Thor: Love and Thunder Review – Forgettable Franchise Filler

Thor: Love and Thunder is a skippable MCU movie that the cast’s impressive biceps can’t save.

Thor Odinson gets into shape and embarks on a new path of self-discovery. But his retirement plans grind to a halt – a distress signal from Sif reveals that the latest wielder of a legendary sword is slaughtering gods.

Thor: Love and Thunder will amuse fans – or those who just want to pass the time – who doesn’t care much about what the MCU is churning out as long as it delivers the same formulaic spectacle.

The action makes the movie watchable. The Mighty Thor and Valkyrie scenes are refreshing additions to the smash-and-slam fights we’ve seen before.

Natalie Portman is a good fit as the scientist-turned-superhero who’s all beefed up but still nerdy. Chris Hemsworth is still likable as Thor, even though his character has become a blown-up cartoon.

That’s also the problem though. The above-mentioned individual parts are good. As a whole, the film is a mess. There are plenty of jokes about Thor “The Himbo Avenger” Odinson, but nothing to move his character and his franchise forward and justify the existence of this sequel.

The movie tells us that Thor has an identity crisis. For the first time, he’s on his own with no plan whatsoever. He doesn’t need to protect Asgard. He doesn’t need to bring Loki home. He doesn’t need to fight with the Avengers. He wants to find inner peace but what other purpose can he serve other than what he was born to do?

But the movie doesn’t go around solving this and goes into default mode – fulfilling its contractual obligation in Phase 4. Thor fights the latest big bad, reunites with an old flame, teams up with his friends, and stops something very bad from happening.

This very bad thing is superficial – a poorly-written God Butcher that’s only capable of unleashing shadows that aren’t the least bit threatening as him. His character poses a good question, but like everything in this movie, it’s underwritten. Christian Bale goes the distance for the character, but the script doesn’t even show Gorr butchering one god. 

This supposed supervillain becomes an afterthought to a bad rom-com. Hemsworth and Portman have no chemistry and the exposition dump made it worse. The supporting characters don’t have much to do, except help fill a running time of an aimless plot.

Thor: Love and Thunder end like every other MCU movie, an introduction to a new thing to make another thing that could be tied to other things.

Overall, Thor 4 is an unnecessary filler. There’s not enough heft to earn its ending about love and sacrifice. There’s not enough development to make you invested in this franchise. What there’s plenty of are stale jokes.