Thor: Love And Thunder 'Here There Be Spoilers'

[Nate Grey]

In one deleted scene, Thor discovers Zeus hiding behind a curtain and eating ice cream in Jane's hospital room, hilariously undercutting an emotional moment between Jane and Thor. Zeus then tells Thor to come with him because Zeus has something he might need. The next deleted scene shows Zeus revealing to Thor that Thunderbolt is just a representation of their godly powers. Zeus then teaches Thor how to turn anything into Thunderbolt, and Thor even pulls his own Thunderbolt from thin air.

These Thor: Love and Thunder deleted scenes reveal not only how Zeus' powers work, but also how he wasn't initially supposed to be a villain in the MCU. This moment between Thor and Zeus even has the same warmth as the conversations that Thor and his father Odin have shared in the past.

Emphasis mine, which is probably EXACTLY why this was cut (and to also set up Hercules), here's the source.

[Adam Allen]

Also just watched it, because it's on D+, and also liked it. I get where some of the criticism about the humor comes from, and the tone definitely feels uneven, but it's still a fun movie overall. Which is where I guess I disagree with the harshest critics of the direction MCU Thor as taken. I thought the humor in Ragnarok worked wonderfully, making a fun space adventure, where it could have been a depressing slog. I don't think it worked as smoothly in Love and Thunder, but I think the overall goal and effect were the same/similar.

I mean, just starting out with Gor's origin story, that was pretty dark. Dude is basically set up with the MO of a horror villain like the Grudge or something; then add to this the other main plotline, that Jane is dying of cancer. This could (and I understand, some critics feel like it should) have been a very heavy, dark kind of movie. Thing is, I only just now thought to watch The Dark World on D+, so there's your indicator of how motivated I would be, to see a darker-themed movie. I mean, not saying dark can't be done well, or that I can't enjoy it -- a fan of Netflix Daredevil and Punisher, for instance. But nah, I'm not mad that these last two Thor movies worked hard to add some lightness into the relatively dark plots/themes.

I don't know, I'd also say that Infinity War and Endgame worked brilliantly for having plenty of humor in a story that was plenty heavy and dark in lots of places. I do see people criticizing the trend of humor in general, supposedly starting with the first Guardians? I guess I can only say, tastes vary? Because I have still enjoyed the majority of the MCU movies, still. Eternals was probably my least favorite, and it's probably the one that least fits the MCU mold that people criticize -- but again, tastes vary, right?

Also, on Love and Thunder in particular, I imagine a lot of why people were unhappy with the humor is that Thor was the butt of the joke a lot. And I get it, you don't want to see the protagonist being made to look silly/foolish so much. And I suppose, maybe some folks just want to see a more serious version of Thor. Respect to that, but just my opinion, I honestly feel like MCU Thor didn't have a whole lot of personality, until they started giving the character more humor. Not saying I didn't like him ... I dunno, just saying I appreciate that he's not a grim and serious character. But yah, tastes definitely vary, so

[j9ac9k]

One recurring joke I thought wore thin was the love triangle between Thor/Mjolnir/Stormbreaker. It was kinda funny once, but that joke had diminishing returns for me - especially since there wasn't even a payoff by the end.

A plot criticism that has more to do with following up on Ragnorok. And it's more valid since it's Waititi again - it seemed like Thor took a step back in his development from when he realized he wasn't the God of Hammers and could summon his powers without a weapon. But here, I don't think he was able to do much without having a weapon of some kind. (aside from using brute strength)

[80sbaby]

One recurring joke I thought wore thin was the love triangle between Thor/Mjolnir/Stormbreaker. It was kinda funny once, but that joke had diminishing returns for me - especially since there wasn't even a payoff by the end.

A plot criticism that has more to do with following up on Ragnorok. And it's more valid since it's Waititi again - it seemed like Thor took a step back in his development from when he realized he wasn't the God of Hammers and could summon his powers without a weapon. But here, I don't think he was able to do much without having a weapon of some kind. (aside from using brute strength)

His fight in the god's realm was without any weapons. He was still doing lightning blasts.

[Zero Hunter]

Yeah, stuff is subjective - go figure. And this movie wasn't 85% comedy. About 70 minutes in, Jane tells Thor she has cancer on the boat, then the rest of the movie is pretty serious aside from the laser bunny. If you don't like it, that's one thing, but that statement is a misrepresentation. (and yeah, I enjoyed the screaming goats - boggles the mind, hm?)

Hey like what you like. Like I said Waititi movies are like Transformers movies big and dumb and people eat that simple shit up so to each their own.

[j9ac9k]

Hey like what you like. Like I said Waititi movies are like Transformers movies big and dumb and people eat that simple shit up so to each their own.

Fwiw, I agree about the Tramsformers movies, but I totally disagree that Waititi's Thor movies are like that, or that it's any more "simple" than any other Marvel movie, regardless of the level of humor.

[Adam Allen]

Agreed that the Thor movies are nothing like the dumbness of the Transformers movies. But yeah, can see that if you don't care for the humor in these movies, you won't like them at all. The humor is obviously purposefully meant to affect the overall tone, and if all those notes fall flat with you, flat movie for you, I guess.

I'll say, as much as I enjoyed the music in Ragnarok, I have always effing hated GnR. Just absolutely horrible. So I do feel like it was a misstep, making them the soundtrack, here. Thankfully, I enjoyed the rest enough to ignore the irritating music. I'm sure it will affect rewatch value, though. They almost could not have picked a band that would have irritated me more.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Just rewatched it, and it felt like Ragnarok 2.0.

Everything is dialed up, and all the tension is undermined by needless jokes that really run against basic, internal logic.

Like Thor wasting time needling Starlord when Sif is in danger, or arguing with Axl, etc.

And Thor's worship of Zeus feels like his worship of Val in the last movie

[Sutekh]

This is the first Marvel movie that I've just sort of fast-forwarded through parts. (Pretty much any time Thor started speechifying. Generally he comes off as a bit of a dunderhead, and I'm not really into that interpretation.) Waititi has his fans, and the movie seems to have done fine, but I think my humor taste goes right up to 'James Gunn' and then stops just before peak Waititi.

I did like Gorr's choice in the end and feel like there was a (much shorter) meaningful movie kind of snuck in there between the hijinks, but even that kind of felt stomped on by the return to being mostly a big comedy.

[Phoenix Raptor]

I sat down to watch this again a couple of nights ago and I couldn't finish it. Saw it at the cinema and left feeling very disappointed, but thought I'd give it another shot now it's on D+.

For me, it's a terrible film. Both this and Strange 2 should've (in my opinion) been very dark movies but (again, for me) they both completely missed their marks. I came to the conclusion that, whilst Korg wasn't too annoying in Ragnarok, there was just too much of him in this one. I have nothing against Taika as a human being and a film maker, but I'm definitely not sorry that he won't be returning for a third installment now.

As I said back in July, this one needed to be much more serious seeing as it deals with both cancer and a literal "god butcher" but there were just way too many jokes and parts played solely for laughs. Phase 4 has been a huge disappointment for me so far!

[The Cool Thatguy]

Also, didn't care for the Warriors Three to be referred to as 'those guys' in their death recap.

[Adam Allen]

See, while a god butcher is an inherently dark antagonist and cancer is an unavoidably heavy topic ... you know, the army of little kids who all get to become literal Thors could not have been more on the nose, as far as why all the humor is in there. I mean, obvious they still wanted the dollars of the adult fans, but it seems pretty obvious they wanted to be able to sell this movie to kids. So yeah, lots of slapsticky humor that, thematically, was completely at odds with the plot. The movie definitely is uneven, tonally. But you weren't going to get those kid-fan dollars, if you went too dark.

Fair criticism, if you think that should not affect the movie so much. Even agreed on principle. I just personally enjoyed the movie, so -- hard to be mad about it, for me. But I sympathize with the disappointed fans!

[CTTT]

So T:R came out and Taika Waititi was hailed a unique director. Scarlett Johannson latter worked with him on JOJO Rabbit which got great praise. People and critics loved Ragnarok for the humor and action. Where Thor The Dark world was felt to be too serious Ragnarok felt like a breath of fresh air? So why when Love and Thunder comes out which had the same bread and butter as Ragnarok action and humor then the consensus was "IT'S TOO SILLY?" Wouldn't say Taika is blacklisted but he took a hit with this. What went wrong?

[Guy_McNichts]

The issue Love & Thunder's humor is it took a lot of things that were amusing in Ragnarok, cranked them up, and took them too far.

Korg was a funny enough side character in Ragnarok with a few quirky lines.
In Love & Thunder, he's a near constant presence and he never shuts up.

In Ragnarok, there was a brief gag where Thor is lamenting his destroyed hammer and it's pointed out it's almost like he lost a friend.
In Love & Thunder, this becomes a running thing where Thor treats the hammer like a ex-girlfriend and pet, chatting with it and sharing drinks, while Stormbreak gets jealous over his shoulder.

As goofy as Thor acted in Ragnarok, he never lost sight of the fact Asgard was in danger and Hela needed to be stopped as soon as possible. He got serious when the situation demanded it.
In Love & Thunder, he's oblivious. His first scene features him cracking jokes and acting like a doofus while people are literally dying around him.

And that's really the long and short of it. Jokes require timing and, if they go on too long, become irritating. Love & Thunder took everything funny about Ragnarok and ran it into the ground. And that humor engulfs the entire movie, smothering any stakes, gravity and goodwill from the previous film.

[Frobisher]

Serious answer: Ragnarok had music by Mark Mothersbaugh, and is therefore way better.

Joke answer: Love And Thunder makes the mistake of many comedy sequels, which is to take the moments from the first film that are (rightly or wrongly) considered to be the funniest, and not only replay them, but replay them to an extent that the audience gets bored of them. Korg had some great bathetic moments in Ragnarok, so in Love & Thunder Korg is on many more scenes to say slightly inappropriate things in response to literally everything that happens.