Thor: Love & Thunder

★★★1/2

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

We are already way past the point by a few movies where making a synopsis for a Marvel film would inevitably spoil any other Marvel film that came before that you haven’t seen. I will only say that this one takes place after Avengers: Endgame (2019, #22 film/show) and not Thor: Ragnarok (2017, #17 film/show). And I don’t think a synopsis like “after the defeat of Thanos, god of thunder Thor goes on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find new purpose in his life after seceding his throne to Valkyrie, but returns to New Asgard to find a reconstructed Mjolnir in the hands of a new master, ex-girlfriend Jane Foster” is going to be of help to any newcomers. Yes, the MCU has literally become homework.

To the initiated, Thor: Love and Thunder is the direct response to the enthusiasm over Ragnarok’s revision of the Thor sub-franchise, meaning more Flash Gordon-esque goofy, irreverent humour and Thor behaving like a buffoon while saving the universe. I wasn’t a fan of that in Ragnarok; it was enjoyable and refreshing, but I’ve always preferred the space regal drama. So it’s amusing to now see people complaining online about the very thing they enjoyed and wanted more of from Ragnarok and wanting Thor to go back to the Branagh version, which they also once said was boring or going stale. Personally, I still think this is the right direction for Thor since there really isn’t a more compelling direction that they could go with the character that will appeal to mass audiences. The other inevitable move would be to end the run of films and put Thor on the bench with the other reserves like Hulk and Hawkeye.

Love and Thunder is still a fun and funny film. I won’t deny I didn’t have a few LOL moments, especially with a pair of animals and an unexpected (to me) cameo from an actor I’ve always liked. Christian Bale was great as Gor the God Butcher albeit underused, unsurprisingly. There are touching moments, and even cleverness in parts. Nice to see Natalie Portman return to do something more than just ogle at Hemsworth’s pecs.

Some complaints. The plot felt pretty inconsequential, especially when you are made to feel unsympathetic towards the beings who are under threat in this story. Some people complained about the story being a “fetch quest” akin to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Many movies have been fetch quests, and I have no issues with that plot contrivance, except when it feels like an afterthought. There’s a difference between characters being motivated to advance to Point B, and simply being told to go to Point B for no compelling reason other than because the story needs to progress.

That said, I don’t think the sky is falling on the MCU. The Marvel movies have always been entertainment for mass audiences that occasionally elevates above expectations in terms of storytelling and acting performances. Unfortunately, Love and Thunder isn’t one of those occasions, but it is still an expectedly enjoyable outing.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Top Gun: Maverick

★★★★★

No spoilers

I have only seen the original once decades ago. I only remember the bare gist of the plot. There’s a bunch of hotshot Navy pilots. Something happens and someone dies. The song Take My Breath Away played while some people are having sex, or a bunch of sweaty naked men were playing volleyball, or both at the same time, I can’t really remember. There was a jet fighter battle, the heroes blow up the bad guys, the end. Stars Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise’s smile. You can see that I had a lot of expectations going into the sequel. But I came out of Top Gun Maverick with a list of things that I didn’t expect to discover in this film.

First, I didn’t expect this not to be a blatant sequel cash grab. It is still obviously a sequel cash grab, but a blatant one wouldn’t have cared about the story. This one did. The mission was intriguing and thrilling. Maverick has an emotional character arc. The whole training bit was not boring at all. They even bothered throwing in a twist or three. And I even liked the love story. I was not expecting to get the feels, but there were a few moments that got my eyes welling. Yeah, the sequel to Top Gun made me want to un-ironically cry, the world has gone mad!

I also didn’t expect to like the characters, especially Maverick who I thought was going to be the same smug and cocky guy from the first film. But he has aged and is a little different here, and Cruise did a phenomenal job portraying him. Also, I was more than ready to dislike Miles Teller and Glen Powell’s characters, who also seemed like smug a-holes at first, but now I’m fans. Connelly’s great, so was Hamm, the supporting cast, and a few others for you to discover yourselves.

Also did not expect a large chunk of the aerial sequences, the main selling point of the movie, to not be fully CG. They could have just saved the money and went 100% green screens, but they actually shot a ton of footages of the actors strapped into in real jet fighters doing actual aerial maneuvers that their facial reactions to the intense G-force were actually real! I’m pretty sure there were a number of CG shots but they blended in with the practical shots seamlessly that I didn’t notice. There’s something about shooting things practical that your brain just instinctively knows it’s real, and it adds realism to the sequences, which also heightened the thrills and excitement. It also helped that the action finale was very well thought out and was properly set up throughout the film in such a way that even us, the audiences could understand the tasks and the stakes at hand when it finally happens.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing really groundbreaking to be found here. But it’s just such a very well put together blockbuster film, and I haven’t felt such sheer enjoyment for a film in this way for a long time. It’s a high recommendation from me for sure.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.