Thor: Love and Thunder Review

No one wants to say it, but plenty know it’s true: the MCU lacks direction post-Endgame. With Phase Four focused on the post-Thanos world, it lacks an overarching narrative. For now, at least. While this has let Marvel explore different concepts and genres of storytelling, it makes the MCU seem inconsistent in tone. Case in point, we have the newest Thor film, Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s a really fun film, but if people expected it to be groundbreaking and innovative, prepare to be disappointed.

Gorr the God Butcher’s Coming

The MCU’s put Thor through the wringer, hasn’t it? He lost his Dad, mom, homeworld, and adoptive brother in a few years. In addition, failing to stop Thanos left him a broken man, and he’s only started picking up the pieces. At the end of Endgame, he went with the Guardians (and Korg) on a journey of self-discovery. This film picks up where they left off, and despite getting ripped again, Thor still hasn’t found inner peace. So they leave the Guardians and go on their adventure…right as a man who’s channeling his inner Kratos enacts a plan to kill every god in existence.

Yeah, they need to get on that.

More of the Same…

Tone-wise, the film’s consistent with its predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok, due to Taika Waititi returning to direct it. It’s very comedic and relies a lot on gags, hamminess, and lots of 80’s vibes. Guns N’ Roses songs get used a lot in this film. However, the problem with this is that it causes the lead character to suffer from Flanderization. Thor is far less serious and more comedic than when first introduced in 2011. In all fairness, this could be attributed to frequent exposure to modern Earth Culture and his newfound humility, but it’s still a sharp contrast from 10 years ago. It also doesn’t help that Thor’s hung up over his relationship problems. Not just Jane Foster, but with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.

Love and Thunder takes the return of Mjolnir and frames it like Thor’s Ex getting together with his other Ex. In this case, Jane Foster. Thor’s clearly very confused about it, and not helping is that Stormbreaker seems to get jealous. Yes, the axe gets jealous of the hammer. It’s funny at first, but not so much by the film’s end.

…Some New Improvements

The film’s best aspects, though, are in Jane Foster and the main villain, Gorr.

Natalie Portman’s return as Jane Foster is a much-welcomed one by fans, and she doesn’t miss a beat. Now wielding Mjolnir and Thor’s powers, she’s no longer just Thor’s love interest but a hero in her own right. The films just as much about her as it is about Thor.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the villain, Gorr the God-Butcher, played by Christian Bale. Gorr is a man who’s utterly consumed by despair. His whole world died of famine, and the god he thought would save them didnt just do nothing; he laughed at their plight. This led him to conclude all gods are bad and need to go, and his weapon, the Necrosword, has the power to get it done.

The thing is, Gorr’s not wrong. The gods can be jerks. Thor was a big jerk before he learned humility, and Zeus is even worse. A lot of gods can be very cruel and callous, so one cannot help but sympathize with Gorr’s decision, even if he takes it way too far. Christian Bale still does a great job being a villain, and is a big highlight of the film.

Overall, this film isnt really groundbreaking or game-changing. It doesn’t have to be, though. It’s a Marvel movie. People will watch it either way. Whether that’s a sign that the MCU’s going downhill remains debatable, though. If you want a fun distraction for two hours, this is a film for you.

I Give “Thor: Love and Thunder” a 4/5

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Marvel What If…? Episode 7 Review

When I saw the premise of this week’s episode of Marvel What If…?, I thought that the show was joking. Having one based around Thor if he never had Loki as his brother? It was intriguing, but not the kind of thing that most people would want to watch. Especially when you consider how every episode of the show thus far has focused on big changes to the timeline. However, then we get to the ending, and we see that Marvel played us all with a bait-and-switch. The party god brings the thunder to Earth this week, people!

Party Hard With the Party God

In the main MCU, after fighting against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, Odin ended up adopting Loki, the infant son of Laufey, King of the Frost Giants. However, in this universe, Odin somehow convinced Laufey to keep Loki and treat him right. As a result, he grows up a Frost Giant, and Thor remains an only child (as far as he knows). Unfortunately, rather than grow up to be the boisterous but lovable warrior we know, Thor becomes a…party god.

I’m serious. Rather than spending his days fighting, Thor and his Asgardian friends throwing the biggest parties in the Galaxy. And while Odin’s asleep for a week and Frigga’s visiting friends, Thor decides to do just that. And the place he chooses to go to? Earth, which he turns into a party planet.

It’s an absolutely silly premise. The first time extraterrestrials come to Earth (that the public knows about), and they come to party like college students. And it’s not just Thor. We got Yondu; Drax; Rocket; Nebula; Korg; Surtur; and the Grandmaster as a DJ!

As for Loki? He shows up with his Frost Giant posse, and it’s clear that Loki and Thor have a better relationship than they initially did in the MCU. It’s nice to see that these two, for better or worse, were always meant to be brothers.

Frigga Is Coming

So, S.H.I.E.L.D. has a big problem with Thor showing up and turning Earth into a frat planet. And when Jane Foster (who’s already met Thor partying), won’t help, they call in Captain Marvel. And she is not happy with Thor ruining her homeworld.

Since Avenger: Endgame, I’m sure plenty of people have wondered who would win in a fight between Thor and Captain Marvel. Spoiler alert: Captain Marvel would probably win, and this episode proves it. The two clash in a fight around the world, and it looks like Captain Marvel will likely come out on top. Until, that is, Thor gets a call from his mother.

Jane managed to get in contact with Lady Frigga, and told her just what her son’s been up to. As a result, Frigga decides to come to Earth, leading Thor to panic. What follows is pure hilarity. Once Thor tells everyone that his Mom’s coming, they panic and proceed to fix all the damage they’ve done to Earth. It’s honestly like one of those teen party scenarios we see in sitcoms and movies, and I loved it.

But I think I loved what happened next even more.

A Multiversal Threat Emerges

In the episode’s closing moments, Thor, the audience, and even The Watcher are all surprised when an army of machines steps in through a portal. And at their head is what looks to be an Infinity Stone powered Ultron with the body of Vision. Uh-oh.

So, maybe the TVA was right about keeping the Multiverse down to a bare minimum to prevent the rise of threats like this. My current theory? In one universe, Tony and Bruce succeeded with Ultron as they meant to, only for him to go rogue and seize the Infinity Stones, leading him to becoming a universe-hopping conqueror. Or he succeeded in taking Vision’s body for himself, wiped out humanity, got the Stones, and did all of that. Either way, this is bad news for everyone.

The teaser for the second half of season one of What If…? has hinted at some sort of crossover between the different variations of characters we’ve seen thus far. Now, with the threat of a super Ultron to contend with, The Watcher may have no choice but to intervene for the sake of the Multiverse. Either way, I expect the next episode to set us up for the season finale, and the birth of a Multiverse-spanning Avengers.

Here’s hoping Party God Thor can be of some help.

Also, Darcy and Howard the Duck have a Vegas Wedding!

I Give “What If…Thor Was an Only Child?” a 3.5/5

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Avengers: Endgame Review

If someone had told me back in 2008 that the movie Iron Man was going to start something unheard of, I’d call them crazy. A lot of us would have. A shared universe of superheroes and interconnected stories had worked in comic books. It had even done well in cartoons with the DC and Marvel Animated Universes of the 90s and 2000s. But movies? No one had tried it; people may have thought it was impossible.

Yet Marvel did it; Iron Man was only the start of a larger universe. Eleven years and twenty-two movies (and several shows) later, the MCU rules pop culture. Now the first chapter to this incredible universe comes to a head in Avengers: Endgame, which has already broken the global box office record.

I told you guys in my last post about how I saw the first Avengers movie with my dad opening weekend. Now, I am proud to say that I got to do the same thing for Avengers: Endgame on Friday, April 26th, 2019. After giving myself a day to process everything, I want to give you guys my review for the movie everyone’s talking about. There will be some mild spoilers here, but nothing that will ruin the plot.

The film starts three weeks after the events of Infinity War, and the universe is working to pick up the pieces. Tony and Nebula get stranded in space like we see in the trailer, but thanks to Captain Marvel, they get rescued and get home. While Tony recuperates, everyone else goes after Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. To their horror, though, they find that the Stones are gone. Thanos destroyed them so that a) the Decimation couldn’t be undone, and b) he wouldn’t go mad with power with them. So it looks like the Avenger have lost in every sense.

Time passes, and everyone deals with the effects in their own way, some better than others. Thor took it the worst, though; here’s an out-of-context photo that should give you a hint what’s happened to him:

Use your imagination for the rest. Then suddenly, Scott Lang comes back from the Quantum Realm. He had been trapped in there since the Pyms got dusted. The thing is, while it’s been years for others, it was only a few hours for him. Time doesn’t work the same in the Quantum Realm. Piggy backing off that discovery, the Avengers form a plan to undo Thanos’ actions. Using the Quantum Realm, they will travel back to various moments in the past, grab the Infinity Stones from then, and use them in the present to bring back everyone.

So I guess How it Should Have Ended got it partially right with the time travel part. As for me, what did I think about it? I think that it was a very convoluted plan, and if it sounds like Back to the Future, you’re not alone. Tony Stark even calls everyone out by saying “your plan is Back to the Future?” It was a crazy plan, and by all means, it shouldn’t work. To be honest, though, this wasn’t the first time Marvel’s used time travel; it’s happened in the comics.

I don’t want to give away what happens here, but the second part’s basically revisiting past moments from the movies and stealing the stones. I have to agree with Andy Epsilantis from Pop Culture Uncovered on this one: it was fun, but made for a weak story. It did give us some pretty good moments, though. A few of the characters were even able to get some closure to certain events in their past.

Letting the characters see themselves in the past, though, was pretty fun. For example, remember the scene at the start of Guardians where Quill’s singing to “Come and get your Love”? To everyone else, he looks like a dork singing in an empty room, and it is hilarious. The time heist doesn’t go off without a hitch, though. Thanos learns what the heroes are doing, and becomes determined to keep his work from being undone.

While I admit that in Infinity War, Thanos’ goals, while misguided, were to help the universe. That made him relatable as a villain and even, in some way, respect him for actually winning. In Endgame, though, Thanos becomes a straight-up villain. He vows to destroy Earth for its inhabitants constant interference in his plans. Then he’ll remake the universe with himself as a god. That’s pretty evil! And while I did enjoy how complex Thanos was (and still is), having a straight-up evil goal helped watching the Avengers fight him feel great.

What did I think of how it ended? First, I’m just going to come out and say it: THERE IS NO MID OR POST-CREDITS SCENE! The end credits are still epic, but don’t waste your time.

Second, while a three hour movie is pushing it for me, I walked away utterly satisfied. This film’s basically a love letter to what the MCU’s done and how far its come. It’s got humor, action, drama, genuine loss, and the geeky fan service. It is the perfect cap-off to this story that’s been building for eleven years. If it or any of the people involved in it don’t win an Oscar next year, I will be disappointed.
Third, and finally, I like how this movie has Stan Lee’s final cameo before his passing. Best part is that you won’t even realize it’s him at first glance. Having one of the men who made Marvel appear in the final chapter to one of its biggest stories gives it a form of closure.

In short, I thought that this movie was the best, and not just because of nostalgia bait. I highly recommend that you go see it in theaters while you can.

I Give “Avengers: Endgame” a 5/5. Excelsior!

One problem, though: where do they go from here?

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