THOR: Love and Thunder REVIEW: What Worked and What Didn't | ScreenCrush Rewind

Thor Love and Thunder is an epic new chapter in the MCU, but the tone has some fans feeling irked. Was the movie too silly? Too much of a good thing? Where does the movie rank with other MCU projects. We explain the tone of Love and Thunder, and hear form two experts, Marr Singer and Rachel Leishman.

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Written and Hosted by Ryan Arey (  / ryanarey  )
Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright, Srinidhi Rao, and Sean Martin

Featuring:
Matt Singer (  / mattsinger  )
Rachel Leishman (  / rachelleishman  )

Welcome to ScreenCrush, I’m Ryan Arey, and let’s talk about Thior: Love and thunder. Recently I polled our viewers on my twitter and our community page, asking if they liked the movie. While the majority of people said yes, a lot of people commented that the movie was too silly, or that it undermined its dramatic moments with jokes.

And that’s a fair criticism. But I’m going to explain my thoughts on the movie, and why this silliness is Taiaka waititi’s greatest strength, not his greatest weakness. A little later I’ll be joined by two of the best, SctreenCrush’s own Matt Singer and Rachel Leashman from the Mary Sue to give me their take on Thor love and thunder. Big annoincement on friday

Now, you can;t help but compare this movie to Thor: Ragnarok, because, you know, the same director, writer, cats, style, characters, etc. My feelings for Ragnarok are well documented on this channel–it’s my favorite MCU movie. Because. It’s not just hilarious [klorg clip]. But it;s also a story about nationalism, colonialism, and immigration. [hudusker proxy, for kids].

It’s also metal as hell [screaming part of immigrant song].

But Thor Ragnarok also had a huge advantage, it was the movie that followed thor the dark world. The stylistic break from one of the weakest MCU movies made Ragnarok even better–but Love and thunder has to follow Ragnarok, which might make it seem less by comparison.

But I think Love and thunder is still leagues ahead of most other MCU movies. There is so much to love in this movie. It manages to weave in the entire history of the Thor movies, showing that he and Jane broke up because he was scared of being heartbroken, And we see why–in in Endgame Thor doesn't handle heartbreak very well.

There were also subtle nods to the rest of the franchise, like when hor enchants mjolnir like his father did. And the movie ends with thor also becoming his father–granting power to children, and adopting the child of his enemy. It’s also hilarious–but most of the jokes serve a double purpose.

Stormbreaker being jealous was a funny gag, but it also showed that the hammers are conduits for Thor's emotions, not just his powers. We also saw some new creative choices for the MCU, like the black and white shadow realm, which is an outward expression of Gorr’s internal suffering.

But most importantly, the movie is fun. Everyone in the movie is happy to go off on a space viking adventure–especially Jane. Jane is the ultimate audience member. She’s been on the sidelines for years, watching the heroes, and now she finally gets to play too. Just like any of us would. Plus, she has an incurable disease, which creates a delicate balancing act for the movie. Luckily, Taiak Waititi is the perfect director to tell this story.

Taika Waititi is in his Imperial phase. This is a term, usually used in music, that describes the peak of an artist’s commercial and creative success. There are certain themes present in all of his movies that you can see expressed perfectly in Love and thunder.

Waititi once said, "I want to explore the painful comedy of growing up and interpreting the world. I believe that despite our faults and inadequacies, through all pain and heartache, there is still room to laugh. I think that’s what makes my films different, the feeling that although there is often darkness, there are also little bits of light to encourage hope and hold on to possibility."

The Thor movies are essentially about Thor growing up. He is an angry teenager in Thor [clip]. In the dark World he’s a teenager who falls in love, Ragnarok is about a young man who suddenly learns that his parents were flawed, and learns to believe in himself. And this movie is about thor taking responsibility and raising a family. [clip]

So thor, this all powerful cosmic viking, is still like a kid, learning how to interpret the world. [clip]

Waitit’s breakout hit, Boy, is about a poor kid who idolizes his dad, even though his dad is a layabout jerk. But there are all these silly fantasy sequences where we see this imaginary dad, and how great he is [clip]. When in real life, his dad is a loser, and a terrible father [clip]. This is basically thor’s arc in Ragnarok.