Thor: Love and Thunder

It's a complete mess with a polymorphous narrative structure, where everything is being slaughtered. Unfortunately, that also applies to the visuals. It's clear that Waititi is primarily a toymaker and it doesn't matter what happens on screen, what's important is how it looks and if it's funny, even with Christian Bale putting himself forward as a potentially interesting villain. It looks average, it's funny only sometimes – like 5 or 6 good lines and gags and then when Russell Crowe enjoys his cameo as a chubby Zeus, and conceptually it's still the same, give or take. The next installment will need a different director, unless the producers plan to dump this god altogether. (23/07/2022)

Forget about Raimi’s Doctor Strange. Yes, this Thor may be mostly colourful and goofy at first glance, but Taika Waititi is such a stud that he doesn't have to give up his style to tell a serious story that will be very important to Thor again, and that will fail to touch perhaps only audiences with a heart more stony than Korg's. It'd be a shame to give anything away or imply anything, because the trailers are far from revealing everything. But it's a joy to see Marvel back in full force, which means a brilliantly shot great story (compared to the aforementioned Strange, it's not only funnier, but even more horrific and has the perfect villain), whose end credits make it clear you're not going to get bored of it. (08/07/2022)

The hysteria around this film it’s pointless, I didn't find it any worse than Waititi's previous entry. It's almost heretically disrespectful to the comic book genre, it doesn't take itself seriously at all, and as someone bored to death with most Marvel movies who sees the whole of Phase 4 as a degradation of everything the entire Marvel universe stands for, this film actually made me happy. No one speaks seriously, no one delivers pathetic speeches, and if anything, you can feel Waititi's irony in it; Gun´n´Roses gives it the right note of rebellion, and the annoying goats that a lot of people complain about take up only minimal space. Bale's Gorr is great, he has a believable dramatic arc, and Russell Crowe and his lard-soaked character finally got a meaningful use, I enjoyed his Zeus a lot. Normally I'd give 3*, but I'm rooting for crazy nerds like Taika, cinema needs people like him. (25/09/2022)

Phase 4 is without a doubt Marvel’s weakest – Black Widow, Eternals and Dr. Strange are all mediocre comic book movies and it shows in the ratings (the days when every new Marvel movie was in red are over). The new Thor may not be a revolution, but it is definitely the most fun and the best of the aforementioned three. I would have preferred to see someone other than Taika Waititi in the director's chair, his style doesn't suit me that well, I wasn't too keen on Ragnarok either, probably because it was too similar to Star Wars, but I enjoyed Love and Thunder. The plot is simple and it doesn't bring anything particularly interesting to the MCU universe, which is a bit disappointing, but as a fun, colorful, funny and effective blockbuster it works reliably. The chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman is awesome, Christian Bale plays a solid creepy villain for the first time in a long time in a Marvel movie, Gorr the God Butcher. He stole all the scenes to himself and added some darkness to all that colour. The humour is rather juvenile but there were a few laughs (Korg and the goats were the most entertaining – their roars always made me laugh). the music was also good and the emotions work in the end. The action isn't exactly spectacular and it's not my style, but it suits the film. (I have no idea if I will ever get more intimate and contact action like in Captain America: Winter Soldier). I was disappointed with Russell Crowe as Zeus. Story 3/5. Action 4/5, Humor 4/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 4/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 4/5. 6.5/10. (07/07/2022)

An even bigger Thor: Ragnarok than Ragnarok itself. Overloaded action, 80s explosions, workable pathos, and a standard of taste trampled somewhere in the dirt. Thor has found the utmost limits of self-parody in his quest, and even though the public doesn't need to know him like this anymore, I couldn't be happier. It was a bold choice to alternate between the most infantile lines, the almost melancholic mood, and a theatrically demonic enemy, one that's not worth trying to overcome because it might not even be possible without disrupting the entire concept. (29/12/2022)