{"id":24986,"date":"2022-07-07T14:09:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24986"},"modified":"2022-07-07T14:09:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:09:05","slug":"thor-love-and-thunder-ekes-out-enough-laughs-and-drama-to-earn-a-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24986","title":{"rendered":"THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Ekes Out Enough Thrills to Earn a Recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 125 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Marvel Studios and Disney opens at\ncinemas on Friday, July 8th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, the rule with film series is that they\ntend to get weaker and weaker with each subsequent title. One exception to the\nrule has been the Marvel Thor<\/em> franchise. While all the movies featuring\nthis superhero have provided thrills, it\u2019s fair to say many would agree that\nthe third feature Thor: Ragnarok<\/em> (2017) most deftly combined action,\nsuspense and healthy dose of laughs. Thor: Love and Thunder<\/em> is the\nfourth and latest chapter in the ongoing series. Truthfully, this sequel\ndoesn\u2019t match its predecessor, but is still effective enough to impress and not\nfeel like an unnecessary add-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the previous chapter, the home world of Thor (Chris\nHemsworth) ended up being destroyed. In the years since, survivors have\nresettled on Earth in New Asgard under the leadership of King Valkyrie (Tessa\nThompson), while the superhero has been traversing the universe assisting\nothers (and trying to shed some pounds from the last Avengers<\/em> movie).\nDespite keeping busy, Thor feels lonely and lost, navel-gazing and wondering\nwhy he hasn\u2019t been able to make a lasting love connection. His personal crisis\nis put on hold when the dangerous figure Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale)\nemerges with the power to kill any god using his magical blade. Thor returns to\nEarth and finds that Gorr has targeted New Asgard. The hero gets another\nsurprise after learning that ex-girlfriend\/astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie\nPortman) has assumed the Thor mantle and is now wielding his hammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like the previous installment, this effort attempts to\ncombine superhero drama with an equal dose of absurdist humor. Despite this,\nthe film does begin with a decidedly serious prologue containing an origin\nstory for Gorr. It’s a strikingly shot sequence that makes a strong impression.\nThis character is intriguing and a stand-out among foes in the Marvel Universe.\nMany villains in these types of features don\u2019t make a lasting impression and\ncome across as overly exaggerated. Thankfully, Bale manages to imbue his\nintense character with controlled fury and pathos that results in a memorable\nvillain. His behavior is intimidating and adds plenty of gravatas to the\nproceedings. And as the plot unfolds, there\u2019s also some heavier drama involving\nJane Foster and her rationale for becoming a superhero.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much of the emotional and dramatic stakes work surprisingly\nwell, but the attempts at humor are uneven. A montage featuring Thor and what\nhe has been up to over the past few years includes a rapid-fire succession of\nmostly amusing gags. And once again, the title character and other gods\nfeatured in the story are consistently poked fun at for their giant egos and\npersonal insecurities. This all works well and there\u2019s some funny material\nwhenever Thor attempts to awkwardly share his feelings and maintain an air of\nself-importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But other jokes feel rushed and don\u2019t land as effectively.\nPart of the problem may have something to do with the fact that the movie is\ncut together at such a fast pace. Some of the lighter moments come across in a\njarring fashion when they follow attempts at more serious drama only seconds\nearlier. Of course, a moment of levity via a curious observation typically\nworks in a tense moment, but here there is so much jumping back and forth that\nthe movie does struggle to maintain a consistent tone. The film may have\nbenefitted from a longer breath between these transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, over time this franchise seems to have developed its own specific style (likely due to director\/co-writer Taika Waititi) that generally works and differentiates itself from other Marvel properties. Plenty of jokes do work, the action itself is impressive to behold and the new antagonist is a noteworthy one. Additionally, the story\u2019s attempts to add some emotional heft to the proceedings is effective. So, while it doesn\u2019t hit a bullseye like the previous sequel, Thor: Love and Thunder<\/em> is still a decent entry that justifies further adventures with the legendary superhero. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 125 minutes This feature from Marvel Studios and Disney opens at cinemas on Friday, July 8th. Generally speaking, the rule with film series is that they tend to get weaker and weaker with each subsequent title. One exception to the rule has been the Marvel Thor franchise. While all the movies featuring this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,697,785,4304,4336,4668,5922,7314,8824,13333,13341,14590,19362,19777,22786,22788,22790,22791,22792,22793],"class_list":["post-24986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-chris-hemsworth","tag-christian-bale","tag-comic-book","tag-disney","tag-fantasy","tag-hammer","tag-marvel","tag-marvel-universe","tag-natalie-portman","tag-superhero","tag-tessa-thompson","tag-thor","tag-thor-4","tag-thor-love-and-thunder","tag-thor-love-and-thunder-film-review","tag-thor-love-and-thunder-movie-review","tag-thor-love-and-thunder-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}