Chris Hemsworth is back as the ‘God of Thunder’ in the latest instalment of the Thor series of films, Thor: Love and Thunder. The movie is like a quick roller coaster ride, which has its ups and downs, and yet is entertaining. With the addition of new characters, we get to see some old ones starring either for brief moments or for the entire film like The Guardians of the Galaxy cast who can be seen in the beginning of the movie, where Star Lord (Chris Pratt) motivates sad Thor to find a purpose in life. We also get to witness the Asgardians’ new way of living with a modern humanistic touch after they get relocated to Earth.
The audiences are up for some double Thor action as Thor’s love interest Dr Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman becomes Mighty Thor, wielding Mjolnir (Thor’s ex-weapon). Jane is fighting her own battle with cancer, but she gets a calling from Mjolnir and sets on a mission to save others without caring about herself.
Christian Bale is seen as a psychic Gorr a.k.a God Butcher donning a rugged white robe who after his daughter’s death acquires Necrosword, which is powerful of all weapons, to kill all the gods and avenge the death of his daughter.
Love and Thunder has classic comic scenes like Thor interacting with his weapons, Korg being Korg and many other scenes which don’t involve Hemsworth. Russel Crowe is portraying the character of the god Zeus, who is the head of all gods, the godly realm of Omnipotence City and the owner of the Thunderbolt weapon. The whole sequence involving Zeus is fun to watch.
Talking of the Omnipotence, the CG work can be seen at its peak, where the whole gold city is built with complex structures and details. Two wonderfully crafted scenes that strike out the most in the film from a VFX perspective are one with the Zeus, and the other is a pre-climax scene where both the Thors enter the monochrome world of Gorr, and everything is black and white except the colourful lights of the weapons Stormbreaker and Mjolnir and Gorr’s eyes. Even though black and white, the scene is beautifully lit, casting perfect shadows. One of Gorr’s powers is to create shadow monsters using his Necrosword, and we can see the CG monsters all over the place.
The movie employs various techniques for creating visual effects from virtual production, set design, and using green screens to adding effects in post-production. Major studios like Weta VFX (VFX supervisor: Luke Millar), Rising Sun Pictures, Framestore, Industrial Light and Magic/ILM (on-set VFX supervisor: Frazer Churchill), Method Studios, Luma Pictures (VFX supervisor: Andrew Zink), Mammal Studios (VFX supervisor: Gregory D. Leigey), Cinesite (VFX supervisor: Artemis Oikonomopoulou), and Outpost VFX (VFX supervisor: Mathieu Assemat) have worked on the film. Jake Morrison is the VFX supervisor.
Based on Marvel Comics, the film is directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Kevin Feige along with Brad Winderbaum. The screenplay is written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Backed by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, it includes other actors and actresses like Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, and Taika Waititi along with others. The special appearances include all the actors of The Guardians of the Galaxy, Luke Hemsworth, Matt Damon and Sam Neill.
Verdict: The colourful movie with a good storyline is a beautiful blend of comedy and drama which is portrayed swiftly. We won’t say it is one of the bests from the MCU, but overall it is a fun film with top-notch VFX and action sequences. Even though Thor is God of Thunder, a lot of characters can be seen stealing the thunder. There are two post-credit scenes, and yes, Thor will return.