Many people have been claiming that Top Gun Maverick is the movie of the Summer, and it may be the quintessential Summer Blockbuster, but they are wrong. It does have one of, if not the biggest movie star, Tom Cruise, who has been doing it longer and harder than anyone in the business, and it does have that Summertime patriotism about America rising up above the rest, and to top that, it comes in a military movie that is a legacy sequel to the original Top Gun. So if a person were to create criteria for what the stereotypical Summer Blockbuster would be, Top Gun Maverick would be that movie, but stereotypes are dead! Give me Thor Love and Thunder!
Thor is back for the fourth instalment in his franchise, or third, if you, like many others completely disregard the steaming garbage heap known as Thor the Dark World, which is largely viewed as the worst MCU film. The past two Thor films have smashed stereotypical hero flicks, which is why it is the perfect film to break the mold of traditional Summertime Blockbusters. This rock infused alien war, and fight to save the universe, takes many traditional hero tropes, and adds a special flare to them, all backed by Guns N’ Roses.
The movie starts in a desert with Gorr and his young daughter, two devout worshippers of a god, but after Gorr’s daughter dies, he quickly finds out that the god he has worshipped is not as benevolent as he would have liked, in fact his god was an outright ass. So like any good father would do, he takes out his vengeance out on the god, and he slays him with the newly acquired Necrosword, the god killing weapon. Not satisfied with the slaying of just one god, Gorr goes on a murdering rampage of other gods, but his ultimate goal is to make it to Eternity and have the power to destroy all of the gods with a single wish.
Then he attacks the New Asgard, and meets his match when he faces Thor, Valkyrie, Korg, and the new Mighty Thor (Thor’s ex-girlfriend Jane Foster). Jane has stage four cancer, but she was called by Mjolnir, which when she is wielding it, makes her feel invincible, and the cancer fades away, until she lets go of the hammer again. Gorr takes the children of New Asgard, and the crew is left to find out where Gorr is taking them, and they need a way to defeat Gorr and his shadows. So they seek help from the congregation of the gods, but specifically Zeus, who turns out to be an incompetent leader, who acts in a dated and repulsive showy manner. After stealing Zeus’s thunderbolt, the gang must now go face Gore in the Shadow Realm, before he enters Eternity and takes all of the gods down.
This movie is literally a story of light verse dark, or in the case of this film, bright verse dark, because the colors are so vibrant. Gorr was initially a sun crisped man wandering the desert in search of water, but once he becomes Gorr the God Butcher, he becomes one with the shadows. His skin turns a very light gray, almost white, and he walks around in a similarly colored cloak, and he has control over the shadows. There is darkness inside him, and he brings it everywhere he goes. This is contrasted starkly with every other character in this film, whose personalities are bright, their outfits are colorful, and they spread joy everywhere they go. One of the best choices that is made during the film, is when they go to the Shadow Realm, and everything turns black and white, except for the burst of power from the weapons that the Thors and their allies are brandishing. Showing the light and color that they bring to the dark, but sometimes, it can be hard to overcome the darkness.
Another great scene is when Gorr comes into the cage that is holding the children. This really shows Christian Bale’s acting chops. He plays a deranged God Killer so well. It takes someone special to act in a way that is disturbing enough to terrify a cage full of children. It reminded me of the new It movies. He acts in a way that is very similar to Pennywise. From the glowing yellow eyes to his cadence. Even the way his voice sounds reminds me of Pennywise, it was chilling to watch.
The brightness is really shown off in the outfits, and Thor goes through quite a few outfit changes. The best one is his first one, a black and red vest with studs on it, which he is wearing over a sleeveless white shirt, that looks like it has a band logo on it with jeans on the bottom, all while wielding an axe demolishing alien birds, an opening scene that really draws you in for the action and the comedy. Then later in the film, he switches to a suit closer to his typical hero garb, but it is royal blue and shiny, a gorgeous piece of costume making. Mighty Thor also has a very shiny suit that she shows off throughout, and although Valkyrie is not in a bright suit, she is the main one wielding the thunderbolt, the most vibrant of the weapons in its golden yellow majesty. There are a variety of costume changes throughout for everyone, but they all hit, including Thor being in toga.
The brightness was even shown off in the blood. For a PG-13 movie, there is a good amount of blood, but they circumnavigate the blood rule in an interesting and fun way. The blood being spilled in this movie, is often coming from gods and beasts, so it is not your normal scarlet affair. This started in the first scene, when Gorr butchered his first god, he stabs him in the throat, and instead of a red waterfall, a thick gold liquid pours out, and it turns what is normally a gruesome kill into something more artistic. This continues throughout the movie, kills that would normally be gruesome, like the slashing apart of monsters, turns into something colorful, because the blood of these shadowy figures is purple instead of red. The best example is the throne room fight in front of Zeus. Zeus has a small troop of golden guards to act as his protectors in the court, and when the battle begins between Thor and his friends against them, it turns into a golden Jackson Pollock painting. Their clothes and skin become splattered with the golden blood of the guards, which only adds to their outfits. There is blood splatter in the new Doctor Strange in the typical sense, but this movie becomes way more creative with violence and turns it into art.
Jane Foster, who at times is Mighty Thor, has stage four cancer, which is the worst form of cancer there is to have, and it is almost certainly a death sentence, unless there is a medical miracle that occurs. Her medical miracle that initially seems like it is helping her to heal is Mjolnir, when she is wielding it, it makes her fully healthy, and it basically turns her into a god. The problem is that when she lets go of the hammer, she turns back into her cancer having self, and as the movie progresses, it becomes clear that possessing the hammer is not helping her in the long run, she is actually weakening when she returns to her normal self. This raises a question that is sadly all too common with late-stage cancer patients. Is it better to live your normal life for as long as possible knowing that it is a death sentence, or hope for a medical miracle, and get beat up by drugs like Chemotherapy that slowly disintegrate the person that you were, and turn you into a withered version of yourself, and hope against all odds that it beats the disease? An impossible choice if there ever was one. If you do not take treatment, death is certain, and if you take treatment, there is the smallest fraction of a chance you live, but the treatment will beat your body to hell, and odds are you still die. Even the smallest fraction of the chance of survival makes it an impossible decision.
When Gorr the God Butcher kills his first god, I was honestly on his side. His daughter had just died, and the god he had been serving, which led to the death of his daughter, had been a narcissist. When Gorr talked to his god, he wanted a reassurance of an afterlife, and he wanted at least a small pat on the back for all that he had done to serve his lord, but instead he just got laughed at and demeaned. This would make anyone upset. If a person spent their whole life worshiping a god, and when they finally met that god, and the god said there is no afterlife for them, and they were unimportant, anyone would snap. If you are religious, it is a scary thought to have. You might do all of this work and follow all of these rules, only to get laughed at and be sent into nothingness.
The movie continues to not paint gods in the best of light, when they go to the assembly of the gods. They have a showy incompetent leader in Zeus, who represents someone being in power because they are popular, but they have no idea how to run a government. In this case, all of the other gods go along with him, because he is so powerful. Not the best model for government. Also Zeus runs his operation on out dated values. He says many things that are not acceptable, and everyone there seems to be okay with the God Butcher, as long as they are not the ones being butchered. A true sense of entitlement. It is very reminiscent of the U.S government, and it is sad and sickening. As long as the people making the laws do not feel threatened, then they do not care about the rest of us.
Taika Waititi has become one of my favorite directors over the past couple of years. He does a great job of telling emotional stories, but he does them in a heartwarming way. Two of the best films I have watched recently are Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for Wilderpeople. Both of these movies told serious stories. Jojo takes place in Germany during World War II, and is about a kid, Jojo, who finds out that his mom has been harboring a Jewish girl in their house, and Jojo feels conflicted about this, but it turns into a story about family and acceptance. The Hunt for Wilderpeople is similar. It is the story of Ricky, a very troubled young teen. He has been thrown out of school, and he has no family to turn to except for some extended family out in the rural countryside, and he hates it, but eventually he comes to love his family, and he needs their help. These were both touching stories that brought tears to my eyes, and I would highly recommend watching both immediately.
Waititi is also putting his stamp on the superhero genre. This is his second movie in the Thor series, and he set a high standard with his first instalment, Thor Ragnarök. It is close to the top of many people’s MCU rankings. It is different than almost any other superhero movie, and it stands alone in the MCU. One of the biggest ways in which it separates itself from other MCU films is its brightness. The colors in these movies are so vibrant, and the MCU is known for its comedy, but Waititi brings it to the next level and is simply hilarious. He even plays one of the characters, and he does an excellent job raising the vibes. Lastly, he has brought some gay story lines into the MCU, which is important to create this on screen in movies that so many people see, especially after the backlash Lightyear received. We still have a long way to go when it comes to acceptance. He has not only brought awareness to the MCU, but he also had a very funny show on HBO Max called Our Flag Means Death, which was about a group of pirates, and the two main ones fell in love. Anything he makes is very funny and well worth watching.
This was a very good movie. It was so fun to watch, there have only been three movies that have made me do a small golf clap in my chair and quietly cheer to myself this year. In first, is The Northman, which I was almost actively cheering and clapping despite no one else doing so, because it had me so hyped up. Second was The Batman, which if you went to an opening day screening, you cannot help but clap and cheer, and third was this movie, it was that captivating and enjoyable. It also had some emotionally strong moments. It did not quite hit the highs of No Way Home, and some of the other top tier MCU films, but it did come close, but it never choked me up. It did add two new additions to the MCU that will never be forgotten, and those are the two giant goats. They screamed their lungs out, and they played a pivotal plot role and provided comedic relief. A true star performance by the goats. The whole film was tied together with some excellent needle drops from Guns N’ Roses. Most people think that Ragnarök is better than this, but I think that this one is better! I highly recommend going to see this movie in theaters. Do not wait until it drops on to Disney+! I give this 4 Stars! Go see it!!!
Conclusion Goats, Music
Other Movies This Week:
It Follows: It starts to follow you, after with you have sex with the person that It is following. A simple concept, and it is executed excellently. The suspense is killer and the music hits hard!
New Rankings:
Thor Love and Thunder: 4 Stars
It Follows: 4 Stars
Picture Source: Marvel.com
Comments