Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

  Ah, summer blockbuster season.  Still a little anemic thanks to the pandemic that no one wants to acknowledge, but ongoing nonetheless.

After a series of setbacks and losses, Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself at loose ends.  Even traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy has paled, so when he hears of a new villain named Gorr (Christian Bale) tearing through the various pantheons in a quest to kill all gods, he leaps at the chance to return home.  In his absence, New Asgard has become a tourist town, run reluctantly but competently by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), until Gorr steals all the Asgardian children.  Thor expects to step in and be the hero once more, but finds he has unexpected competition from his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has become The Mighty Thor, wielder of Mjolnir.  Jane is using Mjolnir's magic to stave off her cancer while she looks for a cure, enthusiastically wearing the Thor mantle if a little inexpertly.  The three superheroes travel to a conclave of the gods to spread the warning of Gorr the God-Butcher and hopefully raise an army to rescue the kids.

This was not as good as Ragnarok.  It was never going to be.  The hype was just too much to surmount.  Honestly, I don't think it's as good as Thor, though it's still slightly better than The Dark World.  The problem remains the same:  Marvel has never known what to do with Jane.  They tried Basic Love Interest, Unwitting Power Vessel, and Dame Not-Appearing-in-This-Film and it just all falls flat.  There was a shot here with Jane as Equal Power Level but they whiffed it by still trying to tack on Basic Love Interest v2* (Now with Tragic Overtones!).  It didn't feel organic and the connection --or re-connection in this case-- felt forced.  I think they would have been better served by having Thor and Mighty Thor come to terms with each other as exes they still have to work with.  That's a fascinating dynamic that has never been explored in any of the movies.

So, as a superhero movie, only 2.5 stars.  As a comedy, I'd give it 4.  It is candy-colored, slapstick silliness with whiplash turns to Bale's evil kidnapper menacing a cart full of children like he's auditioning for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  The Korg schtick is starting to grate on my nerves, and having him voiceover the beginning and end as well as play a side character was a little too much for me.  But your mileage may vary.  It's currently playing in theaters but I'm sure it'll be on Disney+ in a couple of months.