Thor: Love and Thunder debuted to surprisingly mixed reviews, which was somewhat surprising when Thor: Ragnarok remains one of Marvel Studios' most critically acclaimed blockbusters.
During its second week of release, the sequel plummeted by 68% at the domestic box office, an indication that fans are as split on the movie as critics. It's by no means a flop, but it's clear that mistakes were made. Between Thor's increased popularity and Waititi's solid track record, the God of Thunder's latest adventure should easily be soaring higher than Top Gun: Maverick.
So, what went wrong?
That's what we're taking a closer look at today as we delve into Thor: Love and Thunder's biggest blunders and missteps. Marvel Studios and Taika Waititi made some major mistakes with this movie, all of which we think could have been easily avoided...and hopefully, won't be repeated!
To take a look through this feature, all you guys need to do is click on the "Next" button below!
5. The Movie Doesn't Really Achieve Anything
The God of Thunder was put through the wringer in Thor: Ragnarok, and that continued in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. By the end of the latter, the hero appeared to make peace with failing to stop Thanos, but this movie takes him straight back to square one and leads us to believe Thor has spent all this time pining for Jane Foster.
It does mostly work thanks to those emotional time-travel scenes in Avengers: Endgame, but once all is said and done, Thor has overcome his feelings of sadness and become a "dad." That might sound like a big deal, but with Eternity used as a glorified MacGuffin here, we're not sure why we should care about a newly created character having that entity's powers.
Thor: Love and Thunder feels more like filler than an important chapter in this character's story, and it doesn't feel like this new status quo will make any real difference to the MCU. Valkyrie is also very much in the same position as she was at the start, and while we're excited to see Hercules in action, even that debut doesn't quite hit the mark after Zeus was made a punchline.
4. Too Much Of A Good Thing
Taika Waititi's comedic stylings usually work really well, and he deserves a lot of credit for essentially saving the Thor franchise with 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. However, his unique brand of humour might have taken this series back to square one as the endless series of jokes do Thor: Love and Thunder no favours.
Almost every serious moment is undermined by another gag, most of which really aren't very funny. The movie does a great job of establishing Zeus as an idiot, but takes it too far by having him appear like a credible threat in one scene, only to show him prancing down the stairs moments later. Even Jane Foster's cancer battle is punctuated with bad comedy!
Korg's increased presence is also an issue. Waititi's schtick is wearing thin, and if you can find any differences between this character and the one he plays in Lightyear, then you've earned yourself a No-Prize. Both behind and in front of the camera, it feels like Thor: Love and Thunder simply gives us too much of the actor and filmmaker.
3. Gorr Is A Bore
When Marvel Studios managed to convince former Batman Christian Bale to return to the superhero genre as Gorr the God Butcher, it felt like we were guaranteed a truly great take on this formidable villain. The actor certainly does his best, but with nowhere near enough screentime and a tonal clash with the rest of this movie, the character proves to be a disappointment.
Thor: Love and Thunder is such a balls-to-the-wall comedy that Bale occasionally comes across as parody, even when that's obviously not the intention. We know big scenes with The Grandmaster and Eitri were scrapped, but even if Bale hadn't let that slip, we'd still be convinced much of his work ended up on the cutting room floor.
The villain's plan only just makes sense, but it's hard not to wonder whether Axl's abilities were once used to better explain why Gorr would kidnap those children. Regardless, one of Thor's greatest comic book villains was handled awfully here, and it's going to take us a long time to forgive Marvel Studios for lumbering us with Malekith 2.0.
2. It's Becoming Hard To Take Thor Seriously
While we appreciate many of you didn't enjoy seeing the God of Thunder heading down a comedic route in Thor: Love and Thunder, we'd argue that it was the best possible move back in 2017. Thor had been hit-and-miss, while Thor: The Dark World's attempts to take the hero down the fantasy route just didn't work.
Something needed to be done, and the last two Avengers movies built on what Waititi started by allowing Thor to be funny and serious. Thor: Love and Thunder, however, makes him a full-blown goofball, riding Stormbreaker like a witch's broom, doing the splits, and generally coming across more gormless than God-like.
As a result, Marvel Studios is making it hard to take the hero seriously. There are some undeniably fantastic emotional moments in this movie, particularly when it comes to Thor's relationship with Jane. We'd have loved to see more of that, as it would have gone a long way towards ensuring the journey he's taken on resonated in a more meaningful way.
1. Shorter Runtimes Aren't Working
We're going to make another statement many of you may take umbrage with: Eternals did not deserve to be Marvel Studios' first and only Rotten movie (especially compared to the likes of Iron Man 2, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and, hell, Thor: Love and Thunder, to some extent).
The studio has definitely had something of a knee-jerk reaction to the negative response to Chloe Zhao's film, and, in particular, the common complaint that Eternals was too long. At over two and a half hours, we can't necessarily disagree, but Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder both being a meagre two hours can't be a mere coincidence.
Heading down the route of shorter runtimes is simply not the answer. The Doctor Strange sequel barely scratched the surface of the Multiverse, while this movie doesn't have time to do its characters or story justice. The whole thing feels rushed, with montages glazing over key plot points and a lot of story clearly left on the cutting room floor.