also, Hemsworth and Portman don't really sizzle onscreen). 

Korg's tale is full of conventions like "typical Thor adventure". It makes Korg (again, director Waititi) the narrator, and an unreliable one at that. So if you see anything silly or naive in the rest of the movie, that's just the way Korg tells it.

So we have Thor, orphaned, divorced (-ish), living a life of simple meditation, when he is called to battle with the Guardians. When they get sick of him (right away), he heads of to find Sif, who was injured fighting the God-Butcher. His next stop is New Asgard, a sleepy Nordic fishing village and tourist attraction. 

Backing up a little, we find out what's up with Portman. It seems that she has cancer. But also, she has Mjolnir. It seems that Thor made Mjolnir promise to always look after Jane, and so it does. So when Thor shows up in New Asgard, he meets Mighty Thor, Jane Foster. It's a funny scene, typical meeting your ex at a work thing, trying to keep it light and civil. 

They hold off the Butcher, but he manages to escape with all the Asgardian kids. Rather than rashly running into battle, he tries to assemble a team. He gets Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), but figures he can get more powerful beings in Omnipotence City, home of the gods. This scene is full of beautiful CGI temples and silliness with the gods.

And so on.  The whole thing is very silly, with Thor's personality at the center. He is a vain and somewhat thoughtless person trying to be better and do the right thing. he desperately wants to save the kids, but is continually having to tell them to hold tight, he get them out real soon, or maybe a little longer than that. Got to go, stay safe, bye! He is pretty upset about Jane getting Mjolnir - it won't return to his hand the way it used to. He then has to sweet-talk his battle axe to keep it from getting jealous. And of course, he still feels bad about losing Jane, but wants to be an adult about it. He wants to support her in her role as Mighty Thor - even though it's hard on him. The clumsiness is adorable, and very relatable.  

There's also a ton of silly stuff like two screaming goats he gets as a present, or when Thor is stripped naked in Omnipotence City, causing several goddesses to faint, or Tessa Thompson being very bi-sexy. In New Asgard, the amateur theatricals get a reprise, this time with Melissa McCarthy as Hela.

There are nice comic book moments, like the final encounter with Eternity, a beloved entity from the old Ditko days. Plus the whole Jane Foster is Thor thing. And it does all this in under two hours.

I understand that a lot of people were not happy with this one. Too jokey, I guess, or maybe too overstuffed. I don't get that at all. I do feel that Marvel has gone a little too silly overall, what with Guardians, Ant-Man, and even the Multiverse of Madness. I would prefer a mix, with some more gravitas for some movies, like Old Logan. But I do like the way they let directors with a style and visions do their thing. Even if that means a misstep like the Eternals.