An Effective Thor Adventure (Thor: Love and Thunder)

It took me a month to finally be able to watch Thor Love and Thunder. After weeks of anticipating and avoiding spoilers, the Marvel redux has finally ended on my side. With that aside, Taika Waititi returns to helm the follow-up to his work Ragnarok and gives Thor a chance to widen his world beyond three movies, a luxury most standalone characters do not have within the franchise. 

Marvel continues on with themes they have been exploring since the introduction of Phase 4 and it is once again, explicitly shown in this sequel. Adapting two of Jason Aaron's well-known run of comics, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has to save the pantheon of Gods from the God Butcher who vows to kill them all with the help of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who currently wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. 

Despite its short runtime, Love and Thunder provide a more mythology-based storyline that no other Thor film has ever had the guts to show off. It's hard to comprehend why no one agrees that this film is one of the more interesting MCU movies to date considering its compelling visuals and effective script. Even more effective than Multiverse of Madness, might I add. Incorporating Gorr's methods for his means to an end to religion and Jane Foster's heavy arc involving her place in this world are worthy inclusions to this next step in Thor's journey as opposed to having lackluster cameos that brought no purpose to the plot whatsoever.

As confusing as some may feel with his character development, Thor (and his franchise) has come a long way. Seeing the character after the events of Endgame, you are reminded of the amount of loss he has gone through making that recap of everyone he has lost even more heartbreaking. His arc involves a lot of self-discovery, finding his place outside being an Avenger or defeating Thanos which leads him to come across an old flame (AKA Jane) that makes him realize that he is ready to finally open himself up to love. 

Speaking of Jane, Natalie Portman's performance is, fortunately, more memorable here compared to her other MCU appearances (and there haven't been many). Whether it's seeing the cancer-stricken Jane or her wielding the Power of Thor, her role is vital. It is unfortunate that it has taken someone so long to find a way to make this character worth rooting for. Her chemistry with Chris Hemsworth has definitely improved. Many MCU fans can agree that no one had ever approved of their romance but in Love and Thunder, audiences will, without a doubt, root for this. 

My only problem with this film is how Valkyrie and Gorr were handled. Valkyrie is indeed a supporting character and it is expected of her to very much carry the remaining and rightful chunks that belonged to the character, the way it was written for her arc in Ragnarok. Valkyrie is treated badly in this film no matter how you want to look at it. With her exclusion from the third act and not getting to see her queerness as much as we were promised, the character deserves better. To be clear, I do not think she needs her own spin-off series but instead needs more to do. Christian Bale's performance as Gorr is stellar. Every time you see him onscreen, you are afraid. He is scary and from how he is depicted, you should be. However, he is not as violent as most comic book fans would expect due to the cuts Marvel had done to make it PG-13 which affected a better adaptation for the iconic villain. 

The movie starts with a few questionable editing choices but once you are in Omnipotence City, the world-building begins in more ways than one that caters to Marvel's growing roster of characters as well as adventuring outside the Norse mythology. Ragnarok was an attempt to revitalize the character but Love and Thunder also revitalize Thor's corner of the MCU that fans never thought they would see again. This is what makes this sequel so special, in my regard.