Latest Thor sequel brings laughs to the gods

The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps going strong, with Thor: Love and Thunder being the 29th film in the series (to go along with 19-and-counting television series, many with multiple seasons). It could be overload at this point, because the films have felt a bit uneven of late. The latest Thor film suffers a bit from this too, bit it is still very entertaining.

The film starts with setting up the bad guy right away. Gorr (played deliciously evil by Christian Bale) is a caring father who sees his daughter die as their planet has, but Gorr keeps the faith to their god, Rapu. About to die himself, Rapu follows noises to an oasis in the desert, and sees Rapu holding court. Gorr confesses that while he has lost his family, he has kept his faith, but Rapu scoffs, saying that the gods don’t care for their followers anyway. Gorr inherits the dreaded Necrosword, a weapon made to kill gods, and slays Rapu with it. Gorr then makes it his goal to kill all gods.

Meanwhile, Thor has been out fighting bad guys, teamed up with Starlord (Chris Pratt) and the other Guardians of the Galaxy. Drawn back to Earth to fight Gorr’s minions, who are attacking New Asgard there, Thor runs into his old girlfriend, Jane Foster. Jane, who has terminal cancer, has become the new bearer of Thor’s old warhammer, Mjolnir. Mjolnir has made Jane strong again, but it is temporary strength. Jane and Thor team up, along with Thor’s sidekick Korg, and Asgard’s king Valkyrie, to fight and defeat Gorr. Their struggle will take them to Omnipotence City, realm of the gods (including their leader, Zeus, portrayed by Russell Crowe) and then to the Shadowrealm, Gorr’s domain.

Some of the negative reviews focus on this film’s comedy, calling it just a continuation of Thor: Ragnarok (director Taika Waititi’s first Marvel endeavor). I gave that film high praise, because it felt very fresh. I’ll admit, in the beginning of Love and Thunder, the comedy did seem to distract more than enhance, but once the death and destruction settled in and the team had a villain to conquer, the movie picked up for me. The final half or so was very engaging, and the end credit scenes set up what could be yet another Thor film. Many of the major Marvel characters have had trilogies; if another Thor happens, it will complete his 6th “solo” movie (or second trilogy!), and Chris Hemsworth’s 8th appearance overall in the Marvel series. He’s got the role down cold, and while this one was a bit rocky, I’m still hoping for more. ★★★½