Thor: Love and Thunder

movie review on thor love and thunder

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is more or less a victory lap for all that director Taika Waititi achieved with his previous Marvel film, the often hilarious, rousing, and plainly refreshing “ Thor: Ragnarok .” And while it has too many familiar flourishes and jokes, this entertaining sequel is still a force for good, with enough visual ambition and heart in front of and behind the camera to stand on its own. 

We meet our space Viking hero and thunderous Norse god Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) on a path of healing. Going “from dad bod to god bod” (to quote Waititi’s voiceover recap, delivered by his still-charming rock-bodied softy character Korg), Thor has lost the gut he had in “ Avengers: Endgame ,” and the people of Asgard have settled into a port town called New Asgard after their home realm was trashed in “Thor: Ragnarok.” Their leader, the charismatic King Valkyrie ( Tessa Thompson ), has helped them acclimate to life on Earth, which includes being a tourist attraction. With the assistance from the Guardians of the Galaxy in a brief appearance, Thor gets back into worlds-saving shape, and in a Guns N’ Roses-accompanied moment, in the beginning, he unleashes stylized, high-flying slaughter a la many scenes in “Thor: Ragnarok,” wielding his axe Stormbreaker. But he has no one to share the victory with, and for all of the hundreds of years Thor has lived, he has resigned to not finding true love.  

The film then re-introduces a more interesting hero in Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ), Thor’s past human love interest from the previous films during his more serious days. Now, she wields the restored pieces of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, turning into the Mighty Thor with helmet and cape, but all with a price. Every time she uses the power, it takes away from her human capacity, which is all the more devastating given that we learn she has Stage Four cancer. “Thor: Love and Thunder” thoughtfully reinstates Jane into the action, while giving some more depth to her relationship with Thor. In both her human and her heroic state, Portman’s performance conveys why it’s great to see Jane again. 

The adversary this time around is Gorr the God Butcher, a tortured character filled with vengeance who provides the shadows to the movie’s immense moments of light. After the death of his daughter turns him into a non-believer, Gorr is chosen by a weapon called the Necrosword, and creates an army of shapeshifting black beasts to kill all gods, starting with the one who ignored his cries for help. Christian Bale is striking in the role, fluctuating between high and low voices, relishing the chance to brandish his sharp teeth. It’s the closest we’ll get to seeing him play Pennywise the Clown, with a dash of Voldemort, but tethered to the same humility Bale brings to his most human, humbled characters. He can be mighty fun to watch, even when “Thor: Love and Thunder” undersells his god butchering for the sake of a more sentimental message, and to make him share scenes with frightened children.  

Co-written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson , “Thor: Love and Thunder” just doesn’t truly flourish as it could. Part of its messiness kicks in with its big conflict when Gorr the God Butcher attacks New Asgard at night in a frantic impromptu fight scene that has Waititi’s usually stable vision for Thor action losing control. The supposedly scary scene just happens, and it’s difficult to follow in the dark what’s going on, as shadow creatures wage battle on the Asgardians and kidnap their children. The sequence is so disjointed that a visual gag involving a collapsing burning building in the background—timed for when Thor meets cute again with Jane as a hammer-wielding, ass-kicking, Mighty Thor—just doesn’t work.  

In order to stop Gorr and save the stolen children, Jane, Thor, King Valkyrie, and Korg visit the god of lightning Zeus and the other Gods, who laze about in a golden forum and talk about the next orgy, unafraid of what Gorr is looking to do to them. Like a golden and white version of the Galactic Senate in “ Star Wars ,” with a grab-bag of goofy creatures (one has furry feet and a face, that’s it; another is a Korg relative) it makes for one of the more eye-popping set pieces. But it’s also a moment in which the movie is building toward future “ Thor ” stories at the detriment of this one, including a shrugging cameo seen in the post-credits. It’s also a passage among many in which it’s clear that Tessa Thompson’s character of King Valkyrie, though important with the goings-on of New Asgard, has oddly been pushed to the side despite her established importance and swagger in “Thor: Ragnarok.”  

“Thor: Love and Thunder” flirts with when a call-back story beat or joke is just playing the hits, the same way that there are a million Guns N’ Roses nods and needle drops in this movie just because, and you’re expected to head-bang each time. All of its pop culture ad-libs, or punched-up superhero stuff about coming up with catchphrases—when those jokes feel safe instead of left-field, they fall particularly flat. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is a blockbuster comedy sequel at its core, and its weaker material reminds you of that even when it’s still good for a sporadic laugh or two.  

Lacking the overall freshness that defined the previous movie, “Thor: Love and Thunder” is better with its bolder, dramatic sequences that are like mini-movies about how love comes with the price of loss. Gorr is introduced in a harrowing piece of bubble gum Ingmar Bergman , cradling his dead child and renouncing his god before killing him, all before the Marvel Studios credit card kicks in with electric guitars. Later on, Waititi presents us the Jane and Thor romance—its coziness and later its isolation—like a spin-off of his own quirky indie “Eagle vs. Shark.” It’s very funny in some moments, but with a brutal honesty always in frame, especially as the two then see if love is salvageable in the current dwindling timeline. Along with Jane’s striking cancer storyline, it’s these heartfelt moments too that reveal the true motivators behind “Thor: Love and Thunder,” even if everything is later treated in too quaint, or too eagerly crowd-pleasing a fashion to hit as hard as they clearly meant to.  

The biggest takeaway from “Thor: Love and Thunder,” aside from how Waititi really should get that “Star Wars” trilogy he’s been teasing, involves his bold usage of color, visually and thematically. It’s not just the eye-popping hues, which here include soldiers for Zeus who spew golden blood or a bravura black-and-white fight sequence between Gorr and Thor on a tiny color-draining planet that uses select flashes of blue light with great effect. It’s that assured sense of tone that preaches how a movie can mix god-killing and kid-friendly crowd-pleasing moments with a gooey message about love. This sequel is not without its reservations, but Waititi continues to show just how unique these blockbusters can still be, provided their storytellers keep embracing some of their heaviest and funniest ideas.   

Available in theaters on July 8th.

movie review on thor love and thunder

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson
  • Natalie Portman as Jane Foster / The Mighty Thor
  • Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher
  • Taika Waititi as Korg
  • Jaimie Alexander as Sif
  • Russell Crowe as Zeus
  • Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord
  • Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer
  • Karen Gillan as Nebula
  • Pom Klementieff as Mantis
  • Bradley Cooper as Rocket (voice)
  • Vin Diesel as Groot (voice)
  • Sean Gunn as Kraglin / On-Set Rocket
  • Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie

Cinematographer

  • Barry Idoine
  • Larry Lieber
  • Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
  • Taika Waititi
  • Jennifer Vecchiarello
  • Matthew Schmidt
  • Peter S. Elliot
  • Michael Giacchino

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Wolfs

Piece by Piece

Merchant Ivory

Merchant Ivory

The Deliverance

The Deliverance

City of Dreams

City of Dreams

Out Come the Wolves

Out Come the Wolves

Seeking Mavis Beacon

Seeking Mavis Beacon

Reagan

Latest articles

movie review on thor love and thunder

Telluride Film Festival 2024: Nickel Boys, The Piano Lesson, September 5

Rebel Ridge Jeremy Saulnier Interview (Netflix)

Fight or Flight: Jeremy Saulnier on Rebel Ridge

Mike Gustafson Alexander Öhrstrand Interview, Paradise Is Burning

Female Filmmakers in Focus: Mika Gustafson and Alexander Öhrstrand

movie review on thor love and thunder

Telluride Film Festival 2024: Memories for a Lifetime

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Rotten Tomatoes Newsletter

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

  • Upcoming Movies and TV shows
  • Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
  • Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

  • About Rotten Tomatoes®
  • Login/signup

movie review on thor love and thunder

Movies in theaters

  • Opening This Week
  • Top Box Office
  • Coming Soon to Theaters
  • Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

  • Fandango at Home
  • Prime Video
  • Most Popular Streaming Movies
  • What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

  • 74% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
  • 95% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
  • 86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

  • 100% Slow Horses: Season 4
  • 96% English Teacher: Season 1
  • -- The Perfect Couple: Season 1
  • -- Tell Me Lies: Season 2
  • -- Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1
  • -- Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos: Season 1
  • -- Outlast: Season 2
  • -- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 1
  • -- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season 14

Most Popular TV on RT

  • 72% Kaos: Season 1
  • 84% The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
  • 92% Terminator Zero: Season 1
  • 100% Dark Winds: Season 2
  • 92% Bad Monkey: Season 1
  • 95% Only Murders in the Building: Season 4
  • Best TV Shows
  • Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

  • 96% English Teacher: Season 1 Link to English Teacher: Season 1
  • All-Time Lists
  • Binge Guide
  • Comics on TV
  • Five Favorite Films
  • Video Interviews
  • Weekend Box Office
  • Weekly Ketchup
  • What to Watch

Venice Film Festival 2024: Movie Scorecard

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

The 5 Most Anticipated TV or Streaming Shows of September

The 5 Most Anticipated Movies of September

  • Trending on RT
  • Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
  • Top 10 Box Office
  • Venice Film Festival
  • Popular Series on Netflix

Thor: Love and Thunder Reviews

movie review on thor love and thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder focuses on the new Asgard, which in a way allows it to start over and get rid of the events previously narrated with Avengers, in order to focus on the future of the “god of thunder” with a different narrative tone.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 22, 2024

movie review on thor love and thunder

Underneath its charming romance that feels a little too late and an adventure that is plagued by VFX troubles, this is a story that only reaches half of its potential despite having some fun along the way.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 25, 2024

movie review on thor love and thunder

it's thrilling to see a film that is so unashamed of it's aspirations for romance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 4, 2024

movie review on thor love and thunder

Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder is a gigantic fable. Also, a tour of all the high points of Ragnarok and a recasting of the hero. All, in a package of dazzling brilliance that, at times, can be irritating. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Dec 31, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Director Taika Waititi successfully juggles the comic and the tragic in Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder."

Full Review | Oct 26, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

The story does a fantastic job of giving us new aspects to explore with Thor; not as a god, but as a hero.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Sep 26, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

There’s enough meat on the bones for the film to provide middling entertainment, but it’s a shame Waititi seemed to have so little to really flesh the movie out.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

In a deft twist on class war – the gods bleed gold – Thor must confront his privilege and make amends for other gods’ failures to keep promises.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Despite its great acting, score and worldbuilding and epic character moments, Thor: Love and Thunder feels like one continuous joke that doesn’t land.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 31, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

No spark or brio in its romantic affairs or CGI-filled action sequences... frustratingly one-note comedic panderings undercut any attempt at developing an emotional story arc.

Full Review | Original Score: F | Jul 29, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

A bittersweet story about finding peace and love in suffering and pain, without forgetting the necessary thunderous action that reaches its best level in a long sequence surrounded by a breathtaking black-and-white color palette.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 25, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Romantic action comedy you need this summer! An action packed hilarious but also poignant film on change! Taika Wrote a wonderful story that I just fell head over heels for!

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

The film’s final scene explains the rationale for the film’s title and shows a glimpse of a different path Love and Thunder could’ve taken. A path that would have been more fit for Waititi’s vision of an 80s romance adventure hijinks-filled movie.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is gorgeously shot, chaotically executed, tonally inconsistent at times, and yet a joy ride even when it pushes deeper into the cruelties of life.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Thor Love and Thunder is one of the worst movies of the year. From the first frame to the last, it’s unengaging, insipid, and tedious.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 20, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

With one of the shortest runtimes we’ve seen from Marvel in a while at only 119 mins, the much-awaited Thor: Love and Thunder is the definition of here for a good time, not a long time!

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 20, 2023

There may be thunder, but lightning does not strike twice.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 23, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Therein lies Thor: Love and Thunder‘s biggest issue, its inability to balance tone and spectacle.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 6, 2023

Thor: Love and Thunder's editing routinely works against Taika Waititi's film, often undoing the emotional work the film is attempting to deliver.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2023

movie review on thor love and thunder

Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth leaned heavily into the more goofy aspects of Thor: Ragnarok. Thor: Love and Thunder piles on the jokes, bathos and stupidity until the film feels more like a parody of the MCU rather an addition to it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 5, 2023

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Review: A God’s Comic Twilight

The director Taika Waititi injects antic silliness, once again, into this Marvel franchise starring Chris Hemsworth, who swings a mighty hammer and flexes mightier muscles.

  • Share full article

Video player loading

By Manohla Dargis

Every so often in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the 92nd Marvel movie to hit theaters this year (OK, the third), the studio machinery hits pause, and the picture opens a portal to another dimension: Its star, Chris Hemsworth, embraces wholesale self-parody, a pair of giant screaming goats gallop along a rainbow highway and Russell Crowe flounces around in a flirty skirt and Shirley Temple curls. As the movie briefly slips into a parallel realm of play and pleasure, you can feel the director Taika Waititi having a good time — and it’s infectious.

This is the fourth “Thor” movie in 11 years and the second that Waititi has directed, following “ Thor: Ragnarok ” (2017). That movie was all over the place, but it was funny (enough) and had a lightness that proved liberating for the series and Hemsworth. “Love and Thunder” is sillier than any of its predecessors, and thinner. A lot happens in overstuffed Marvel Studios fashion. But because the series has jettisoned many of its earlier components — its Shakespearean pretensions, meddlesome relatives and, crucially, Thor’s godly grandeur — the new movie more or less plays like a rescue mission with jokes, tears and smackdowns.

It starts with a pasty, near-unrecognizable Christian Bale, who, having been relieved of his DC Dark Knight duties, has signed up with Marvel as a villain with the spoiler name of Gorr the God Butcher. Waititi quickly sketches in Gorr’s background, giving it a tragic cast. Believing himself betrayed by the god he once worshiped, Gorr is committed to destroying other deities. It’s potentially rich storytelling terrain, particularly given Thor’s stature and Marvel’s role as a contemporary mythmaker. But while Bale takes the role by the throat, as is his habit, investing the character with frictional intensity, Gorr proves disappointingly dull.

For the most part, Gorr simply gives Thor another chance to play the hero, which Hemsworth does with a stellar deadpan and appreciable suppleness. He’s always been fun to watch in the role and not just because, as the slavering camerawork likes to remind you, he looks awfully fine with or without clothes. Hemsworth knows how to move, which is surprising given his muscled bulk, and is at ease with his beauty. He’s also learned how to deploy — and puncture — Thor’s inborn pomposity, although by the time the final credits rolled in “Ragnarok” that haughtiness had turned into shtick. Thor is still a god, but also he’s now a great big goof.

To that end, Thor enters midfight on a battlefield washed in grayish red light, preening and posing and showboating alongside characters from Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” With Guardians (Chris Pratt, the raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper, etc.) on backup, Thor vanquishes the enemy with his customary hyperbole — he strikes the ground, reaches for the heavens, flips his hair — and a new hammer the size of a backhoe shovel. He also destroys a temple that looks right out of an airport gift shop. This synergistic foreplay isn’t pretty, and neither is the rest of the movie, but it announces Waititi’s sensibilities, his irreverence and taste for kitsch.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

an image, when javascript is unavailable

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Review: Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman Sequel Proves Taika Waititi’s ‘Ragnarok’ Was No Fluke

The director builds on the winning effrontery of "Thor: Ragnarok" to raise the stakes on a love story about Thor and his old flame, who is now Thor as well (it's complicated), saving the universe.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

  • ‘Queer’ Review: Daniel Craig Shows a Whole New Side in Luca Guadagnino’s Bold and Trippy Adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Ahead-of-Its-Time Novel 20 hours ago
  • ‘The Room Next Door’ Review: Tilda Swinton Gives a Monumental Performance as a Woman Confronting Death in Pedro Almodóvar’s First English-Language Drama 2 days ago
  • ‘Wolfs’ Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry 3 days ago

Thor Love and Thunder - Critic's Pick

“ Thor: Love and Thunder ” has a pleasing, let’s-try-it-on-and-shoot-the-works effervescence. Like most Marvel movies, the fourth entry in the Thor saga would seem to have weighty matters on its mind, starting with Thor’s hammer, the smashed fragments of which have been reassembled — and, more to the point, claimed — by Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ), Thor’s old flame. By possessing the mystique of that hammer, she has become the Mighty Thor. Not a superhero like Thor. She now is Thor — which, you’d imagine, might not sit so well with the God of Thunder himself. Absent of hammer, he wields an enchanted ax called Stormbreaker, but sorry, it’s just not the same thing.

Yet given that he hasn’t seen Jane since “Thor: The Dark World” (according to our hero, it has been eight years, seven months, and six days), and that he’d do anything to win her back, Thor is pretty good about playing the chivalrous supportive male and honoring the fact that she now possesses his hammer, and his brand. There’s some screwball sniping between the two of them, all of it charged and sexy and entertaining. And it’s not like they’re adversaries. They’ve joined up with the warrior teammates Thor met in “Thor: Ragnarok,” all to defeat Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a scarred super-killer who’s on a vengeful mission to destroy every god in the universe.

Related Stories

Photo illustration of a robot's hand dropping a coin into a human palm

How Much Should AI Giants Pay Hollywood? What Insiders Say Has Stalled Any Licensing Deals

matthew-perry

Trial Date Set for Doctor and ‘Ketamine Queen’ Linked to Matthew Perry Case

In other words, a standard day in the MCU.

Popular on Variety

But “Thor: Love and Thunder” is far from standard, and that’s a good thing. Like “Thor: Ragnarok,” the movie was directed and co-written by Taika Waititi , the New Zealand sleight-of-hand-prankster-who-is-also-a-serious-filmmaker, and it builds on the earlier film’s highly winning tone of skewed flippancy. But it also, like “Ragnarok,” possesses an offbeat humanity that justifies the japery. Waititi has the wit to see that if you aren’t mocking a Marvel movie as you’re making one, you might be taking it more seriously than the audience does.

There are many words to describe the quintessential 21st-century cinema experience known as the MCU movie. You could call it big and impersonal, corporate and bombastic, machine-tooled and clamorous, top-heavy-with-CGI and Fun In A Way That Lacks All Mystery. But amid those qualities, the most insidious may be the one that’s designed to distract you from the rest: the insouciant, sitcom-on-steroids jokiness that ricocheted through Joss Whedon’s original “Avengers” film and has greased the wheels of countless Marvel capers since. Even when it works (which, to be honest, is more than it doesn’t), the comedy is all part of the package, the quips arriving on cue with the same dead-end bull’s-eye timing as the CGI miracles.

That’s what made “Thor: Ragnarok” such a genuine Marvel wildflower. Waititi didn’t just take a Thor adventure, add comedy bits, and stir; he approached the Marvel paradigm as a grand statue he was going to scrawl graffiti on, using comedy — flaky, personal, unpredictable, with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it dash of meta — to let the actors exist in their own space, and to loosen the laces on the Marvel formula. When Thor tossed his hammer at Hela (Cate Blanchett), his Maleficent-meets-Medusa evil sister, she stopped the weapon in its tracks, smashing it into several dozen pieces. It was as if Thor, without that big thick club of heavy metal, had lost his identity, and that’s how the movie played it — with Chris Hemsworth , shorn of Thor’s goldilocks as well, out there on his own, with nothing but his wits and his will to protect him. “Thor: Ragnarok” knocked the characters off their pedestals and had such a relaxed good time discovering them as scruffy, scrambling humanized beings that at moments it was as if Robert Altman had gained control of the Marvel machine with an assist from Wayne Campbell. The movie undercut the whole stentorian vibe of Marvel self-importance, and in doing so it actually brought you closer to the spirit of the comics, where these demigods were always improvising, just being themselves, making it up as they went along.

The last 40 minutes of “Thor: Ragnarok” were disappointing, with the top-heavy Marvel DNA kicking back in, but “Thor: Love and Thunder” sustains its freshness to the end. This one, if anything, has a more awkward first act, as our heroes interface with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who seem to have wandered in from their own metaverse and, frankly, should have stayed there. (I love the Guardians, but I don’t like it when movies pile on teams of superheroes.) But the movie powerfully introduces its villain, who starts off as an innocent victim in the middle of a drought, bald and robed like a Buddhist monk, his skin as chalky as the sand around him, desperate to save his young daughter from dying of thirst. When he learns that the gods who might have spared her view their subjects as mere playthings, he announces, “This is my vow: All gods will die.” Gorr, his eyes now yellow with rabid fury, gains possession of an ancient weapon known as the Necrosword, which has the ability to slay gods but corrupts and infects those who wield it.

Gorr has set a trap for Thor and his team, using the captured children of Asgard as bait. It’s a confounding situation, and so our heroes, in search of help, head for the Golden Temple, which hosts a powwow of gods presided over by none other than the mighty Zeus. That sounds like a solemn event, but Waititi stages it like a rowdy day at DeityCon, with Zeus played by Russell Crowe not as a noble leader but a decadent coward; Crowe, acting under a mop of bad curling-iron hair, speaks in a hilariously shabby accent that makes him sound like some chiseling merchant from a rug bazaar. This outrageous sequence, with its playful nudity, its “Wizard of Oz” smoke, and a lightning bolt that finds the perfect target, is the quintessential expression of Waititi’s Marvel-gone-“Flash Gordon” aesthetic.

In the end, however, it’s the mix of tones — the cheeky and the deadly, the flip and the romantic — that elevates “Thor: Love and Thunder” by keeping it not just brashly unpredictable but emotionally alive. In Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor,” Natalie Portman held her own as Thor’s earthly love interest, but here, pulling up on equal footing with him, Portman gives a performance of cut-glass wit and layered yearning. Jane might want Thor back, but she’s furious at how he let his attention drift away from her (though having a smirking megalomaniac half-brother with borderline personality disorder will do that to you). She’s also reveling in her power, even as she wages battle against a hidden malady it can’t save her from. (The hammer won’t help; using it drains her.)

In “Thor: Ragnarok,” Waititi won praise for his use of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” with its cawing battle cry that sounds like it hails from the Mesazoic Era. It’s hard to up the ante on Zep, but “Love and Thunder” comes close by spreading the greatest hits of Guns N’ Roses throughout the movie, from the combat-happy “Welcome to the Jungle” to the soulful spangle of “Paradise City.” Christian Bale, looking like a cadaverous goblin crossed with the clown from Bergman’s “Sawdust and Tinsel,” glowers with charismatic hellbent cunning, though I can’t say that he brings the character of Gorr any revelatory new flavor of malevolence. Tessa Thompson, as the mighty and still proudly dissolute King Valkyrie, and Waititi himself, voicing Korg the endearing rock-bodied simpleton gladiator, pick up where their winning performances in “Ragnarok” left off.

The climactic battle, with its shadow monsters, its children caught in the cross-hairs, and its all-for-one exuberance, has a tingly grandeur, and by the end I felt something unusual enough to feel at a Marvel movie that it seemed almost otherworldly: I was moved. Moved by how two Thors could come together to love each other and to save the universe. I like plenty of Marvel movies just fine, but they are what they are, and what they are is products. This one has enough wide-eyed boldness and shimmer to earn the designation of fairy tale.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, June 23, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 125 MIN.

  • Production: A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release of a Marvel Studios production. Producer: Kevin Feige, Brad Winderbaum. Executive producers: Victoria Alonso, Brian Chapek, Louis D’Esposito, Todd Hallowell, Chris Hemsworth.
  • Crew: Director: Taika Waititi. Screenplay: Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Camera: Barry Baz Idoine. Editors: Peter S. Elliot, Tim Roche, Matthew Schmidt, Jennifer Vecchiarello. Music: Michael Giacchino, Nami Melumad.
  • With: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taiki Waititi, Russell Crowe, Jaimie Alexander, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper.

More from Variety

Wes Ball Ruiner

Wes Ball to Direct ‘Ruiner’ Video Game Movie for Universal Pictures

hollywood film slate combined with an old NES video game controller

‘Borderlands’ Blunder Proves Hollywood Hasn’t Mastered Adapting Video Games to Film

More from our brands, john mccain’s son says he will vote for harris in november.

movie review on thor love and thunder

This 1935 Duesenberg Has Just Been Named the Top Show Car of Last Year

movie review on thor love and thunder

WNBA Expansion Team Valkyries Sign Chase as First Jersey Sponsor

movie review on thor love and thunder

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

movie review on thor love and thunder

Grey’s Season 21 Trailer Delivers a Shocking Dis and an Even More Shocking Slap as Push Comes to Shove

movie review on thor love and thunder

Thor: Love And Thunder Review

Thor: Love And Thunder

Thor: Love And Thunder

Superhero movies are like guitar solos. They can be a bit noodly, and tend to go on a little too long — but when they’re done just right, they absolutely soar, imbued with the kind of joy and wild abandon that makes you feel alive. Thor: Love And Thunder — Taika Waititi ’s iridescent follow-up to the irreverent Ragnarok — is a giddy, gleaming guitar solo of a movie; a celebratory blast of colour, energy and emotion. It even has a guitar solo — opening with a shredding, squealing, Wyld Stallyns-style version of the Marvel Studios fanfare.

Thor: Love And Thunder

Last time around, Waititi’s mission was to make Thor really, properly cool — ditching the high-fantasy jargon and redundant sidekicks of the Norse God’s previous outings for a cosmic, campy space opera with lashings of self-deprecating humour and Jeff Goldblum as a gold-robed space-tyrant. Plenty of Ragnarok ’s raucous DNA remains in Love And Thunder , cranked to even greater heights: Waititi’s own rib-tickling rock-man Korg now steps up as narrator, the Technicolor palette is overhauled in even lighter pastel hues, and this time it’s Russell Crowe ’s turn to cut loose, his Zeus a preening prat of a Greek god.

Portman makes an excellent Marvel comeback, given more to play with here than in all her previous appearances.

But in many ways, it’s a different beast. Where Ragnarok sometimes teetered towards a tone of self-satisfaction, Taika Waititi is at his best when being truly vulnerable — offsetting the barrage of winking gags with explorations of loss, loneliness and inadequacy (see: Hunt For The Wilderpeople and Boy ). Love And Thunder does just that. It is, appropriately, a film about love in all its forms — about its transformative and regenerative powers, and how empty life can feel without it. The film capitalises on the events of Avengers: Endgame beautifully — less in the team-up between Thor and the Guardians (a blast to watch, but they part ways fairly early on), more in dealing with the grief, self-hatred and guilt that the God Of Thunder is wading through. That void, that emptiness, Waititi posits, is worse than the pain that love can bring.

Thor: Love And Thunder

Much of love’s sting comes from the reintroduction of Natalie Portman ’s Jane Foster. Taking inspiration from Jason Aaron’s comics run, Foster isn’t just back — she’s also wielding Mjolnir (whose new tricks make for a slew of ‘holy crap ’ action beats) in the guise of The Mighty Thor. Largely forgotten by the MCU post- Thor: The Dark World , Portman makes an excellent Marvel comeback, given more to play with here than in all her previous appearances. She, too, gets to be vulnerable, wrestling with life’s biggest challenges while playing a Thor with very little experience of, well, being Thor.

If anything gets a tad lost in the mix, it’s Gorr The God Butcher. Taken from a different Aaron comics run, the deathly deity-slayer isn’t quite as foreboding as he is on the page, and jostles for space among Thor and friends ( Tessa Thompson ’s Valkyrie, too, comes out shortchanged) — though Christian Bale ’s ghoulishly odd performance means he’s no Malekith-esque dud. Plus, Gorr’s connection to the Shadow Realm means he’s responsible for some of the film’s most striking visual moments — all colour draining from the frame in his presence, our heroes’ powers punctuating the gloom in neon bursts.

In so many ways, for mostly better and occasionally worse (a jaunt to Omnipotent City drags a touch), Thor: Love And Thunder is a deeply weird, deeply wonderful triumph. It’s a movie that dares to be seriously uncool, and somehow ends up all the cooler for it — sidesplittingly funny, surprisingly sentimental, and so tonally daring that it’s a miracle it doesn’t collapse. The Gorr-centric cold-open is as dark as the MCU gets, but this is also a Thor romcom with a loved-up ABBA montage, and a Viking longboat pulled through space by a pair of gigantic screaming goats (who nearly run away with the film). It’s a movie about midlife crisis that feels like you’re watching one in action, with its gourmet gods, glorious intergalactic biker-chicken battle, and Guns N’ Roses galore (the ‘November Rain’ solo is deployed perfectly ). And come the closing reel, when the true meaning of its title is unveiled, it leaves our hero in a place so sweet and surprising, you’ll be truly moved. It’s a Taika Waititi movie, then — we could watch his cinematic guitar solos all day.

Related Articles

Next Goal Wins

Movies | 27 09 2023

Thanos

Movies | 21 02 2023

Next Goal Wins (2023) – exclusive

Movies | 24 11 2022

Avengers: Infinity War

Movies | 27 01 2022

I Am Groot – exclusive

TV Series | 01 08 2022

Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con 2022

Movies | 26 07 2022

Empire August 2022 Cover

Movies | 06 07 2022

Rory Kinnear, Miles Teller

Movies | 27 05 2022

an image, when javascript is unavailable

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Chris hemsworth and natalie portman in taika waititi’s ‘thor: love and thunder’: film review.

The space Viking is joined by former love Jane Foster to rescue the abducted children of New Asgard and stop the rampage of Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share to Flipboard
  • Send an Email
  • Show additional share options
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Whats App
  • Print the Article
  • Post a Comment

Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman

Taika Waititi revitalized the MCU’s Thor Odinson strand in 2017 with Thor: Ragnarok by leaning into the irreverent comedy, mirroring the pop-cultural playfulness that had worked for the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Dipping less rewardingly from the same well in Thor: Love and Thunder , Waititi pushes the wisecracking to tiresome extremes, snuffing out any excitement, mythic grandeur or sense of danger that the God of Thunder’s latest round of rote challenges might hope to generate. Chris Hemsworth continues to give great musclebound himbo, but the stakes never acquire much urgency in a movie too busy being jokey and juvenile to tell a gripping story.

Related Stories

'lady in the lake' boss on not being open to additional seasons of limited series, jean-marc vallée's role in show's origin, 'september 5' star peter sarsgaard on his "rabbit brain," live tv news and why wife maggie gyllenhaal's 'the bride' is so "punk".

The Marvel faithful will likely groove to the mischievous spirit that is Waititi’s trademark, and they might even get a kick out of the often ugly Frank Frazetta-inspired fantasy visuals, with many scenes looking like the kind of bad airbrush art you find on the bodywork of stoner dude-wagons. The soundtrack also fits that metal mode, with Guns N’ Roses hits stitched into Michael Giacchino’s blustery score. But is it too much to ask for something that doesn’t just feel like a strained rehash of the last installment?

Thor: Love and Thunder

Release date : Friday, July 8 Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe Director : Taika Waititi Screenwriters : Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, based on the Marvel Comics

Thor’s home New Asgard has been turned into an amusement park and cruise destination offering Viking boat rides, real Asgardian mead and reenactments of mythological lore — featuring famous faces in cute cameos. So we might as well be at Disneyland. The silly kid-film feel of this episode would be apparent even without the children of this monetized Norse playground watching through windows in wide-eyed delight as Thor and his allies battle shadow monsters conjured by villain du jour Gorr the God Butcher.

Looking lean and mean, with a zombie pallor and glowing demon eyes beneath his wispy white cowl, Christian Bale brings plenty of malevolent intensity to that role, along with haunted reminders of the man of faith he once was, robbed of his beloved daughter when the gods abandoned their parched planet to drought and famine. But his extensive backstory in the Marvel comics is so reduced here that Gorr becomes just another nut-job with a grudge — using the necrosword from which he derives his power to slay deities, as his name suggests. In a movie whose main aim is fun, Gorr is a gloomy drag who made me miss the shamelessly over-the-top witchery of Cate Blanchett’s Hela in Ragnarok .

Nor does Thor have a verbal sparring partner on the level of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk/Bruce Banner. Instead, he’s reunited with former love Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman , who already proved an uncomfortable fit for the Marvel vibe in the first Thor movies. Now she’s back, fighting stage 4 cancer but postponing the inevitable the Viking way, by wielding Mjollnir, the thunder god’s hammer.

She gets to be called The Mighty Thor and acquits herself well in battle, even if she struggles to come up with a worthy catchphrase. The hammer appears also to have a hairdressing function, transforming Jane’s dowdy brown mop into kicky blond curls. Portman is not quite a natural with the comedy, but mostly she just seems like a female replica of Hemsworth’s quippy character until an abrupt lurch into pathos when Thor declares that he can’t bear to lose her love again.

This is a film full of choppy shifts, both in the narrative and the visuals. The CG environments are so expansive, and so garishly colorful, that it almost looks animated, and the jumps to the green fields of Asgard or the sterile rooms of the hospital where Jane is being treated give the impression of being dropped into a different movie.

Thor and Jane — or Thor and Mighty Thor, if you want to get confusingly technical — must stop the galactic threat of Gorr before he lays waste to all the gods and reaches the Altar of Eternity, where his wish for omnipotence or everlasting life or something will be granted. Their mission is rendered more pressing by the fact that Gorr has abducted all the children of Asgard, who are being held prisoner in a huge spiked cage.

The good guys have help from King Valkyrie ( Tessa Thompson ), now the benevolent ruler of New Asgard but still a fearless warrior; and Thor’s rock buddy Korg (Waititi), whose goofy commentary is framed as children’s story time, adding to the overall junior-adventure feel. They commandeer a theme-park boat for their space travels, pulled by two giant screaming goats, which are funny for a minute.

They make a pit-stop at the Golden Temple of the Gods to request backup from the vainglorious Zeus ( Russell Crowe , doing a cheesy Greek accent right out of a comedy sketch). That proves a bust, though it does allow for cheeky acknowledgments of Thor’s apparently impressive endowment when Zeus strips him naked, and they score a handy additional weapon in Zeus’ golden lightning bolt.

Waititi, cinematographer Barry Idoine and the effects team change up the visual scheme by shifting to black and white once the Thor posse reaches Gorr’s realm of shadows, and the representation of Eternity as a sky of low clouds reflected in shallow water is simple but beautiful. For the most part, though, this is a messy movie that takes programmatic pauses for poignancy or comedy in between chaotically staged action set-pieces. The most energized of them involves the kidnapped children being granted the power of Thor for the day and facing off against Gorr’s shadow monsters. But even here, the focus switches back and forth too restlessly to savor their moment of glory.

More than most recent MCU movies, the screenplay by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson shows a crisis of imagination, too often relying on easy laughs from cross-cultural references (Korg keeps getting Jane’s name wrong, calling her Jane Fonda or Jodie Foster) or kitschy pop (Enya, Abba) rather than doing anything interesting with the characters or building real gravity into their situation. Even the inclusion of queer characters — Valkyrie pines for the love of her lost warrior sister; Korg reveals that his species mates with other males to make baby rock monsters — seems more like pandering representation than anything vitally grounded in the storytelling.

Sure, fans will be delighted to see Chris Pratt and the Guardians of the Galaxy crew turn up in an early battle, plus there are some mildly moving interludes between Hemsworth and Portman as Jane’s health becomes more compromised with each swing of the hammer. And one of the obligatory end-credits sequences will tantalize followers of Ted Lasso . But right down to a sentimental ending that seems designed around “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” the movie feels weightless, flippant, instantly forgettable, sparking neither love nor thunder.

Full credits

Distribution: Disney Production company: Marvel Studios Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pon Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel Director: Taika Waititi Screenwriters: Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, based on the Marvel Comics Producers: Kevin Feige, Brad Winderbaum Executive producers: Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brain Chapek, Todd Hallowell, Chris Hemsworth Director of photography: Barry Idoine Production designer: Nigel Phelps Costume designer: Mayes C. Rubeo Music: Michael Giacchino, Nami Melumad Editors: Peter S. Elliot, Tim Roche, Matthew Schmidt, Jennifer Vecchiarello Visual effects supervisor: Jake Morrison Creature and prosthetic designer: Adam Johansen Casting: Sarah Halley Finn

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Danielle deadwyler struck all the right notes with denzel’s ‘the piano lesson’ (and she won’t be snubbed again), andra day almost turned down the lead role in ‘the deliverance.’ this is what changed her mind, todd phillips on why making ‘joker 2’ with joaquin phoenix and lady gaga made him “more nervous” than the first film, how rage — and laughter — inspired kaniehtiio horn’s directorial debut ‘seeds’, demi moore reveals she got shingles and “lost 20 pounds” while filming ‘the substance’, ‘and their children after them’ review: a deindustrialized town in the french provinces makes a vivid setting for a troubled coming-of-age.

Quantcast

  • Search Please fill out this field.
  • Newsletters
  • Sweepstakes
  • Movie Reviews

Thor: Love and Thunder review: Hectic, starry fourth installment goes full Waititi weirdo

The Ragnarok director returns with more space-Viking shenanigans, and a new villain in Christian Bale.

movie review on thor love and thunder

Is the multiverse eating itself? When Thor: Love and Thunder lands in theaters July 8, it will be the fourth Marvel movie in less than a year after Eternals , Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings , and the latest iterations of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange . (Which doesn't even account for some half-dozen TV offshoots.) If Thunder , with its cheerful melee of starry cameos, in-jokes, and Cliffs-Notes mythology, feels a lot like franchise fatigue, it also has frequent moments of gonzo charm, thanks largely to the Technicolor lunacy of writer-director Taika Waititi and a cast that seems inordinately game to follow his lead.

Christian Bale , his hairless body wraith-pale and lips blackened like a day-walking Nosferatu, has been handed the villain's mantle this time, a denizen of some parched, barren planet spiraling into into Mad Max-ian end times. 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.

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. Getting back to his former glory involves a general glow-up (farewell, poncho!), a brief, noisy reunion with the Guardians of the Galaxy — Chris Pratt 's Star-Lord, Dave Bautista' s Drax the Destroyer, assorted Groots and racoons — and a return to Asgard, where Tessa Thompson 's Valkyrie now benevolently holds the throne.

A world away, Thor's estranged love Dr. Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ), undergoing her own crisis, is compelled to Asgard somehow by her ex's now-freelance hammer, and her arrival provokes Thor's still-tender feelings for both the girl and the weapon that forsook him. His Viking ego must absorb the blow that Jane's possession of the hammer invests her with powers comparable to his, which the actress dutifully takes on in a much-vaunted transformation that mostly manifests in tawny hair extensions and a pair of terrifying biceps. (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.)

With those story pieces more or less in place, Waititi, who co-penned the skittering script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, is free to turn up his style dials to 11. Four Thor s and 11 years ago, Kenneth Branagh gave the first entry an air of grand Shakespearean drama, steeped in sober gray-scale and intra-familial clashes. The aptly titled Thor: The Dark World (which director Alan Taylor later partly disowned ) followed in 2013, to clearly diminishing returns, before Waititi took on 2017's Thor: Ragnorak , a movie so audaciously cheeky and weird it came off like less like a reboot than a full personality transplant.

Love and Thunder is pretty much all that again, poured into a centrifuge. If the MCU at this point has become a mood ring for its various directors — Chloe Zhao's spacious, slow-churn Eternals ; Sam Raimi's squishy, trippy Doctor Strange — New Zealand native Waititi is the impish Kiwi outsider, his psychedelic visuals and offbeat humor so infused with chaos and camp, it often feels as if the film has passed through a fine mist of ayahuasca. In the best moments, that yields inspired scenes like Russell Crowe as a portly, imperious Zeus addressing a summit of the Gods. (Have you really lived until you've heard Crowe roll the word "Babycake" across his tongue like butterscotch?) A-list drop-ins ( Matt Damon , Melissa McCarthy ) come and go so quickly, they may not have earned a full day rate, and several stalwarts of the series, including Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard , seem to appear simply to be marked off a contractual checklist.

Hemsworth remains almost absurdly well-suited to the title role, a golden-god himbo with crack comic timing and a seemingly bottomless well of Aussie goodwill. 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. The movie suffers from none of the self-seriousness or draggy exposition of other Marvel outings, even when its patchwork plot feels stuck together with rainbows and chewing gum. (And so much Guns N' Roses — Axl Rose is essentially the spirit animal of this soundtrack.)

Even in Valhalla or Paradise City, though, there is still love and loss; Thor dutifully delivers both, and catharsis in a climax that inevitably doubles as a setup for the next installment. More and more, this cinematic universe feels simultaneously too big to fail and too wide to support the weight of its own endless machinations. None of it necessarily makes any more sense in Waititi's hands, but at least somebody's having fun. Grade: B

Related content:

  • Christian Bale on entering the MCU with Thor: Love and Thunder : 'I've done what? I haven't entered s---'
  • Jane and Thor have an awkward reunion in Thor: Love and Thunder trailer
  • Natalie Portman one-ups Chris Hemsworth with her own Thor: Love and Thunder poster

Related Articles

'Thor: Love and Thunder' Review: Taika Waititi Reinvigorates Phase 4 With Comedy, Heart, and a Pair of Screaming Goats

4

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

It's surprising that, after all of this time, Thor stands tall as one of the MCU's longest-running and most beloved characters. You might not have thought that after Thor: The Dark World , but the Thor of Thor: Love and Thunder is a far cry from the young Asgardian god we met in Thor or The Dark World . And while it's obvious that when Taika Waititi took over his story the series got a revitalization , that's not to take away from the path we took to get here. In Love and Thunder , Waititi honors not only what he created in Thor: Ragnarok , with its raucous humor and colorful aesthetic, but also what came before, offering a complex look at the God of Thunder.

Love and Thunder follows a post- Endgame Thor, now traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Although he's gone from dad bod to god bod, it's clear that he is a man without a path. Thor's struggle with finding his purpose has been a through line for his character, he started off as a spoiled prince and graduated to become his brother's keeper, before taking on the mantle of King of Asgard. Of course, after the snap and killing of Thanos, he spiraled into depression and by the end of Endgame , he hands the kingdom over to Valkyrie ( Tessa Thompson ), telling her, "It's time to be who I am rather than who I'm supposed to be."

While Love and Thunder gives us back the comedic and confident Thor of movies past, we see that even if his fighting prowess is back at its peak — in an opening fight sequence that is sure to deliver loads of laughs — he's still rather lost. Traveling with the Guardians has given him something to do, but he still remains rudderless. Thor never had the makings of a king, despite his royal destiny, and Love and Thunder gives him a new path to take, one that fits closer to who he is. When he learns that someone is killing gods and therefore he has a target on his back, his focus shifts to facing Gorr the God Butcher ( Christian Bale ), starting him on his journey to finding a purpose.

thor-love-and-thunder-chris-hemsworth

RELATED: The First 'Thor' Movies Were Pure Melodrama, And That's a Good Thing

Hemsworth here is at his peak when it comes to the God of Thunder. Waititi offered him the chance to fully embrace the comedy that he is so good at and it flourishes even more in Love and Thunder . Not only does he have fantastic comedic timing, but he's been given more to work with. Every time Hemsworth takes on another project , he proves that he has far more range than most initially gave him credit for. The development and evolution of Thor makes him a character who hasn't overstayed his welcome. There's still more Thor story to tell.

Opposite him is Bale's Gorr, who will quickly join the ranks of other MCU villains by making you think, "Does this guy with awful teeth kind of have a point?" Gorr, on paper, is not exactly the most complex villain: he's got a standard tragic backstory, and his motivations are clear. We're not breaking any new ground with this character, but it's Bale's menacing and physical performance that makes it stand out. Bale is obviously no stranger to playing villains (or heroes), but the way he delicately balances the sadness of Gorr's past with his vengeful slaughter of Gorr's present makes him exciting to watch.

Joining Thor on his mission are Korg (Waititi), Jane as the Mighty Thor ( Natalie Portman ), and Valkyrie. Love and Thunder is a perfect way to mark the official return of Portman as Jane, this time giving her a meatier role. She vacillates between embracing heroism and being haunted by tragedy. Comics readers won't be surprised by the path her story takes, but it is satisfying nonetheless to see Portman adding some more complexity to Jane. Her romance with Thor, which we only saw the beginning and end of, is explored further and Portman and Hemsworth's chemistry is delightful on screen. Their relationship is all about finding the balance between living every day like it's your last and investing in yourself for the future. It is also impossible not to smile when she becomes the Mighty Thor, in full gleaming armor, beating the crap out of shadow monsters.

thor love and thunder Natalie Portman

King Valkyrie gets a break from her royal duties to head back on an adventure, and while Thompson is always perfect in her role as the capable warrior with a dry wit, the film doesn't go as deep as one would like with Val's character. It feels like there's more than enough material for Val to get her own spin-off, but that all depends on whether Marvel is ready to fully embrace Val's sexuality, out loud and proud. There's some of it here, and the movie is delightfully gayer than expected, but there's room to grow with Val. Instead, the film lingers on her blossoming friendship with Jane, which, is not an equal trade-off but is still enjoyable.

With Love and Thunder , Waititi fully leans into his brand. Having co-written the screenplay with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson , his DNA is all over this film. Eccentric and funny, with touches of slapstick, and a heavy dose of heart and some melancholy – it's a familiar formula when it comes to Waititi's work, but not one that has lost its charm. Many of the shots in the film look directly plucked from comic book pages, with drastic shadows, dramatic colors, and sweeping landscapes. There's no mistaking what kind of movie you're watching. It's bizarre and bombastic, which doubles down the best of what a movie based on a comic based on Norse mythology could be.

You could easily describe Love and Thunder as over-the-top. The movie is excessive, it introduces a new superhero, a new villain, multiple new characters who we are sure to see more of in future stories, and hands us new Marvel lore to gobble up. It's a lot, which means the exposition lasts a long time. The film's first half might have stumbled a bit with so many moving parts, and it might not have worked without the strong performances holding it together. The second half soars, delivering spectacle fight scenes and elaborating on the film's main theme of embracing love of all types – romantic, platonic, familial. It's about being open and vulnerable, willing to fall in love, even if it means you could get hurt, that's the lesson here.

thor-love-and-thunder-gorr-the-god-butcher

The film is not perfect, but for the fourth movie in a franchise, Love and Thunder exemplifies the new directions a character's journey can take while still being fresh and exciting. We are thankfully not subjected to a slew of cameos that make less sense plot-wise and are meant more as Easter eggs for the future of the MCU – looking at you Multiverse of Madness . The film embraces Thor as the flawed and sometimes silly man that he is. He has moments that easily prove that he is a god in more than just his name, but also moments where he can be a himbo. He's not stoic or difficult to connect to, there's genuine emotion there, happiness and heartache.

So, while there might be complaints about the film's pacing or weaker first half, Thor: Love and Thunder recaptured exactly what charmed me about these MCU movies. I never once rolled my eyes at a joke that was clearly dropped in, so it could be a zinger and make it to the trailer. It successfully silenced a rather jaded MCU fan by offering a story that had it all without having to sacrifice its soul to the MCU machine that is eager to churn out stories for future phases.

Thor: Love and Thunder comes to theaters on July 8.

Check out more mighty stories about ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’:

'thor: love and thunder': who plays [spoiler]'s daughter, when will 'thor: love and thunder' be available on disney+, every damned spoiler for 'thor: love and thunder', 'thor: love and thunder': those screaming goats, explained, 'thor: love and thunder': all the easter eggs you might have missed.

Thor Love and Thunder Poster depicting the primary cast over a waterfall

Thor: Love and Thunder

  • Movie Reviews

Thor (2011)

Den of Geek

Thor: Love and Thunder Review – Christian Bale at His Most Evil and Underused

Thor: Love and Thunder feels like it's both more of Taika Waititi's movie... and less. Either way, it's a serviceable entertainment that coasts off a game cast who could've done more.

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on email (opens in a new tab)

Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman in Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Thor: Love a nd Thunder begins with the image of a bald man, dehydrated and abandoned, walking through a desert with a small child limp in his arms. It’s remarkable since before this sight, our only impression of the Marvel Studios fourthquel has been marketing that’s reveled in the blithe and psychedelic. As the Love and Thunder title suggests, this is meant to be a goofy romantic comedy, with an emphasis on comedy. Right?

Yet the film starts not on chuckles or kisses; instead it opens with Christian Bale ’s forlorn and forgotten Gorr, an alien of nondescript origin who’s been left to suffer by his gods. Taika Waititi , who returns as co-writer and director after Thor: Ragnarok (and winning an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit ), still sprinkles in a few of his usual glib one-liners when Bale’s proverbial Job meets his maker, a deity of scathing indifference. But as a whole, this is played straight.

It’s startling and intriguing; a promise for a different kind of Waititi movie, and, more importantly, a different kind of Marvel Studios event. If only the subsequent story kept that covenant—or the many others set up by Thor: Love and Thunder ’s messy and often conflicting thematic elements. To be sure, Bale is phenomenal in this opening and thereafter, offering his villainous “Gorr the God Butcher” a performance so full-throated that spittle dribbles down his lips when he monologues. It’s a nasty wonder to behold. But the character himself? There’s not much to sink those filed teeth into; Gorr’s just another Marvel baddie in a moderately threatening all-ages Disney amusement. He’s not bland, but it’s a bit like if Heath Ledger’s Joker was never allowed to ask someone how he got his scars (and then show them). 

Such are the downsides of an otherwise serviceable summer movie that is pulled in a half-dozen directions. Some of those competing byways are quite appealing, with another winner being the redeemed romance between Chris Hemsworth ’s Thor and Natalie Portman ’s Dr. Jane Foster. But when taken as a whole, Love and Thunder feels like a product determined not to rock the boat, even if that means it just treads familiar waters.

Ad – content continues below

The general setup is that after defeating Thanos and joining the Guardians of the Galaxy (onscreen here for just enough time to tick a marketing department box), Hemsworth’s goofy Thunder God has had enough of wandering. He’s gotten healthy and traded in his Dad Bod for a “God Bod,” as described by his returning BFF Korg (Waititi’s still cheerful voice laid atop a CG rockface). But Thor’s also a bit lonely and ready for something new.

That something turns out to be Portman’s Jane, with whom he shared (off-screen until now) several years of bliss before she left him. Eight years on, her career has been successful, yet when we find her things are grim since she’s beginning chemo for an unspecified type of cancer. Don’t fret though, lest things sound heavy, she’s ready with a smile and a quip to downplay her fear. She also has a plan, one which involves Thor’s shattered hammer Mjolnir. Faster than you can say “Odinson,” she has harnessed the power of Thor (and gained the muscle mass plus a foot in height to prove it), and is ready to defend New Asgard in Norway—a homeland that looks suspiciously like a Disney Cruise destination.

This proves fortuitous since Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher shows up to town around the same time, eager to add a few more deities to his hit list.

When Thor: Ragnarok debuted to rapturous reviews in 2017, it felt like a spiked tonic to the MCU formula. After two mediocre Thor movies, Taika Waititi brought the same skewed sensibility he introduced to vampires in What We Do in the Shadows , or more recently to pirates in the delightful Our Flag Means Death , to the MCU. But as beguiling as Ragnarok is, I felt more excited about what Waititi would do next at Marvel since that 2017 movie had two gears: the traditional MCU one with an extra helping of mischievousness whenever it was on Asgard, and the truly weird decadence that’s proven to be Waititi’s muse, as glimpsed in any scene on Planet Jeff Goldblum.

Strangely though, Thor: Love and Thunder is both more Waititi’s beast in its details and less so as a whole. The director/actor’s Korg still breaks the fourth wall to the point of parody, commenting here on how forgettable the “Warriors Three” were, for example, and the term “orgy” is slipped into this script at least five times. Yet the broader narrative remains more constricted than ever by Disney formulae, preventing the filmmaker’s higher ambitions from ever finding their footing. 

That level of synergy contributes greatly to the movie’s shaggy quality, and the first act suffers most acutely thanks to the inclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who despite leading their own peculiar movie franchise (and my favorite corner of the MCU) still look befuddled here. That cast seems no more convinced than the script by the purpose they serve beyond an extended action scene.

Luckily, the movie drastically improves when it trades in the Guardians for Portman’s Mighty Thor. More than a decade after being saddled with some fairly thankless material in the first two Thor movies, Portman is effervescent as an irrepressible Mighty Thor. She has just as much charisma as Hemsworth, but rather than play her Thor as a charming meathead, she’s a green rookie frequently in awe of finally sitting with the cool kids. Their romantic banter is where Waititi’s heart clearly lies and where the movie finds its most harmonious rhythm. For instance, there’s a refreshingly mundane flashback montage that offers an extended slice of life look at what being a superhero’s girlfriend means. It has a grace and subversive frivolity that’s missing in the rest of the movie, and it just lets the actors’ hair down.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

But these humorous character moments ultimately act as ellipses—half-formed ideas spread across a movie where many jokes land… and many do not.

Among the triumphs is a proper comedy detour to Omnipotent City, the intergalactic meeting place of the gods (they’re all real!), which is MC’d by a greasy and lecherous Russell Crowe as Zeus. The Oscar-winner plays the original lighting god with an allegedly Greek accent, but Crowe is so garish he sounds closer to Chico Marx. It’s glorious, as is the portly deity’s fascination with Thor’s God Bod.

Other standouts remain Tessa Thompson’s forever scene-stealing Valkyrie and a running gag about Thor’s new weapon of choice, the battle ax Stormbreaker, being jealous of Mjolnir. If only these bits congealed instead of fought. But the comedy often amounts to a series of disjointed sketches, with all of them feeling like they’re in a different movie entirely from Bale’s villain.

I have never read the comic storyline that introduced Gorr or Jane’s Mighty Thor, but I have it on good authority that it’s great. Epic, even. But that is not a word that can be applied to Love and Thunder . At best, this is adequate. Perhaps that disparate quality is intentional since Thor and Jane live in a candy-colored CG world that, unlike most MCU movies, is actually colorful instead of muted gray (although much of the camera-framing remains flat). Conversely, Bale persists in a literal “World of Shadows,” where everything is black and white save for Gorr’s yellow eyes. But the movie fails to blend these elements in a complementary fashion. Instead they bleed out on one another, undercutting the final emotional epiphany Waititi is banking on.

In the margins, Thor: Love and Thunder is more Waititi than Ragnarok was, but its center remains rigidly formulaic, flattening the film’s ambition and its discordant flights of fancy. The result is an affable product that’s colorful, smooth as it goes down, and utterly disposable. Thor: Love and Thunder opens on July 8.

David Crow

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

movie review on thor love and thunder

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

  • For Parents
  • For Educators
  • Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

  • Movie Reviews
  • Best Movie Lists
  • Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

movie review on thor love and thunder

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • Best TV Lists
  • Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
  • Common Sense Selections for TV
  • Video Reviews of TV Shows

movie review on thor love and thunder

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

movie review on thor love and thunder

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

  • Book Reviews
  • Best Book Lists
  • Common Sense Selections for Books

movie review on thor love and thunder

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

movie review on thor love and thunder

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

  • Game Reviews
  • Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

  • Video Reviews of Games

movie review on thor love and thunder

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • Podcast Reviews
  • Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

movie review on thor love and thunder

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • App Reviews
  • Best App Lists

movie review on thor love and thunder

Social Networking for Teens

movie review on thor love and thunder

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

movie review on thor love and thunder

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

  • YouTube Channel Reviews
  • YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

movie review on thor love and thunder

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

movie review on thor love and thunder

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

  • Preschoolers (2-4)
  • Little Kids (5-7)
  • Big Kids (8-9)
  • Pre-Teens (10-12)
  • Teens (13+)
  • Screen Time
  • Social Media
  • Online Safety
  • Identity and Community

movie review on thor love and thunder

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

  • Family Tech Planners
  • Digital Skills
  • All Articles
  • Latino Culture
  • Black Voices
  • Asian Stories
  • Native Narratives
  • LGBTQ+ Pride
  • Best of Diverse Representation List

movie review on thor love and thunder

Multicultural Books

movie review on thor love and thunder

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

movie review on thor love and thunder

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Thor: love and thunder.

Thor: Love and Thunder Movie Poster

  • Common Sense Says
  • Parents Say 59 Reviews
  • Kids Say 96 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Sandie Angulo Chen

Rescue adventure focuses on love; violence, language.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Thor: Love and Thunder is the sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the fourth Thor movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bids goodbye to the Guardians of the Galaxy when a new threat appears in the universe: Gorr the God…

Why Age 12+?

Children are in danger: kidnapped, kept hostage. In opening scene, a young girl

Two references to orgies in the realm of the gods. Scantily clad women surround

The words "s--t" and "s--ty" are said multiple times or in different combination

Visible brands include Converse, Fritos, Kettle Chips, Lays, Cheetos. Also a ton

Tourists in New Asgard are treated to mead at the end of their tour. Valkyrie sa

Any Positive Content?

Promotes teamwork, empathy, perseverance, choosing love over guarding your heart

Characters show courage and persevere, as well as brainstorm how to defeat rival

The Asgardians include some people of color (most notably Valkyrie and Axl, play

Violence & Scariness

Children are in danger: kidnapped, kept hostage. In opening scene, a young girl dies from exposure and starvation. Many battles in which people are injured or severely hurt. Hand-to-hand combat, fighting with weapons. Characters are incapacitated or die. Spoiler alert: A major character dies from a long illness, another seems to break apart but survives.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two references to orgies in the realm of the gods. Scantily clad women surround Zeus. Two people kiss passionately, embrace, hold each other. Thor's clothes are magically removed; his bare back is visible, including his butt. Women who can see him from the front swoon, and two women joke that they "didn't hate" seeing that. Flashbacks to Jane and Thor's romantic relationship. Peter and Valkyrie allude to their lost loves. Flirting. Korg tells a story of how rock babies are made (when two rock dudes hold hands and a rock baby eventually comes out).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

The words "s--t" and "s--ty" are said multiple times or in different combinations: "really s--tty," "holy s--t," etc. Other words include "hell," "stupid," "piss off," "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Visible brands include Converse, Fritos, Kettle Chips, Lays, Cheetos. Also a ton of off-screen Marvel merchandise tie-ins with toys, apparel, games, and more.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Tourists in New Asgard are treated to mead at the end of their tour. Valkyrie says a keg of alcohol is necessary for a trip.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Promotes teamwork, empathy, perseverance, choosing love over guarding your heart, and asking for help.

Positive Role Models

Characters show courage and persevere, as well as brainstorm how to defeat rivals. Thor is always brave, but in this installment he's also open to love and to collaboration with Mighty Thor and Valkyrie. He learns to listen instead of acting impulsively. Jane is brave, selfless, willing to sacrifice her safety and comfort to help Thor with their mission. Valkyrie is a brave king, a necessary partner to both Thors.

Diverse Representations

The Asgardians include some people of color (most notably Valkyrie and Axl, played by Tessa Thompson and Kieron L. Dyer). Additional ethnic/racial (and species) diversity within the background supporting cast. Strong women role models in Jane and Valkyrie, who are both intelligent leaders. Writer/director Taika Waititi, who also voices Korg, is Māori and Jewish. Valkyrie is bisexual and Korg casually mentions his two dads. Disabled characters include Jane, who has terminal cancer; refreshingly, her superpowers aren't a magical cure-all (which would make the character effectively non-disabled). And in a minor role, Sif loses an arm early in the film but is later shown recovered from the amputation and back to sword-fighting.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Thor: Love and Thunder is the sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the fourth Thor movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . This time around, Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) bids goodbye to the Guardians of the Galaxy when a new threat appears in the universe: Gorr the God Butcher ( Christian Bale ), whose mission is to kill every god. Expect plenty of comic book-style action violence, including weapon use and hand-to-hand combat, as well as two injuries/deaths that are likely to upset younger audiences. The story focuses more on love and romance than most other MCU films, with kissing and affection between a couple and discussions of true love and the "ones who got away." There's also a suggestive scene in the realm of the gods where a planned orgy is mentioned more than once and women literally swoon at seeing Thor stripped of his clothes (audiences see him naked from the rear). Language includes several uses of the word "s--t," plus "piss off," "hell," and "oh my God." Families can check in on the movie's messages about the importance of choosing love, asking for help, and persevering despite the odds. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

movie review on thor love and thunder

Parent and Kid Reviews

  • Parents say (59)
  • Kids say (96)

Based on 59 parent reviews

What is going on with Marvel?

Don't waste your time. disappointing, what's the story.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER introduces a new villain for everyone's favorite Asgardian god ( Chris Hemsworth ): Gorr the God Butcher ( Christian Bale ), who wields the god-killing necro sword and is compelled to strike down every god in the universe. With the help of Valkyrie ( Tessa Thompson ), Korg ( Taika Waititi ), and former girlfriend Dr. Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ) -- who's now able to wield the reconstructed hammer Mjolnir herself -- Thor sets out to defeat Gorr after the villain manages to kidnap all of the Asgardian children and hold them hostage in another realm. The heroes set off to ask the remaining gods, starting with Zeus ( Russell Crowe ), to help take down Gorr, but they're too busy feasting and frolicking to care. As Jane, who's keeping an important secret from Thor, and Thor grow closer once again, he begins to wonder whether his old pal Peter Quill is right -- that you need to feel loved, even if that love is painful, to have purpose.

Is It Any Good?

Director Taika Waititi can't quite re-create the alchemic chemistry of Ragnarok in this serviceable but less exciting sequel, partly because Jane and Thor's romance doesn't spark. Putting the romance between Thor and Jane at the center of the story is unfortunate, because as talented as Hemsworth and Portman are, they have a bland on-screen presence together (especially when compared to Tom Holland and Zendaya, or Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany). Both Thor and Jane have far more interesting relationships with their closest friends -- in his case, Thompson's Valkyrie, and in her case, Kat Dennings' Dr. Darcy Miller. The banter and teasing they have in these platonic friendships far outshines the platitude-filled commentary about the power of love. So it's partly the actors (since this issue also existed in the earlier Thor films) and partly the screenplay, which tells more than it shows about love. Portman has always seemed an odd casting choice in this role, and though she finally has more to do in this movie, the fit still seems off. At least Korg and Valkyrie are there to add humor to the occasionally cringey early encounters between Thor and Jane.

On the bright side, this Thor, who's vulnerable and open to love, shows more depth than the young, arrogant, and reckless one who didn't think about consequences. He's no longer a selfish god. Speaking of gods, Crowe adopts a strange, pseudo-Italian accent to play a Greek god, and it just doesn't work, which makes Zeus more caricature than actual character. Still, it's fun to watch the former gladiator play an aging and all-powerful god. The land of the gods also leans heavily into Waititi's quirky humor, like when it features Bao, the god of dumplings, or references the not-so-kid-friendly orgy the deities have planned. Just as rock 'n' roll (Led Zeppelin in particular) played a big role in Ragnarok , the music in Love and Thunder is dominated by use of Guns N' Roses' greatest hits, including "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "November Rain," and "Paradise City ," which are played during key sequences. And kids will appreciate the role that the Asgardian children eventually play in aiding their trio of leaders. They'll also get a kick out of the screaming, flying alien goats who become a running gag. Will this sequel make audiences laugh? Yes. But does it exceed or even meet the expectations set by Ragnarok ? No.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Thor: Love and Thunder . How does it compare to that of other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

What do you think about Thor and Jane's relationship? How do they rank among the MCU couples? Which of the Marvel love stories is your favorite, and why?

Do you want to see more Thor-centric movies, or do you prefer the Marvel movies with cross-over characters?

Talk about the soundtrack and how Guns N' Roses songs are used in the movie. What are some other memorable uses of classic rock songs in the MCU?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : July 8, 2022
  • On DVD or streaming : September 8, 2022
  • Cast : Chris Hemsworth , Tessa Thompson , Natalie Portman , Taika Waititi , Christian Bale
  • Director : Taika Waititi
  • Inclusion Information : Indigenous directors, Polynesian/Pacific Islander directors, Female actors, Black actors, Latino actors, Indigenous actors, Polynesian/Pacific Islander actors, Indigenous writers, Polynesian/Pacific Islander writers
  • Studio : Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
  • Genre : Action/Adventure
  • Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Superheroes , Adventures , Friendship , Space and Aliens
  • Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance , Teamwork
  • Run time : 119 minutes
  • MPAA rating : PG-13
  • MPAA explanation : intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity
  • Last updated : August 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Thor: Ragnarok Poster Image

Thor: Ragnarok

Want personalized picks for your kids' age and interests?

Avengers: Endgame

Loki TV Show Poster Image: A collage of the characters, with Loki in the center

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel cinematic universe (mcu) movies and tv shows in order, best superhero movies for kids, related topics.

  • Perseverance
  • Magic and Fantasy
  • Superheroes
  • Space and Aliens

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Thor: Love And Thunder Review: Lightning Strikes Twice

Eleven years after his introduction on the big screen, thor is still surprising us..

Mighty Thor and Thor in Thor: Love And Thunder

Marvel Cinematic Universe films have reached a complicated junction 14 years into the franchise’s history. With the Infinity Saga having come to a close with the release of Anthony and Joe Russo ’s Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the “big picture” goals of the canon are no longer immediately apparent – meaning that all of the individual titles have to really stand on their own in a way we haven’t really seen since Jon Favreau’s Iron Man back in 2008. The raison d'etre for each new blockbuster has changed, as there is less pressure for each movie to add to the larger narrative and instead they can just tell a compelling and interesting story that happens to take place within the continuity.

This has hurt the exciting momentum of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a certain level, as fans know that some kind of larger arc is in the works, and at present it feels like the franchise on the whole is treading water (a feeling that is exacerbated by the fact that we are now not only getting new films on the regular, but also seeing the release of a wide variety of miniseries on Disney+). The positive spin is that it is an ideal time for filmmakers to tell the stories that they are most excited to tell with the canon’s characters, minus the burden of needing to contribute to Marvel Studios’ more macro thinking. This is a circumstance that benefits Taika Waititi ’s Thor: Love And Thunder , which represents one of the most pure artistic visions we’ve seen from Marvel since the release of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014.

On the whole, the blockbuster isn’t quite as strong as what Waititi was able to do with Thor: Ragnarok in 2018, the narrative being thinner than the one of its predecessor and pacing issues developing in the middle, but it succeeds as a fun and thrilling adventure. The movie features terrific performances from a brilliant ensemble cast and a surprising and excellent blend of tones that see it shift seamlessly from hilarious to freaky to heartfelt. Its principal goal throughout is properly advancing the story of the titular God of Thunder, and it succeeds with doses of cosmic chaos and the development of the best romantic storyline we’ve seen from the franchise yet.

When we last saw Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) in Avengers: Endgame , he made the call to seek a new path in life – trusting Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to take over as the king of New Asgard while he got on a ship with the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementeiff, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel) to see what adventures the universe would provide. Catching up with him in Thor: Love And Thunder , he has settled into an uneasy peace, operating as a flamboyant hero for hire by alien cultures facing terrible threats.

This life is upended, however, when Thor learns of the rampage being executed by Gorr The God Butcher ( Christian Bale ) – a once pious man who is betrayed by the deity he worships and has been cursed by the powerful weapon known as the Necrosword. It is Gorr’s intention to kill every god in the universe, and Thor knowing he is on that list inspires him to take action.

Upon his return to New Asgard, however, the Avenger discovers that he is no longer the exclusive hero bearing the Thor name. The woman whom he has never stopped loving, Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ), has been deemed worthy to carry the magical hammer Mjolnir, and she has been transformed into Mighty Thor… though she is also in possession of a devastating secret. Along with Valkyrie and the lovable Korg (Taika Waititi), the Thors journey into space hoping to find a way to stop Gorr before it’s too late.

The greatest strength of Thor: Love And Thunder is the development of its characters.

Thor: Love And Thunder ’s plot clearly isn’t all that complicated (it boils down to a group of heroes trying to stop a villain’s plot to irreparably damage the universe), but the material is elevated by fantastic character work. The adventure itself isn’t all that original or complex, but it’s properly utilized to further the development of the principal characters in exciting and meaningful ways (which is not a particularly easy task when it comes to a third sequel in a series). This is particular effective when it comes to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, who is trying to rediscover love after losing everything and everyone he cares about, but powerfully executed for supporting characters – with Valkyrie desperate to be in action again after being buried in bureaucracy as king, and Jane Foster redefining strength for herself through her arc.

Straightforward as the narrative may be, it also doesn’t stop the blockbuster from making some terrific new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. Gorr The God Butcher may have a simple arc and motivation, but there is a very good reason why the production hired one of the greatest talents of his generation to play the role, and it pays off in the very first scene of the blockbuster as the antagonist is introduced. The phenomenal power of Christian Bale’s performance shapes the way we feel about Gorr, and while he looks like a horror movie villain, it’s surprising just how empathetic he still is.

The movie is also able to make brilliant moves like hiring Russell Crowe to play the almighty, thunderbolt-twirling Zeus. The runtime of the role is far from substantial… but that just makes it all the more shocking that he’s nearly able to steal the whole show away from the established Marvel heroes.

Taika Waititi lets Thor: Love And Thunder be funny and dramatic in equal measure, and its impressive to see.

Without trying to do too much, the dynamic of Thor & Co. vs. Gorr also allows Taika Waititi to do what he does best, which is orchestrating a delicate balance of tones. Like with Thor: Ragnarok , Waititi’s goofy and rad sensibilities are all over this one, but he never lets a good laugh undercut sincere moments of drama or vice versa. There’s a litany of consistently hilarious running gags (including screaming goats and jealousy between signature weapons), the soundtrack plays like a “Guns n Roses Greatest Hits” album, and there’s a lot about the film that make’s one smile and laugh in reflection long after you’ve left the theater. At the same time, though, this is also a blockbuster with great passion and heart-wrenching (though I can’t spoil the specific sources pre-release).

Chris Hemsworth’s Thor continues his reign as one of the MCU’s most compelling characters.

The thin plotting does cause the blockbuster to drag a bit in its second act, and it falls into the unfortunate sequel trap of trying to reuse old gags that worked in the previous story, but Thor: Love And Thunder is mostly the bold, colorful, and weird Marvel blockbuster that fans hoped for when Taika Waititi was handed the reigns for a second time in the canon. Even after three previous solo movies and four Avengers films, the adventures of Thor still feel as fresh as ever, and if/when Thor 5 is announced, it will be news welcomed with open arms.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

32 Best In Show Quotes And Scenes That I Still Think About

After Beetlejuice, 7 More Fun Michael Keaton Roles I'd Love To See The Actor Reprise

Demi Moore Gets Real About A Potential Ghost Remake, And If She'd Reprise Her Iconic Role

Most Popular

  • 2 32 Best In Show Quotes And Scenes That I Still Think About
  • 3 I Have A Game Of Thrones-Related Concern When It Comes To The Fourth Wing Series, But It’s Not The One The Author Addressed
  • 4 One Tree Hill's Sequel Series Is In The Works, And I Have 2 Big Concerns Involving Chad Michael Murray And Its Original Cast
  • 5 FBI: International Adds Jay Hayden For Season 4 Role, And I'm Touched By All The Love From His Station 19 Family

movie review on thor love and thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is a 2022 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics   comic book character of the same name . It is the sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In the film, Thor attempts to find inner peace, but must return to action and recruit Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster — who is now the Mighty Thor — to stop Gorr the God Butcher from eliminating all gods.

  • 2 Gorr the God Butcher
  • 3 Jane Foster / Mighty Thor
  • 10 External links
  • These hands were once used for battle. Now they're but humble tools for peace. I need to figure out exactly who I am. I want to choose my own path, live in the moment. My superhero-ing days are over.
  • 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, give or take.
  • Ah, you never forget your first.

Gorr the God Butcher

  • Suffering for your gods is your only purpose.
  • The only ones who gods care about is themselves.
  • So this is my vow. All gods will die.

Jane Foster / Mighty Thor

  • What's it been, like three, four years?
  • It was just my first bad guy.
  • I'll fight it my way.
  • Keep your heart open.
  • Mate, relax. We're on the same team. Team Jane.
  • Am I, uh, sensing feelings?
  • Kids, get your popcorn out. Let me tell you the story of the space viking, Thor Odinson.
  • He was no ordinary man. He was a god. After saving planet Earth for the 500th time, Thor set off on a new journey. He got in shape. He went from Dad Bod to God Bod. And after all that, he reclaimed his title as the one and only Thor.
  • Ooh, spoke too soon!
  • Skate mates for life.
  • Just because he was done living doesn’t mean he was done fighting!
  • Let's see who you are. I take off your disguise. And flick!
  • It used to be that being a god, it meant something. People would whisper your name, before sharing their deepest hopes and dreams. They begged you for mercy, without ever knowing if you were actually listening. Now, when they look to the sky, they don't ask us for lightning, they don't ask us for rain, they just want to see one of their so-called superheroes. When did we become the joke? No. No more. They will fear us again, when Thor Odinson falls from the sky. Do you understand me, Hercules? Do you understand me, my son?
  • The one and only.
  • The one is not the only.
  • Not every god has a plan.
  • Chris Hemsworth - Thor
  • Christian Bale - Gorr the God Butcher
  • Tessa Thompson - Valkyrie
  • Jaimie Alexander - Sif
  • Taika Waititi - Korg
  • Russell Crowe - Zeus
  • Natalie Portman - Jane Foster / Mighty Thor
  • Chris Pratt - Peter Quill / Star-Lord
  • Pom Klementieff - Mantis
  • Dave Bautista - Drax
  • Karen Gillan - Nebula
  • Vin Diesel - Groot (voice)
  • Bradley Cooper - Rocket (voice)

External links

  • Thor: Love and Thunder quotes at the Internet Movie Database
This article is a . You can help out with Wikiquote by it!

movie review on thor love and thunder

  • Fantasy films
  • Superhero films
  • 2020s American films
  • Extraterrestrial life films
  • Science fantasy films
  • Films with gods
  • Adventure films
  • LGBT-related films
  • Comic book films
  • Sequel films
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe films
  • Cancer films
  • Films set on fictional planets
  • Fiction about intergalactic travel

Navigation menu

IMAGES

  1. Thor Love and Thunder Full Movie

    movie review on thor love and thunder

  2. Simona Paparelli Movies

    movie review on thor love and thunder

  3. MCU Concept Art Reveals Hemsworth's 'Love and Thunder' Suit Fans Never

    movie review on thor love and thunder

  4. MCU Concept Art Unveils Hemsworth's Unseen 'Love and Thunder' Suit That

    movie review on thor love and thunder

  5. Exciting Movie and TV Show Updates: Obi-Wan, Stranger Things, Thor Love

    movie review on thor love and thunder

  6. My early review of Thor: Love and Thunder. I felt very cool last nigh

    movie review on thor love and thunder

VIDEO

  1. Thor Summon Bifrost

  2. Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder

  3. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) REACTION

  4. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Movie Review

  5. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭 ❤️⚡️

  6. Thor Love and Thunder

COMMENTS

  1. Thor: Love and Thunder movie review (2022)

    6 min read. "Thor: Love and Thunder" is more or less a victory lap for all that director Taika Waititi achieved with his previous Marvel film, the often hilarious, rousing, and plainly refreshing " Thor: Ragnarok.". And while it has too many familiar flourishes and jokes, this entertaining sequel is still a force for good, with enough ...

  2. Thor: Love and Thunder

    "Thor: Love and Thunder" finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he's ever faced -- a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr ...

  3. Thor: Love and Thunder

    Therein lies Thor: Love and Thunder's biggest issue, its inability to balance tone and spectacle. Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 6, 2023. William Jones CBR. Thor: Love and Thunder's ...

  4. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Review: A God's Comic Twilight

    As the movie briefly slips into a parallel realm of play and pleasure, you can feel the director Taika Waititi having a good time — and it's infectious. This is the fourth "Thor" movie in ...

  5. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Review: Proves That 'Ragnarok' Was ...

    "Thor: Love and Thunder" has a pleasing, let's-try-it-on-and-shoot-the-works effervescence. Like most Marvel movies, the fourth entry in the Thor saga would seem to have weighty matters on ...

  6. Thor: Love and Thunder review

    Like most of Marvel's recent Phase 4 films, Thor: Love and Thunder is a sequel that tries its best to work as a standalone movie, but its story works best if you come to it having seen some of ...

  7. Thor: Love And Thunder Review

    Thor: Love And Thunder — Taika Waititi's iridescent follow-up to the irreverent Ragnarok — is a giddy, gleaming guitar solo of a movie; a celebratory blast of colour, energy and emotion.

  8. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Review: Hammer Time Again for Chris Hemsworth

    The Bottom Line Muscles are no cure for Marvel fatigue. Release date: Friday, July 8. Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe. Director ...

  9. Thor: Love and Thunder

    The 29th installment of the MCU might just be one of the best yet, according to critics sharing their first thoughts on Thor: Love and Thunder.Returning to the helm after Thor: Ragnarok, Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi reportedly delivers another outrageously funny and epic thrill ride for the Marvel crowd while also bringing back Natalie Portman to steal the movie away from star Chris ...

  10. Thor: Love and Thunder

    Thor: Love and Thunder is far from standard [MCU], and that's a good thing. - Owen Gleiberman, Variety. Thor: Love and Thunder is the most entertaining Phase 4 movie to date. - Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy. Thor: Love and Thunder is… one of the few bright spots in Marvel's

  11. Thor: Love and Thunder Review

    7. Review scoring. good. Thor: Love and Thunder is held back by a cookie-cutter plot and a mishandling of supporting characters, but succeeds as the MCU's first romantic comedy thanks to Chris ...

  12. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' review: Chris Hemsworth brings muscle, magic

    Raise your tankards of mead: Director Taika Waititi 's "Thor: Love and Thunder" is a superhero romantic comedy with plenty of rippling biceps, an unshakable love for 1980s action movies and ...

  13. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

    Thor: Love and Thunder: Directed by Taika Waititi. With Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson. Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.

  14. Thor: Love and Thunder review: Starry fourth installment lets Taika

    When Thor: Love and Thunder lands in theaters July 8, it will be the fourth Marvel movie in less than a year after Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the latest iterations of ...

  15. Thor: Love and Thunder Reinvigorates Phase 4 With Comedy and Heart

    Thor: Love and Thunder comes to theaters on July 8. Check out more mighty stories about 'Thor: Love and Thunder': ... Movie Reviews. Thor (2011) Thor 4. Your changes have been saved.

  16. Thor: Love and Thunder review

    Thor: Love and Thunder review — Chris Hemsworth leads a mighty Thor sequel ... Thor: Love and Thunder releases in movie theaters around the world on July 8 (early screenings starting on July 7). Tickets for Thor: Love and Thunder are now available. Matt Donato. Matt Donato is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic who stays up too late typing ...

  17. Thor: Love and Thunder review: "Unashamedly absurd and wildly

    If Marvel has been coasting on a comfortably unexceptional level of quality for much of Phase 4, the joyous Love and Thunder is a return to the glory days of the Infinity Saga. When we rejoin Thor ...

  18. Thor: Love and Thunder Review

    In the margins, Thor: Love and Thunder is more Waititi than Ragnarok was, but its center remains rigidly formulaic, flattening the film's ambition and its discordant flights of fancy. The result ...

  19. Thor: Love and Thunder Movie Review

    Parents need to know that Thor: Love and Thunder is the sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the fourth Thor movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bids goodbye to the Guardians of the Galaxy when a new threat appears in the universe: Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), whose mission is to kill every ...

  20. Thor: Love And Thunder Review: Lightning Strikes Twice

    Chris Hemsworth's Thor continues his reign as one of the MCU's most compelling characters. The thin plotting does cause the blockbuster to drag a bit in its second act, and it falls into the ...

  21. Everything We Know About Thor: Love And Thunder

    After the now-customary shifting of release dates that all Marvel projects endured in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thor: Love and Thunder, originally meant for release last November, is currently set to bow on July 8, 2022. Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on July 8, 2022. Thumbnail images by ©Marvel Studios.

  22. Why Thor: Love and Thunder Is the Best Thor Movie Yet (Review)

    Why Thor: Love and Thunder Is the Best Thor Movie Yet (Review) For the first time in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, the franchise will deliver a fourth solo movie for one of its heroes with the release of Thor: Love and Thunder. Debuting in theaters on July 8, Thor 4 will bring back Chris Hemsworth's titular God of Thunder for his eighth ...

  23. Your Biggest Thor 4 Complaints May Get Even Worse In Avengers 6

    Avengers: Secret Wars may revive a Thor: Love & Thunder complaint that many MCU fans have had if a certain storyline is adapted. The fourth installment in the Thor franchise was released to mixed reviews. Some fans enjoyed the tone of the film, while others thought it tried too hard to emulate the humor of Thor: Ragnarok.The jokes worked the first time around because the banter felt right ...

  24. Thor: Love and Thunder

    Thor: Love and Thunder is a 2022 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics comic book character of the same name.It is the sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In the film, Thor attempts to find inner peace, but must return to action and recruit Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster — who is now the Mighty Thor — to stop Gorr the God ...

  25. Chris Hemsworth Officially Replaced by Marvel as Thor, New Footage

    While his latest outing as Thor Odinson - Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), in which Natalie Portman reprised the role of Jane Foster - wasn't the best-received film in the world, fans still ...

  26. Thor: Miłość i grom

    Thor: Miłość i grom (oryg.Thor: Love and Thunder) - amerykański fantastycznonaukowy film akcji na podstawie serii komiksów o superbohaterze o tym samym imieniu wydawnictwa Marvel Comics.Za reżyserię i scenariusz odpowiadał Taika Waititi.W tytułowej roli powrócił Chris Hemsworth, a obok niego w głównych rolach wystąpili: Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Taika ...

  27. Manny Jacinto Says Making Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 2 Is His ...

    Thor Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi is also working on a Star Wars film, though its progress is slow and steady as it's not expected until around 2030.