Thor: Love and Thunder

Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder follows Chris Hemsworth’s heroic title figure as he attempts to take down a vicious antagonist named Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) – with Thor eventually receiving help from his ex-girlfriend, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster. There’s little doubt that Thor: Love and Thunder opens with a tremendous amount of potential and promise, as Waititi kicks the picture off with a thoroughly compelling pre-credits sequence detailing Bale’s character’s origin story – with the actor’s spellbinding work remaining an obvious (and consistent) highlight for the remainder of the proceedings. It’s disappointing to note, then, that Thor: Love and Thunder segues into a predictably overstuffed narrative that contains far too many larger-than-life, special-effects-heavy action interludes, while the relentlessly lighthearted bent of Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s screenplay contributes heavily to the movie’s decidedly hit-and-miss feel (ie it’s all just so silly). And although the film admittedly does boast a small handful of genuinely engrossing moments, including (and especially) a tender scene between Hemsworth and Portman’s respective characters, Thor: Love and Thunder is, for the most part, a typically erratic Marvel blockbuster that fares better than most but is ultimately felled by its aggressively loud and over-the-top sensibilities.

** out of ****