Not Sore About Thor

Warning, I'm about to do an entire blog post about a Thor movie. 

I was dismayed when I saw friends and reviewers dogging on 'Thor: Love and Thunder,' the latest Thor movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after it opened.  I'm a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I've always loved Thor, my favorite Marvel comic book character.  After a less-than-stellar first two Thor films, I was floored like everyone else at how good 'Thor: Ragnarok' was.  As I mentioned in my countdown of the Marvel Cinematic Movies (Ranking the Marvel Movies), 'Thor: Ragnarok' was the best film in the entire Marvel Franchise.

That's why I was dismayed Love and Thunder was getting ho-hum reviews. A few people I trust with movies even mentioned the 'B' word; bad!

I finally went and saw the movie last weekend, and while it's definitively a step down from Ragnarok, I really enjoyed it.

Let's state the obvious.  There is NO WAY Love and Thunder was going to match up to Ragnarok.  Tell me how any movie which loses Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, and Jeff Goldblum could possibly bounce back from that talent drain.  Plus the Hulk/Thor arena fight was the best fight in all of Marvel.  There was just no way they could make a comparable film.  

This is why it's depressing to go back and read the reviews for this film which seem mainly organized on the theme of "it's not Ragnarok."  That's just silly.  Of course it's not.  And frankly, by holding it to a nearly impossible to top standard, it downplays the insanely well-done performance of Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher.

To be fair, there are some disappointments.  To begin with, it's just too damn silly, especially at the beginning. Silly can work, especially when you're dealing with such an over-the-top character like a Space Viking, but it got too goofy for even a patient fan to overlook.  The silliness basically ruins the opening sequence with the Guardians of the Galaxy (a real waste of opportunity).  At other times it became like a George Lucas re-edit on a Star Wars film (only there for the kids and the toy tie-ins). 

There are times when silly does work.  There's a great scene with Thor's goats and a planet (that's all I'll say), but it takes a third of the film to get the silliness balance correct.  Director Tiaka Waititi forgot the lesson he learned in Ragnarok; a little silliness is great, but when it is over the top, it takes away from the film.  Ragnarok is a master's class on the correct amount of silliness.

Also, Waititi's animated Korg, the large rock monster sidekick of Thor, is getting really old really fast, sucking the life out of the movie whenever he was on the screen.  My suggestion is for them to leave Korg out of the next film.

So here I was, thirty minutes into the movie, and I was upset at the goofiness.  I was starting to see why people had been beating the film up.  It was at this point the movie focused on New Asgard location.  This was the location in Norway where Thor brought the remaining Asgardians before Thanos destroyed his ship at the beginning of 'Avengers: Infinity War.'  It was the refugee community in 'Avengers: Endgame,' but now it has become a massive tourist trap, bringing people in to see Thor's Asgard.  

I was about to say how silly that whole concept was when it hit me.  That was probably one of the more realistic elements of the film. Of course New Asgard would become a tourist trap, and of course tourists would flock there in droves.  It was at this point I settled back and reset my perspective.

I'm glad I did.  From that point forward it became a very enjoyable story of about love and loss.  Some of the scenes were very touching, and there was a hospital scene that ended up being one of the most realistic moments in the entire cinematic universe. The movie was far more enjoyable than I first thought, clearly better than its mid-60s scorecard on Rotten Tomatoes. 

There is another reason some people hate this movie. This movie deals with the perceived gods of the comic book universe, and even has a scene where Thor and his crew head to a golden city to recruit allies.  As they go through the gods, they quickly mention the 'God of Carpentry,' what many perceive as a quick mention of Jesus Christ.  That's the only mention of Jesus in the God city, and because of that, we can all see the far right-wing Christians erupt with fury.  "Jesus is the REAL superhero! How dare you not feature him as the God over all gods!" As a Christian myself, let me say 'lighten up churchy!' It's a comic book movie!  If you want Jesus in your kids' lives, take them to a church.  There are plenty around, and most are open 7 days a week. 

Also, I can see far-right Christians getting upset at the backstory of Korg, talking about how new rock monster babies are created.  Two rock monsters hold hands for a month in front of a lava pit and boom, ROCK BABY!  The implication is the rock monsters are all male, so conservatives insist Marvel is pushing gay marriage onto the youth of today.  Once again, lighten up.  It's cartoon rock monsters!  If their story threatens the sexual identity of your kid, then your kid was having a struggle long before they got into the movie.  Be supportive of them and don't be a jerk.  If your kid is fine, maybe you need to address your personal issues...

So to recap: 'Thor: Love and Thunder' was not as good as Ragnarok, but it never was going to be.  It's too damn silly for the first 30 minutes, but then it becomes a pretty good film.  And Christian Bale is fantastic in the move.  Mid to high 70's on Rotten Tomatoes would be a better place to rank it.