This review will come off as very negative, but I had a decent time, laughed a lot, and was fairly entertained. As a big-time MCU fan though, Love and Thunder is highly disappointing, even more so for an OG Avenger.
For reference, I loved all of the previous Thor movies. Many people view the first two as bottom tier MCU but I think they're beastly and beautiful in a Shakespearian way, while also being funny and visually stunning. Then they went in a new direction with Ragnarok, and I was completely on board. I enjoyed the infusion of style and almost all of the humor works.
Love and Thunder goes so far past Ragnarok in every way. So much of it doesn't work for me. So much of the humor is predictable and goofy, to the point of bordering on cartoonish. And there isn't nearly enough serious to balance out the comedy. Combine that with some odd decisions later in the movie and... it kind of feels like they're turning Thor into a joke.
And don't get me started on a repeated joke involving two goats that made me think of Jar Jar. I didn't laugh the first time or the 20 times after.
Other than the comedy, a lot of Love and Thunder doesn't feel fully natural. Something feels off. The action scenes aren't memorable. By comparison, Ragnarok has multiple action scenes that make my jaw drop. There are some beautiful shots, but not nearly as often as the artwork in the previous ones.
But my biggest disappointment is the villain. I don't watch trailers and didn't know Christian Bale is in this movie. He is my favorite actor ever, and has been for the last 15 years. Even with all the amazing talent in this remarkable MCU cast list, IMO Bale stands out above them all. I was ecstatic...
Until I realized he's barely in the movie. He gives a great performance, but the script does not flesh him out, does not explore his character, and in effect, turns him into another forgettable MCU villain. Wasting Bale like this is a horrendous decision...
Especially after an amazing opening scene that made me think this movie might be on a different level. I can only imagine what could have been if 40% of the movie was dedicated to that character. I can only imagine how amazing it would have been if they treated the God Butcher like The Dark Knight treated Joker.
Why couldn't they balance out the serious and the funny? A good example: Guardians 2 is so funny and can get pretty goofy, but it has tons of serious and emotionally powerful scenes. Another example: Deadpool 2 is primarily a comedy but has SO many emotional moments, some to the point of tears.
IMO, Love and Thunder doesn't come close to the last two MCU movies (Multiverse of Madness and No Way Home). As it stands today, this is bottom 3 in the MCU for me.
EDIT: I decided to give this another shot. Sometimes it's easier the second time without the hype and knowing what to expect. But I felt pretty much the same. I enjoyed a lot of it, but the stuff I disliked bothered me just as much.
The two things that stood out to me the second time around, Bale's performance is amazing and they are idiots for underutilizing him. And the goats are the single worst thing in the entire MCU. Changing rating from 6 to 5 stars. (2 viewings, opening Thursday IMAX 7/7/2022, IMAX 7/20/2022)
