It’s amazing how much Marvel content we consume. Between the comics, TV shows, and movies – it’s pretty much a constant at this point for many of us.
What’s even more amazing is that our appetite for stories about Marvel heroes has not waned yet. This past weekend Thor: Love and Thunder opened to a hefty $143 million, improving upon the last Thor movie (Ragnarok) and just a smidge behind Jurrasic World: Dominion for the 3rd biggest opening of the year. I was able to catch the film with my son on Tuesday night and here are my thoughts:
Love and Thunder is a lot of fun! We laughed quite a bit, and Chris Hemsworth continues to kill it – deftly going from goofy comedy to heroic action hero throughout the film. Natalie Portman does a great job as The Mighty Thor and Christian Bale broke my heart both at the beginning and the end of this film. (I have two daughters, and those kinds of scenes make me misty eyed every time.) Plus, he is plenty creepy doing the bad-guy thing during the rest of the movie.
There’s plenty of action, a few surprises and even though it ends exactly the way you expect it to, we certainly didn’t mind.
At this point, we know these characters pretty well and are rooting for Thor to find love, to succeed in his mission – so even though the plot is pretty straight-forward it still works because we are invested and eagerly awaiting to see what the next turn of events are for our Asgardian friends.
I definitely enjoyed Thor: Love and Thunder more than Doctor Strange 2. That’s not to say the movie is perfect – there are awkward scenes and sometimes the comedy doesn’t work. Occassionally it makes fun of itself so much that it sort of undermines the story itself. Overall it’s an enjoyable ride and will settle comfortably somewhere in the middle of the Marvel cannon.