Film review: Thor: Love and Thunder packs a hilarious punch
Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder
★★★★☆
If watching ‘the space Viking’ Thor (Chris Hemsworth) blundering about wreaking mayhem on alien species to the strains of Guns ‘n’ Roses sounds like a good night out to you, then you’re going to love (12A).
The movie opens with a rather sombre prologue, in which Gorr (Christian Bale), a priest who has faithfully served his god, watches his child die of deprivation. When the god mocks Gorr for his fidelity, the die is cast, and soon Gorr is sweeping through the universe butchering gods left, right and centre.
The scene is set for ‘yet another classic Thor adventure’, but the god’s virtually indestructible ego takes a bit of a hit when it becomes clear that he won’t be able to defeat Gorr on his own. Worse still, help comes from a most unexpected source, i.e., his ex-girlfriend Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), aka The Mighty Thor.
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, with Waititi directing, Thor: Love and Thunder is by some distance the funniest superhero movie the Marvel studio has yet produced.
Hilariously unselfconscious, prone to bombastic self-aggrandisement and arrogance, Thor is nowhere as effective a superhero-god as he might like to believe, and Chris Hemsworth milks the role mercilessly, setting himself up time and again and happy to be the butt of every joke.
That said, Natalie Portman achieves the near-impossible here by upstaging Chris Hemsworth in his Norse god pomp: her Mighty Thor isn’t just cooler than Thor, but comes with an affecting backstory that gives the movie its heart.
Throw in some terrific cameos that include Chris Pratt, Stephen Curry and Russell Crowe and there’s very little to complain about: Thor: Love and Thunder feels like Marvel hi-jinks scripted by Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. (cinema release)
