“Thor: Love and Thunder” (Action/Adventure/Comedy: 1 hour, 58 minutes)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Christian Bale

Director: Taika Waititi

Rated: PG-13 (Intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, suggestive material and nudity.)

Movie Review: “Thor: Love and Thunder” is the fourth addition of Thor movies to the Marvel Universe franchise. 

Now, audiences just see these superhero movies because they keep an ongoing likable hero’s life an ever-present narrative. This addition like its predecessors is an entertaining movie. It provides a little of everything and that is its problem. 

It turns into a near popcorn flick so that its dramatic moments are lesser.

After Gorr the God Butcher (Bale) kills multiple deities, Thor (Hemsworth) enlists ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Portman), King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), the leader of New Asgard, and Korg (Waititi) to fight Gorr. Thor and the team must travel the cosmos to stop Gorr’s vengeful quest to make all gods extinct.

Taika Waititi also directed “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017), which had a darker tone. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is a comical adventure and semi-romance movie in between action scenes. Waititi, who stars as a large rock being named Korg, is good at comedic and dramatic moments in movies. See the fabulous “Jojo Rabbit” (2019) for confirmation, where Waititi received a well-deserved Oscar for screenplay writing.

This Thor outing is less serious than “Thor: Ragnarok.” When someone dies, one should have some sense of remorse for the moment. When such scenes happen here, the dramatics are lesser because the comedic adventure lingers.

Chris Hemsworth still reigns as Thor, a role he has had since “Thor” (2011). He, along with Russell Crowe playing Zeus, provide plenty of laughs. They and the other gods are portrayed as carefree individuals. They like being worshiped but are carefree individuals more concerned about self-interests than the condition of their worshipers. They provide humor.

Waititi and producers were smart to keep the talents of Natalie Portman and cast the incomparable Christian Bale as the villain Gorr. Both Academy Award recipients ground the movie, keeping it convincing.

Portman plays Thor’s romantic longtime love interest, who can now wield Thor’s hammer Mjöllnir as the woman version of Thor. The two have unfinished business. They exist in a partial romance tale. The relationship never reaches fever temperature but they try.

Bale becomes a major focus of this movie and gives it a purpose as the antagonist. If any actor knows how to play a character in agony, it is Bale. He is good as Gorr.

Waititi and members of his team create a fun venture. However, the movie like many Marvel movies distracts with too much computer-generated imagery and sometimes misplaced comedy. These bits are diversions but the entertainment value remains good.

Grade: B- (The hammer still comes with thunder.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has been reviewing movies for more more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.