When Taika Waititi picked up the directorial duties for the Thor franchise, it was a shot of adrenaline, blending ingenuity, sharp humor, and absurdity with the big action we came to expect from a Marvel movie. Perhaps more exciting was that it proposed a fresh direction for these movies to go. With Thor: Love and Thunder, Waititi continues to craft something that is within the Marvel system, but is also fresh and original and has his clear creative voice – and, funnily enough, is narrated with his own voice, as the character and sort-of sidekick to Thor, Korg. 

It’s touches like that, the funny narrations, the playful cinematography, the space for improvisation, and willingness to hold a beat for a joke, that add bits of joy to an already very fun experience. 

Since Thor Ragnarok, one of the really interesting things has been the way that Waititi has balanced literally world-ending, apocalyptic stakes with moments of pure silliness. Sure Asgard could end, but also, there’s some time for Hulk and Thor to hang out and make fun of each other. He takes that ability and escalates both the humor and the gravitas in this movie. 

Thor’s been through…a lot. Korg’s narration is obviously funnier, but you know that he has lost the people closest to him, lost the kingdom of Asgard, at some point lost an eye, and lost to Thanos. But since his Lebowski phase, he’s been saving the universe with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The trailer gives us about as much as we need to know, and the glorious opening sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film’s action. Thor goes off on a search for himself and runs into his ex. 

If we didn’t have a villain here, this could be a pretty funny rom-com where Thor finds himself re-connecting with old flame Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. We know one form in which we find the character from the trailers, but the depths that Portman gets to mine in her performance here are deep. The chemistry works and the moments between big sequences where Jane and Thor rekindle and establish new connections are just as powerful as fight scenes. 

Oh but the villain here is great. Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher jumps from the comic page and becomes even more interesting. I mean, at some point we have to accept that superhero movie villains want to destroy something massive, but Gorr’s motivations and methods are chilling and whenever Bale’s playing it up, you know that if tipped just slightly this could also have been bits of a horror movie. 

The basics of it are that Gorr holds a sword that has the power to kill gods. And he is going around the universe wreaking havoc by killing all the gods he can find. Thor recognizes the threat and decides to stop Gorr. Action ensues. 

And without spoiling too much, Jane picks up the once shattered Mjolnir, and herself becomes The Mighty Thor. This gives her powers that let her stand side by side with good old Odinson Thor. However, her using the powers also comes at a tremendous cost. 

When I went into the theater, I had to kind of agree with people who were complaining about superhero fatigue. Sure, I loved Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness but I also had to accept that, well, it felt like a piece of product in the larger system. Same with however much I loved the last Spider-Man flick, I could also feel the formula at work. The DC universe is hit and miss. And with stuff in movies, on streaming, even in podcasts, it’s hard to keep pace, let alone get excited by all of it. 

But from the trailer’s use of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine,” there was a promise made that this was going to be something different, something that wouldn’t follow the mold. And the film delivers on that promise. There are sequences here of just jaw-dropping ingenuity, like a beautifully shot and constructed battle scene in black and white, that show new ways to make superhero battles interesting. (And thank goodness this never descends into some CG-mess that looks like a mass of bits attacking another mass of bits and you don’t know what’s going on). 

Thor: Love and Thunder is a superhero movie, but it’s much more than that. The shifting of tones, the ability to contain different kinds of stories within it, and the exuberance in which it’s all done make it one of the most fun, if not the best superhero flick this year. I love when superhero films don’t take themselves so seriously and can have laughs. But also, when it’s time for a big fight, it knows how to do it. I thought that the final fight sequence in Ragnarok with Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” was the best thing. But this movie, it keeps making me update my thinking. – Rappler.com