The God of Thunder is reunited with his ex-girlfriend to face off against a new threat in Thor: Love and Thunder. After spending some time travelling with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to Earth to protect New Asgard from an attack by Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who ends up taking the Asgardian children. During the fight, Thor is surprised to discover that his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) now possesses the reforged hammer Mjolnir as The Mighty Thor. Jane, along with King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (Taika Waititi), accompany Thor to enlist the help of Zeus (Russell Crowe) to face Gorr in the Shadow Realm and save the children.
Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth solo adventure for the God of Thunder and the second film in the series co-written and directed by Taika Waititi. The film adapts the 2014 story from the comics that sees Thor’s ex-girlfriend of Jane Foster, who is now suffering from stage-four cancer, wield Mjolnir to become The Mighty Thor (do NOT call her Lady Thor). She is reunited with Thor Odinson after eight years, and together they have to team up against Gorr, a formerly devout man, who has become corrupted by the Necrosword, which fuels his desire for revenge against all Gods.
When Taika Waititi took over the Thor franchise with 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, he took the series in a decidedly more comedic direction, which continues in Thor: Love and Thunder. This includes an expanded role for Waititi’s character, the rock monster Korg, as well as the addition of the screaming space goats Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, who pull Thor’s magical boat across the cosmos. Arguably, the biggest goal of Thor: Love and Thunder is to provide closure for Thor’s relationship with Jane Foster, who was absent from the previous film. This results in some bittersweet moments due to Jane’s terminal cancer diagnosis, which has not been improving, despite the increased strength provided to her by Mjolnir. Then there is Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, whose tragic backstory opens the film. Gorr is a horror movie villain, emerging from the shadows with various monsters, though Bale gives a certain gravitas to the character.
Playing up to the film’s very heavy metal-inspired visuals, Thor: Love and Thunder has a soundtrack that is essentially the ultimate Guns N’ Roses playlist, featuring “Sweet Child ‘o Mine,” “Paradise City,” and “November Rain,” with Dio’s “Rainbow in the Dark” thrown into the film for good measure. The heavy use of Guns N’ Roses in the movie is probably the first time since the AC/DC-heavy Iron Man 2 soundtrack that a single band’s songs for an MCU film were dominated so heavily.
While Taika Waititi’s contributions to the Thor franchise have been more fun than their predecessors, they are decidedly more inconsequential, with Thor: Love and Thunder arguably the most stand-alone film in the series. Then there’s Russell Crowe’s extended cameo as the Greek God Zeus, whose appearance fits the film’s tone but also comes off a little too much of a caricature. While the obligatory credits scenes suggest that Thor: Love and Thunder might not be the last we see of the God of Thunder, I do have to contend that after four films over a decade, the steam is starting to run out of this franchise.