Thor has always been the Marvel Cinematic Universes' most inconsistent character. After the rocky start of his first two solo entries, Chris Hemsworth found the characters' feet and established the God of Thunder in his third adventure, Ragnarok (and subsequent Avenger team-up features, particularly Infinity War), as a charismatic hero overcoming various tragedies with a sense of optimism. Thor: Love and Thunder had the makings of a victory lap for the character,
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Thor (Hemsworth) responds to a distress call from a planet attacked by Gorr (Christian Bale), the self-proclaimed God Butcher, yielding a sword with dangerous powers. Alongside Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has been granted the powers of Thor by Mjolnir as she attempts to fight an aggressive cancer diagnosis, the team seeks to save New Asgard's children before Gorr's plan can unravel.
Given the success of Thor: Ragnarok, and the need for Marvel to steady the ship with a reliable figure as Phase Four seeks to introduce newer, lesser-known heroes with an eye on the future of the franchise, Thor: Love and Thunder makes sense. As a somewhat more self-contained entry that operates as a glorified epilogue to the original Thor trilogy while relying on a well-established and fondly-embrace formula married together by a quirky duo, Love and Thunder should have been the safest bet in the fourth phase wheelhouse. But unfortunately, lightning doesn't always strike twice.
Rather symbolically reflected in the opening act, when the Guardians of the Galaxy quickly dip after fulfilling their contractual obligations, there's a tiredness coursing through Love and Thunder that makes the whole endeavor feel more like a chore than a film ever should be - a "let's get this over and done with shall we". Lacking the energy and excitement that these blockbuster tentpoles thrive on, the strong narrative direction that would embed some meaning into the events, and any strong thematic depth or emotional resonance, Love and Thunder is a major misfire for Marvel.
Waititi's screenplay, co-written alongside Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, is overstuffed, with a handful of underdeveloped narrative threads cluttered together without the space or time taken to develop them in a meaningful, impactful way. Take Bale's Gorr for example, rather brilliantly played with real potential, but never given the scope or opportunity to reach the promising levels set by the film's prologue - arguably the film's strongest scenes. With no clear goal for the film in the wider scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, little character development, and an emotional core that feels somewhat hollow given both its inevitability and how hastily we reach it, the whole film seems rickety, failing to commit to anything wholeheartedly and suffering as a result.
Waititi's work as director doesn't fare much better either. Tonally, Love and Thunder's slapstick approach is often at the expense of the drama, action and emotion, overplaying forced gags - those damn goats! - that distract from superior moments that end up missing the mark. Where the MCU has thrived in the past is in incorporating different genres into the superhero template but here, buoyed by the success of Ragnarok, Waititi tries to offer up a carbon copy - but with fewer laughs and less of the magic that made that installment a success, the comedown is felt even harder. He does find greatness in one scene though: the Shadowrealm sequence is really terrific work.
Hemsworth continues to play himbo Thor well, even when overegged by a screenplay that pushes the silliness too far and the character begins to regress towards an earlier, less accomplished version of himself that undoes Ragnarok and Infinity War's development in particular. No matter how hard Portman tries, Jane Foster remains one of the more laborious characters in the MCU, with her hurried transition into Mighty Thor too rushed to really appreciate.
Thompson is the glue holding this film together, a vivacious presence who cultivates brilliant chemistry with anyone and everyone she could share a scene with. At this moment in time, the MCU should really be placing stock in her Valkyrie as the franchise's future. And as mentioned, Bale's work is terrific but Gorr could have risen to the villain's echelon if the screenplay had spent more time developing him as the imposing threat that Bale could so capably achieve.
Thor: Love and Thunder's greatest enemy is self-indulgence. Taika Waititi lets the acclaim of Ragnarok dictate too much of the tone, and without the impressive gags to lift it up, an overarching goal, or the demonstration of any restraint, it massively falters. With Waititi's idiosyncratic style wearing so thin, despite the best efforts of the cast, Love and Thunder is proof that lightning doesn't always strike twice.