Also, a very specific spoiler/complaint:
It would’ve been a better film if they completely skipped Eternity City and Zeus. None of that went anywhere, it was all just for Russell Crowe to clown around with a goofy accent. It didn’t move any element of the plot or the characters forward in a meaningful way, getting his lightning bolt didn’t turn out to matter for Thor or Valkyrie.
Bummer, because these few posts are kind of what I was worried about. I’m of the opinion that almost any auteur needs to be somewhat reigned in by something or they just go too far (obviously there are exceptions, like say Scorcese). Usually it’s the rest of the crew/producers but it can also be simply money (though obviously not with a Marvel production).
Still ready to see it though.
Scorsese should’ve been reigned in to stop him from making corny crap like Hugo!
Haha, totally forgot he did that dreck. Not sure if it proves or disproves my point. Maybe he did it as a big FU to the studios!
Hugo? The 3D kids movie that’s actually a stealth tribute to Georges Méliès and A Trip to the Moon?
There’s zero chance of it being an FU to the studios. Everything about that movie screams Scorsese. People just didn’t expect a big-budget kids movie from him.
Gotta admit, I couldn’t get thru 10 minutes of it. So for all I know it’s awesome. I don’t think it was well received though so that’s the entire basis of my snark.
Oh it’s very much a kids movie. If not for the budget and production, the movie could easily have been a Nickelodeon or Disney Kids feature. I don’t blame anyone for not loving it.
Haha, I’ve already put on “November Rain” since last night. I do love that solo, though.
I really enjoyed watching this; definitely funny and thrilling. I think that it was missing a couple of scenes to really make the themes coherent. They showed shots of New Asgard hosting tourists for cash and signing treaties, but the most important regrowth being done in the village is clearly having all those Asgardian babies! Thor’s off-kilter ennui and aggression is clearly about not having a role in shaping the next generation, but they didn’t give us the connecting scene (or I missed it.) Even at the end, they chose to show Thor and the kid in a house that didn’t look recognizable from the village, and then flying off to another planet without waving goodbye to any neighbors or any other recognition from Asgard that Thor has figured out how to heal and truly be one of them again, not just their military gofer.
See, that may be just a fundamental difference in senses of humor. I thought it was funny once, but it went on far too long for my taste. My son said, “Screaming goats were funny about five years ago.”
This is stunningly accurate. Well done.
Yes. George Lucas is kind of the prototypical example of this, but I agree that it applies in a lot of cases.
Well my wife agrees with you that the goats were quickly annoying, so I may really be the outlier on that.
Pretty much all of the complaints I’ve heard about this one sound like positives in my book.
I liked the Goats…funny and annoying. The movie was a bit too silly for sure. Not enough drama or excitement for me. My kid liked it though and for me, that’s all that matters. 6 or so out of 10…if that.
The 19-year-old son (who grew up watching Marvel movies) and I both agreed it was a solid, fun, entertaining middle-of-the-pack Marvel movie. Not as good as the last Thor, still worlds better than the first two. Not a big Guns and Roses fan in the first place so really wish they’d gone a bit deeper into their catalog, at least. I don’t ever need to hear Welcome to the Jungle again. Ever.
They missed a huge opportunity by not having Sif’s arm wave to Jane in Valhalla.
I’m pretty much bored by CGI battles nowadays (Shang Chi was a notable recent exception), and I was feeling that way during the big one this time until the kids joined in. Then there was some fun stuff!
I saw that scene very differently. They weren’t living in the village with neighbors, but touring the galaxy in a spaceship. The spaceship interior looked like a hut, and they had the argument about what to wear for the “big day” as a fakeout on how Thor is now the “dadgod” living the simple life, before revealing that Love and Thunder are actually Space Vikings looking for trouble and helping those in need. (And also revealing that the title of the movie didn’t mean what you expected).
That was my take too.
Speaking of the end of the film, specifically the final post-credits scene, boy I hope that was just supposed to be some kind of feel good throwaway scene between Jane and Heimdall that’s never revisited, because literally exploring the afterlife or suggesting they’re bringing these characters back is an existential can of worms I don’t think Marvel can pull off. The Snap that became The Blip was one thing, that’s a pretty alien/sci-fi concept that’s just on its face so unbelievable it sorta works without challenging any belief system. Half of life was simply gone, then it was simply back. Exploring an afterlife where characters are literally still off having different adventures just on some other plane of existence after death—and potentially bringing them back—would be impossible to take seriously even in a world where “lol, gods are kinda just super powerful space beings” can work.
Ah, I think you’re right. It still strikes me as incongruent, but I wonder if I’m not supposed to care about the village and misreading.
TLDR: This had its good moments (the Jane story arc, the “jealous lovers,” various bits here and there.) But it also had other moments that were very definitely not good, including the fact that Thor feels both unlikeable and out of character for the first third of the movie. (As WhollySchmidt says, the start of this movie just tosses Thor’s character growth out the window.) It is a very mixed bag.
It’s down somewhere in the lower third of Marvel movies - not nearly as good as Dr. Strange 2, not as bad as The Eternals. Better or worse than Thor: The Dark World? Hmmm, hard to say without seeing both again, and I have no desire to rewatch either. Though Dark World had Loki and this does not.
Yeah, that accurately reflects how I feel. Though instead of cake, I’d use the fonts in the end credits as a metaphor for the movie as a whole. As the end credits roll, each name is in a different wildly ornate, over-the-top font. It’s possible to admire the energy and exuberance of someone who, when faced with making a choice between fonts, says, “Choice be damned! Put them all in!” while still feeling that, y’know, mashing all those fonts together just doesn’t work and that somebody who does this for a living kinda oughta already know that.
I absolutely loved this - God I had so much freaking fun watching it! I really clicked with the humor, my cheeks hurt from grinning the whole movie haha!
My wife and I thought this was pretty uneven, kind of dumb, but mostly inoffensive. The only thing that pissed me off is when Christian Bale did a silly voice. He was the best part of the movie and I wish they had kept it straight the whole time.
Speaking of which, I really liked him with a sword for some reason. Maybe the costuming or his poses. Those fights were my favorite part.
I thought they just barely saved it with the November Rain guitar solo.
I liked Christian Bale a lot in this actually. The character, the look, his performance, all of it. The only thing I didn’t like was his origin. That first confrontation between him and the golden god felt like it was between two characters in very different movies. Bale was taking it very seriously, that god was basically a dull cartoon of a character with no charisma and writing wasn’t helping. Just a total tonal clash. It put a bad taste in my mouth from the very start of the film, though I had more or less forgotten that part by the end. And the end was great! Not many last minute villain redemptions in the MCU. Kind of the anti-Thanos. The villain finally gets the power they’ve been seeking, why not use that for good instead of holding to their grim plan? Well in this case they do!