You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” it is said in The Dark Knight. Now, Christian Bale has indeed turned villain—this time for Marvel in Thor: Love and Thunder. The antagonist is strong, and the plot is faithful to the comic-book storyline as well and brings back the crowd-favourite, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). There’s, of course, the wacky humour so unique to director Taika Waititi. And yet, Love and Thunder, despite being an efficient standalone film, doesn’t quite live up to the previous Thor instalment, Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
Thor has been an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for more than a decade now, but his standalone films have either hit the bullseye or missed the target entirely. While the origins story, Thor (2011) was a decent start, Thor: The Dark World (2013) was a horrendous entry. And yet, anyone’s list of top five MCU films will include Thor: Ragnarok (2017) for sure. The return of the Hemsworth-Taika Waititi collaboration meant that expectations were sky-high ahead of the release.
When Gorr (Bale), who seeks the extinction of gods after being let down by one, decides on striking New Asgard to steal the Stormbreaker, Thor has to stop the god butcher by teaming up with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Waititi) and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who has now become Mighty Thor. The story is straightforward, unlike in Marvel’s recent films, and the performances are positive in this film. Hemsworth aces the titular character who is going through a midlife crisis, but Bale and Portman stand out. The pre-title credit scene establishes stands as evidence of what Bale can do. Gorr could well have been the next Thanos for MCU that’s in desperate need of good supervillains, and Bale brings in a certain eeriness to the character, but there’s not a whole lot more.
On the other hand, Portman, who makes her reentry to the Marvel world after missing the last two Thor films, plays the cancer-afflicted ex-girlfriend chosen by Mjolnir. Given how Marvel seems to be keen on handing over the mantles of Hawkeye and in a few weeks, Hulk, to women characters, I initially expected the Mighty Thor to be a similar tick mark on the representation checklist. However, the film builds up a touching backstory for this astrophysicist who gets to show off her biceps in more than one scene.
Marvel does its own flexing too, through all the cameos in this film. Apart from the entire Guardians of the Galaxy team, we also have Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth reprising their roles from Thor: Ragnarok as Loki, Odin, and Thor respectively. We also see Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone playing Hela and the director of an Asgardian play, respectively. Waititi, who since Ragnarok has directed the Oscar-winning-Jojo Rabbit, operates in his favourite genre once again. There are hilarious ideas like a pair of noisy goats, Korg’s narration of Thor’s backstory, Thor doing leg-splits, Valkyrie becoming the ambassador for Old Spice...
There’s also the running gag of Thor seeking his Mjolnir, but being scared of Stormbreaker’s jealousy. Unfortunately, these gags, although effective, come at the expense of deep emotion and serve to expose the wafer-thin plot as well. Thor: Love and Thunder does deal with many types of love—ranging from a father-daughter bond to the complex romance of estranged lovers… There’s a parallel between Gorr losing his respect for his god, Rapu, and Thor getting disillusioned by Zeus (played by Russell Crowe). There are all these ideas, but…
As always, there are many easter eggs and even callbacks to films like Interstellar and Harry Potter. We get a shot of the dead god, Falligar, taken straight from the pages of comics. We see Hemsworth putting on the original Thor costumes that comic-book readers will recognise. When Thor bares it all during a tussle with Zeus, we get to see a tattoo that says ‘RIP Loki’ with the trickster’s helmet etched on our space Viking’s back. We are introduced to the evil Necrosword and given how Mjolnir and Stormbreaker seem to have a mind of their own, it’s interesting to see more weapons being shown to possess the strength to control people.
We have seen this with the ten rings in Shang Chi, the magical bangle in Ms Marvel, and the Ebony Blade from the post-credits scene in Eternals. After Marvel’s recent show, Moonknight, the line, “Gods will use you but never empower you” feels relatable. There’s a bit about Valkyrie losing her beloved girlfriend in war and Korg falling in love with another Kronan man.
The first half reminds us of all the colour we loved in Ragnarok, but much of the second half takes place in the dark realm where everything is black and white. It must be said though that the action scenes in monochrome are quite satisfying.
Hemsworth as Thor is here to stay though, and that’s a relief to MCU fans who have seen the original Avengers either sacrifice their lives or hang their boots. Thor: Love and Thunder pales in comparison with its predecessor and doesn’t exactly take the franchise ahead, but there’s still a good dose of Marvel magic in this film, and not one but two Thors!
Thor: Love and Thunder
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe
Rating: 3 stars