Thor: Love and Thunder

Yesterday afternoon I had the chance to see Thor: Love and Thunder and it is definitely very entertaining.  Gorr (Christian Bale) becomes disillusioned after losing his daughter so he begins wielding the Necrosword to take revenge against the gods for allowing it to happen and becomes known as the God Butcher.  Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is fighting along with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Korg (Taika Waititi) when he learns that New Asgard is Gorr's next target.  He returns with Stormbreaker to help King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) fight Gorr and his shadow creatures but is disconcerted to see his former girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) wielding a reconstructed Mjolnir after coming to New Asgard for reasons.  Thor, Valkyrie, Jane, and Korg are able to defeat Gorr but he escapes with all of New Asgard's children.  They appeal to Zeus (Russell Crowe) for help from the other gods but they must eventually travel to the Shadow Realm themselves to rescue the children and stop Gorr before he can reach Eternity to ask for the destruction of all of the gods at once.  This is very silly in tone (maybe a bit too silly in some places) but it has several powerful messages about choosing to love despite the possibility of loss and pain as well as the responsibility those in power have towards the people they are meant to serve.  I really enjoyed the beginning sequences recapping Thor's early history, his relationship with Jane, and his time with the Guardians of the Galaxy but the scenes with Zeus and the rest of the gods started to lose me.  Luckily, the third act is fantastic with great action and a resolution filled with more pathos than I was expecting.  Gorr is one of the best villains I've seen in the MCU (along with Killmonger from Black Panther) because, even though he is terrifying, Bale imbues him with a bit of humanity and I actually sympathized with him to some extent.  Hemsworth has great comedic timing but he also has quite a few moments that are quite touching and Portman does an outstanding job with her character's arc.  The visuals are dazzling and I loved the use of Guns N' Roses throughout, especially the guitar solo from "November Rain" during a climactic battle.  Despite the stumble in the second act, I had a lot of fun with this and, if you liked Thor: Ragnarok, I suspect you will like it, too!

Note:  The actors in the play all reprise their roles!  My favorite is still Loki but the addition of Hela made me laugh out loud!