Review: Thor: Love and Thunder

Story By: Mags Flory

“Thor: Love and Thunder” follows Thor Odinson played by Chris Hemsworth, King Valkyrie played by Tessa Thompson, and returning Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman on a mystic adventure to hunt down Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale, before he reaches Eternity, and kills all the gods. 

“Thor: Love and Thunder” won its audiences this summer by continuing the mythology of the Thor Franchise in Marvel’s “Phase 4.” The story follows our heroes with a similar atmosphere and mood to “Thor: Ragnarok,” where the dark and gloom are thrown out the window without taking away from Thor’s trauma and the story’s main conflict. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is simultaneously fun but still maintains the heavy conflicts that we all know and love. 

In this movie we see Natalie Portman reprise her role as Jane Foster but completely reimagined. Jane is seen battling with cancer and in a desperate attempt to cure it she goes to New Asgard and assumes the mantle of Thor. Unfortunately, we see that being there really isn’t doing Jane any good, it is actually draining her and killing her faster. This is a great representation of someone with a chronic illness still fighting for good even if it kills them. This is Marvel banking on the rise of strong female superhero figures.

The villain in “Thor: Love and Thunder” is Gorr the God Butcher, who lost his daughter in the name of a god, and the god not caring ends in Gorr taking his life. Gorr is another one of marvel’s villains we can’t help but fall in love with. He did everything in his power to save his daughter but fails in the end, in doing so he sees the wrath of the gods and deems them unfit to help people. In the end, Gorr brings his daughter back but in doing so he dies. On his deathbed, Gorr puts his trust back into a god, Thor, begging him to take care of his daughter. Thor does, he keeps his promise and ends up raising the girl, not as his own but as her uncle.

This proves that not everything is black and white. Not all evil is evil for bad reasons, sometimes people do evil things for good reasons. “Thor: Love and Thunder” explores the themes of sacrifice, love, good and evil, and perseverance.