#I hope Taika includes the cancer aspect

[mylifeforfun]

FOSTERSON WEEK DAY 6 - Speculation

The Mighty Thor - “You are a brave woman, Jane Foster.”

[thefilmsnob]

Thor: Love and Thunder: **1/2 out of 5

Thor: Love and Thunder is a film of many dichotomies…for better or for worse. The most obvious one is right in the title, evoking the contrast between the romantic storyline and the thunderous action. Other one’s include classic ‘good vs evil’ themes and the not-so-classic ‘male Thor and female Thor’ development. There’s even a black and white sequence. Much of this content is quite enjoyable

The same can’t be said about the stark juxtaposition of manic, candy-coated farce that takes up most of the run time and periods of dark, twisted imagery and sorrow that’s sure to cause tonal whiplash. This is one of the many aspects of the film you might find yourself hating, even though there’s still so much to love. And, suddenly, I’m feeling the urge to belt out Katy Perry’s sensational ‘Hot n Cold’.

Of course, Christian Bale can do no wrong, so naturally he’s one of the highlights of the film. He’s a tragic villain, a loving father corrupted and turned sinister and grotesque, not unlike Smeagol in the Middle-earth saga. As Gorr, he struggles to survive in a desert with his daughter, Love, in the film’s prelude. Despite their prayers to the god Rapu, Love dies, and the Necrosword offers itself to Gorr, who not only uses it to kill Rapu but vows to kill all gods with the corrupting weapon. If you didn’t already know, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a god, so that means trouble.

It also means it’s time to catch up with him and his new allies, the Guardians of the Galaxy, who’re battling strange aliens on a strange planet in an obligatory opening action sequence that’s about as obnoxious and pandering as they get in this series. With a scene that features—among several other eyerolling flourishes—Thor doing the splits to hold up two alien vehicles, writer-director Taika Waititi exhibits the worst tendencies of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his own films, projects that otherwise have much to offer. It sets the tone for a manically paced film that almost immediately whisks us away yet again once Thor learns of the God Butcher.  

We say goodbye to the Guardians but welcome a pair of oversized space goats, the locals’ reward to Thor for helping them fend off their enemy. Throughout the film these goats emit human-like, guttural screams for no apparent reason other than to induce belly laughs from the audience…which they do…several times. I did say there was lots to love about this film.

The bit about Jane Foster’s (Natalie Portman) stage four terminal cancer might’ve been one of those things if it wasn’t bookended so often with goofiness. Not that the MCU is a prime landing spot for heavy material to begin with, but I can think of several entries in the franchise that would be more appropriate than this one. Thankfully, the scenes themselves, isolated from the rest of the film, are quite touching and tactful. Jane refuses to succumb to this tragic fate, however, so she travels to New Asgard, the Asgardian refuge in Norway, hoping that Thor’s fractured hammer Mjolnir will heal her. Forget healing; it transforms her into another Thor, for crying out loud!

And thank God(s) for that because it’s just in time to help Other Thor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (Waititi) defend New Asgard from Gorr in one of several forgettable action sequences. And, so, the film continues from here with the requisite team-up of disparate heroes pursuing the bad guy while engaging in banter that oscillates between amusing and irritating. That’s also an apt description of the love story between the Thors who act like nervous teenagers within a ‘will-they-won’t-they’ dynamic that never quite takes off. As usual, all the characters are still quite likable despite having all gotten oddly dopier between films.

No character is dopier than Zeus, played by an almost unrecognizable Russell Crowe with his unkept beard, doughy physique and exaggerated Greek accent. Crowe plays him as an arrogant blowhard who scoffs at our heroes’ pleas for help as he stands on his podium sporting a golden breastplate that might as well be white cloth with the stench of beer and a mustard stain. Which is ironic considering Omnipotence City, a realm that’s home to several gods of whom Zeus is the leader, is an awe-inspiring paradise among the clouds. Like ancient Greece meets Shangri-La, its cascading greenery, ornamental architecture and otherworldly physics amount to one of the film’s few stunning visuals.

That’s not unlike Bale. One of this generation’s greatest actors throws vanity to the wind as he slithers and stalks and hides in the shadows, his weathered face as pale as the robes that adorn his sinewy body. With a personality that’s by turns aggressive and eerily jocular, he recalls the infamous Pennywise the Clown. In simpler terms, he acts unhinged and resembles the undead. It’s too bad the film makers don’t fully take advantage of his character to really dissect the shortcomings of faith and religion, but that would require the impossible notion of Marvel Studios and Disney alienating much of their fanbase and sacrificing precious revenue. That’s not how you build an empire.  

Holding all the pieces of this film together is the narrator, who’s the polar opposite of Gorr. Voiced by Waititi, the unseen storyteller has a gentle, whimsical way with words and tells the story as if it were a children’s fairy tale. It’s a charming touch and describes the events of the film with humour that’s subtle and witty, a reprieve from the comedic bludgeoning you receive throughout most of the film.

Bale’s Gorr and Waititi’s narrator are two of the strongest elements that make up Thor: Love and Thunder. They just don’t belong in the same movie.