Now that Thor: Love and Thunder is finally out, fans are starting to make up their minds about the film. However, judging from early reactions, Taika Waititi’s second go at the God of Thunder already seems destined to go down as a very divisive MCU entry. Love and Thunder is indeed quite a lot like Ragnarok, nonetheless, that comes with drawbacks as well as benefits.
Some fans hold Thor: Ragnarok as their clear favorite, but Love and Thunder comes to represent something far greater for the long-term prospects of the MCU, as directors like Waititi start to gain further creative licenses over their work and stray just a bit further from the Marvel Studios formula. While some might not dig the style, the truth is that Love and Thunder doubles down on the same brand of humor that has made Waititi a household name.
Thor: Dumb And Dumber
Make no mistake, Love and Thunder is hilarious at times. Waititi turns almost every single moment of the film into a smaller part of one huge joke, with a few exceptions on some of the movie’s more action-packed or emotional moments. Nevertheless, it’s that very same unrelenting commitment to comedy that somewhat hinders those bigger plot payoffs in the end.
This is Thor’s bro personality at its finest, thrown in the middle of what often plays like a romantic comedy that’s been put together out of nowhere by Waititi. Yes, Jane Foster is Thor’s sole romantic interest, but her role over the years was so diminished that Love and Thunder has to pull hard to convince audiences of just how special the bond and past relationship between the two really was.
It’s fitting enough that it’s Waititi’s own character, Korg, who happens to tell the space Viking’s tales to the audience because, in the end, it’s the director’s script that’s somehow made it all work. Love and Thunder does not take itself too seriously. That is perhaps the saving grace of a film that dares to exist within the MCU as incredibly self-sufficient despite being the character’s fourth movie.
From the get-go, Waititi asks viewers to, in a way, let go of Thor, to allow him to explore the character as if Love and Thunder was almost a parody of the MCU. The film is incredibly over the top, and that along with the quality of the performances are its strongest points. It’s hard not to laugh watching this Thor film, but at the same time, it’s hard to think “That is so silly, why are we laughing?” That is perhaps Waititi’s greatest achievement with this film.
Thor: Love And Thunder Is Great For The MCU
It’s fair to say the director doubles down on the Waititi-ness of it all in Love and Thunder, and though time may leave Ragnarok standing as the better Marvel movie, the very fact that Waititi got to make such a unique Thor is amazing. The MCU is often accused of not allowing directors to stamp their personalities on its beloved superheroes, yet Phase Four already offers far better examples of this than possibly all of the Infinity Saga.
Sure, Eternals left many fans with a bittersweet aftertaste as one of the MCU’s biggest letdowns, but it was also Marvel Studios first time working with a true auteur filmmaker like Chloe Zhao. The same goes for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which sees Sam Raimi take the movie as far into the horror realm as Marvel Studios would allow, with late reshoots and its overarching plot fueling rumors of a clash of visions. And then there’s Waititi, who rode the overwhelming success of Ragnarok to turn Love and Thunder exactly into what he wanted, even going as far as to claim he made Thor into the kind of character fans wouldn’t want to see. How high it ranks among the MCU’s best movies will be up to each fan, but Thor: Love and Thunder is thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, despite a few pacing issues.
In all likelihood, Love and Thunder will be immensely profitable for Disney. In a way, the film really needs in order to convince Marvel Studios that such levels of freedom can produce great work from brilliant directors like Waititi. He should not be the only one to get that privilege, especially as the MCU still struggles to find its footing in Phase Four and the search for Iron Man and Captain America’s replacement proves so difficult.
The MCU may have peaked in terms of hype with Avengers: Endgame; nonetheless, what Thor: Love and Thunder proves is that there’s still a long way to go in terms of creativity. It's just a matter of letting that flourish to its maximum potential.
Thor: Love and Thunder is currently available in theaters.