Thor: Love and Thunder Review

If you've got an issue, here's its issue. DJ

Valentine. He doesn't have a wife or a girlfriend,

but he clearly has issues. That guy has definitely

got some issues to work out. DJ Valentine? Man,

that guy has issues. Clearly has a number of

issues. Clearly has issues. Multiple issues.

DJ Valentine has issues. DJ Valentine has issues.

Hey kids. I'm certainly DJ Valentine and I certainly

have issues and I certainly feel sad. I certainly

feel let down. I certainly feel a need to concede

to the blind hatred I fought against for decades

now in regards to comic book movies. The first

comic book I ever laid my eyes on was introduced

to me by my stepfather when I was seven. He read

aloud all the parts in the issue in character

as though he were auditioning for a play. took

it very seriously. That comic book was Journey

into Mystery starring a character known as Thor

the God of Thunder. Now I love Thor. My dog's

name is Thor. I freaked out watching Adventures

in Babysitting when Vincent D 'Onofrio inexplicably

pops up playing a kind of New York Thor -esque

tow truck driver mechanic guy. When the MCU got

going, I was worried about how they were going

to adapt two characters, Thanos and Thor. They

both seemed very difficult to put in the world

that was being built and yet they somehow pulled

it off. Though Thor 1 and Thor 2 weren't the

best comic movies ever, Hemsworth clearly nailed

the part of the Odinson. He shined undeniably

in the first two Avengers movies, but hadn't

even hit his stride yet. Then Taika Waititi comes

along and reinvigorates Thor with a fresh new

take in Thor Ragnarok, a film that I adored.

It leaned into the wildness of the Thor comic

books my stepfather read to me as a kid and made

the character fun and funny, but not a joke.

And then in his most interesting turn, Thor became

his best live action self in Avengers Infinity

War. Complex, still fun and funny, but Thor.

And still not a joke. And in the first 20 minutes

of Avengers Endgame, Thor was headed to an even

more interesting place after failing to kill

Thanos in time. Broken. Vengeful. Dark. Not a

fucking joke. But after he cut off Thanos' head,

that Thor was gone, literally stepped out of

frame exit stage left for good. The Thor that

took his place was stuck inside a fucking fat

suit and made to play Fortnite against trolling

children. He became a joke for the rest of the

film. In one of his most vulnerable moments,

the moment Thor desperately wants to redeem his

failure by using the second Infinity Gauntlet

to bring everybody back, his teammates just make

fun of him for being fat. You know, as a joke.

So after that, I had hoped that in Taika's next

outing with the character, they would refocus

him back to the way he was in Ragnarok and Infinity

War. A fun character, yes, but still with interesting

inner turmoil to explore. With the placement

of Gore the God Butcher as the main antagonist,

maybe we could even delve into some more complex

feelings Thor spoke about with Rocket Raccoon

in Infinity War, and how those feelings coincide

with Gore's infamous tale of loss. But after

seeing Thor Love and Thunder, Thor the Joke of

Asgard still remains, and all the really meaty

interesting stuff about him is all but gone.

Now Ragnarok was colorful and bright and fun

and funny, but it knew when to give a serious

and warm -hearted moments Thor 11 thunder however

seems to have just given way to all the color

and jokes and eliminated or minimized anything

with emotional weight to it. Suffice to say there

has never been a movie that so encompasses the

feeling of being the old guy in the club more

than Thor Love and Thunder. It's like sitting

down to watch Thor but it being Chris Hemsworth

in character as Thor on an SNL sketch. Or trying

to turn on NYPD Blue but it's a Sesame Street

version of it. Oh, that's not a metaphor. That

actually happened. I just finished watching Season

4 of Stranger Things, a show centered around

children, which had more maturity and emotional

weight than Thor, Love and Thunder did. Even

cancer, cancer is played off for laughs. And

what I feared most going in was the neutering

of Gore the God Butcher, one of Marvel's most

notable and powerful and terrifying serial killers.

But alas, we are given but a taste of the raw

horror or existential pondering Gore could have

brought to this film. This is no fault of Bales,

by the way. In the two... Two scenes of genuine

menace in serious examination of gore, Bale nails

it. More please. What? What's that? No more?

That's as dark as we go. But you could have given

us so much more. Which would be needed to legitimize

Taika Waititi's claim that Gore tested in screenings

as the best Marvel villain ever. Yeah, he said

that. Not with the crumbs you gave him in this,

though, Tyka. Now, WTD has been able to balance

the fun and the seriousness before even separate

from Ragnarok. In Jojo Rabbit, he took Hitler

and Nazi youth and made a comedy. But that comedy

still had as many moments of seriousness to nourish

and pay off the film as a whole. Thor Love and

Thunder is a very out of balance film to me.

It's nothing more than a children's film. I mean,

if it wasn't for a butt shot of Thor himself,

this movie could have almost been rated PG. Worse

than that, it's the film that the MCU haters

I used to argue with think all Marvel films are

sight unseen. Vapid. Empty. Stakeless. Cotton

candy. Disorganized nothingness. It's a film

that lends credence to even Marvel fans who thought

that maybe Avengers Endgame should have been

where the MCU stopped, since it could only go

downhill from there. It's a film that truly,

truly, truly disappointed me, but your kids?

Your kids are gonna love it. After being disappointed

in Thor 11 Thunder, I can finally call it and

say that Marvel Phase 4 is my least favorite

phase so far with Spider -Man No Way Home being

the only film in the phase that I loved, which

isn't even a solely owned MCU property. Now I

fully admit I could be on an island here. I'm

sure there are people who Like Black Widow, I'm

sure there are people who loved Shang -Chi, people

who adored Multiverse of Madness, fawn all over

the Disney Plus shows, and in regards to the

Eternals, well, nah, nobody liked Eternals.