Love & Thunder Turned Waititi Into Marvel Fandom's Favorite Punching Bag
Considering it was the sequel to the highly successful Thor: Ragnarok, and based on one of Jason Aaron's most successful comic series, it was hard to believe that Love and Thunder delivered such a lacklustre performance.
During a turbulent time in the MCU, many of its fan-favorite heroes are currently either retired, new, or transitioning to the next big phase. Thor was meant to be a sure bet for the fandom. However, according to fans, the film has been instead considered a misstep by the popular New Zealand director/writer Taika Waititi. Here is what some of the Marvel fandom really feel about Love and Thunder, and Waititi's continuation in the MCU.
Reading various reviews across Reddit highlights the disappointment fans had for the movie.
Summarising the film's plot, some Redditors considered the movie a 'joke' overall. Fans raised their dissatisfaction with multiple elements of the film. Including finding the plot weak generally, as if it had been thrown together with no real flow.
Fans even compared it to the ill-received Thor: The Dark World. Yet it is interesting to note that that film currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 66%; a whole 2% higher than Love and Thunder's score.
Although the sequel was likely attempting to recreate much of the admired humor from its predecessor. Fans quickly pointed out many of the gags often fell flat throughout the film and seemed forced. Some also point out how it felt there were no high stakes for the heroes to combat against. Therefore there was no cause to care about the characters or their circumstances throughout.
Any emotional scenes in the film were described as brisk and entirely unconvincing. Except for the scene between Gorr and his daughter. While many of the actors were criticised for sub-par acting in the movie, Christian Bale 's performance was generally praised. This only led Reddit users to sarcastically ask, how was he tricked into doing the movie at all.
Overall the verdict for Love and Thunder is thought of as wasted potential. It includes ideas and themes that could have worked well, but ultimately seem shoehorned together in such a way that failed to meet the tone it was aiming for.
The humor and style, linked closely to Waititi's brand of film, have led to much of the movie's failure being blamed on him by the Marvel fandom. With some Reddit threads requesting he never be allowed to touch a Marvel movie again.
Neither Waititi nor Hemsworth have confirmed that they will do a third Thor film together. However, he has admitted if he wanted to do another, he would want to make it completely different and unexpected to any other Marvel movie. Comparing his vision to Thor on an indie road trip movie.
It seems unlikely fans will get anything more from Waititi's Thor films than they would like. He'll really have to bring some god-like energy to his next contribution to the MCU if he ever wants to win the fandom back.