Thor: Love and Thunder is a film co-written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Marvel Studios. It has Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale in the lead roles while Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe, Jaimie Alexander and others play supporting roles.
After Thor saves a planet along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, he receives a distress message from Sif following an attack by Gorr, a destroyer of Gods. The next target is Asgard, Thor's own planet and he has to save it somehow with the help of Valkyrie, and Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman). The battle ends with Gorr taking the children of the planet as hostage, and Thor embarks on a mission to save them all.
During the journey he also realises what his purpose in life is, and why he is a superhero, and the film equally invests time in this internal journey. Director-writer Taika Waititi has proven in films like Jojo Rabbit that he can handle emotions and humour equally well, but that doesn't seem to be the case in Thor: Love and Thunder. The first half is full of humour and the second half is dumped with all the emotional scenes.
This compartmentalization of emotions looks formulaic, and makes a film a tad artificial. Out of these, the emotional scenes work far better than the humorous ones. A lot of jokes fall flat due to lack of timing, while the chemistry between Thor and Jane, and the way Thor behaves with the Stormbreaker are the film's best portions. The previous Thor film, Thor: Ragnarok was completely unique, but Taika Waititi robs the franchise of that uniqueness in Love and Thunder.
What makes the film watchable is the performances of the leads, especially Christian Bale. He is almost unidentifiable as Gorr, and the physical transformation is unimaginable by any other actor. Chris Hemsworth carries the character of Thor with his usual swagger and casual attitude. Natalie Portman too excels in the action and emotional scenes with complete ease, and showcases why she's one of the best actresses out there.
Technically, Thor looks like any other Marvel movie with high production value, and top notch cinematography and music. The film is quite fast paced and it's runtime is also limited. This helps the engagement well, despite the jarring tonal shifts. Sometimes the fast pace also makes you feel that things are rushed and a few moments could have sustained for a longer duration.
Overall, the writing feels a bit shallow and the lack of mass moments could be disappointing for Marvel Fans. However a killer mid-credits scene does more than enough to hype us up for the next Thor film, setting up a mouthwatering clash with... (no spoilers) As for this film, one can definitely enjoy watching this, but the satisfaction after that is completely subjective.