Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale

Synopsis:
Thor finds an unlikely ally in the fight against a villain bent on slaughtering all the gods in the universe.

Impressions:
When this project was first announced, Taika Waititi's comments told me right away that this movie wasn't for me. I wouldn't have seen it at all, but I was invited to go to the theater and it would've been impolite to decline. I will say that there are three conditions for liking this movie: 1) You don't care about Thor as a character, 2) You don't care about the worldbuilding of the MCU, and 3) You enjoy Taika Waititi's humor in all circumstances. I enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok and generally thought there was a decent balance of comedy and drama, but here you've got drama that can't go a minute without being undercut by comedy and that comedy itself is unbalanced as it wavers between cartoony zaniness and comedic sociopathy. Christian Bale's performance as Gorr pretty well captures this unbalanced nature with him occasionally delivering some sober drama (especially with his introduction) to almost bouncing off the walls. I've heard someone say that if Thor: Ragnarok was Batman Forever, then this movie is Batman and Robin. I think that's fair, and though I wasn't particularly fond of Batman and Robin, I know it has its fans, as I'm sure this movie does as well. Some of the humor worked for me, but not nearly as much as the previous film. For whatever it's worth, I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, but the fact that I don't really care about Thor or the MCU helps with the watchability. If that doesn't sound like much of an endorsement, well, it isn't. However, I think the general consumer of MCU content will be more pleased than not. I could dig deeper into it, but I really don't see the point of doing so. Refer back to those three conditions I mentioned before. If those apply to you, you'll probably find it worth a watch. If not, spare yourself. Oh, and I hope you like screaming goats. I really do.

Rating:
50/50