Thor: Love and Thunder carries on the creative wit of director Taika Waititi in a fun-filled adventure that begins as a loose, often silly romp and matures into solid action with a heartfelt conclusion. It should appeal to Marvel fans.
While Thor (Chris Hemsworth) voyages with The Guardians of the Galaxy, his lost love, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), ventures to New Asgard on a personal mission. When Gorr, the God Butcher (Christian Bale is excellent), kidnaps the children of New Asgard, Thor and his team including Jane, his buddy Korg (Waititi is a hoot), and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), go on a rescue mission which leads them to other Gods including Zeus (Russell Crowe hams it up). The final confrontation becomes a life and death scenario as key figures comes full circle.
The story introduces a new character, Gorr, a powerful destroyer of Gods, but whose motivation has real pain and makes him more than a cardboard villain. In addition, numerous cameos and familiar faces from past Thor installments make welcome appearances.
The
film does a good job of catching up with past narratives, while retaining the tongue-in-cheek, comedic touches
from Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, which
revitalized the franchise. Ironically, when it settles down with a degree of
seriousness, the story gets interesting with real stakes. The final sequence resonates with well earned,
emotional moments.
Ultimately about
sacrifice and selflessness, this is about resolving Thor and Jane’s story and
Thor finding his purpose again.
(It also reaffirms female empowerment through strong characters ranging from
Jane and Valkyrie to a young girl). Laced with humor and an enthusiastic cast
and director, this is an entertaining ride and sets up a new chapter in the Marvel universe. There are two post credit scenes.
***1/2 of
**** stars (for Waititi fans)
No comments:
Post a Comment