In my review of Thor: Ragnarok back in 2017, I suggested that turning Thor into a goofball after four movies in which he’d been vaguely Shakespearean with moments of comic bravado was a weird, and ultimately bad, choice. Rejecting gravitas in favor of turning the God of Thunder into a squealing, meme-creating himbo undoubtedly has its appeal—Chris Hemsworth has shockingly great comic timing—but the overall effect was vaguely annoying.
This was very much a minority opinion, one of only a handful of negative notices for writer/director Taika Waititi’s 93 percent fresh “masterpiece.” All of which is to say that I’m a little surprised by the lukewarm reaction to Thor: Love and Thunder. Y’all asked for this slop; why aren’t you eating it up?
Love and Thunder picks up sometime...