Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Marvel has indeed crafted a phenomenal franchise with their superheroes
and many would argue their casting choices are perfect. Perhaps none more
perfect than Chris Hemsworth as Thor. In 2017 Marvel Studios released Thor:
Ragnarok (2017) and had this quirky director from New Zealand named Taika
Waititi write and direct it. His sense of odd and quirky humor hit a chord with
audiences worldwide. Instead of dark and brooding and somewhat an oaf of a
character in Thor; he instilled some levity and youthful joy into the character
and story. Yet he kept an emotional edge in the themes of loss. This would be
shown across the next few films with Thor losing his mother, father, Asgard,
brother, and half of all life (i.e. Thanos’ snap). Thor has always been
portrayed as a character who continuously has to cope with loss while also
being the hero who saves the day. I’ll say it now, this film gets a “Writing a
Movie RIGHT” review from me.
Here comes the spoilers.
The film opens with the plight of a man and his daughter walking across a
desolate desert landscape searching for food and water. Eventually, the young
girl dies while cradled in her loving father’s arms. He succumbs as well and
accepts his fate to die as well. Then he hears a voice beckon him to come. He
finds an oasis in the desert where his god, Rapu is just casually living life
without a care. The man pleads with his god to help the people to which he is
dismissed. The god then tries to strangle the man and a sword, which was
calling out to him before, comes to his hands and he kills the god. Then vows
to kill all gods as vengeance for the death of his daughter. The casting of
Christian Bale is perfect for Gorr the God Butcher. A brilliant actor and writer
bring an emotional depth to the story of a man whose love for his child has now
turned to searing hate. Much like with Thanos’ flawed vision of a perfect
world, Gorr has a strong drive propelling him to be the villain. Yet a villain
we can empathize with and be divided on whether he is fully right or completely
wrong given the carelessness and selfishness we see other gods live their
lives.
Thor is with the Guardians of the Galaxy helping an alien race fight off
aggressors in their religious temple. Thor finally joins the fight. Mayhem is
had and victory achieved, then afterward they check messages across the galaxy
and one is a distress call from Sif, an old friend of Thor’s. They decide it
best to part ways as there are so many distress calls. Thor goes with Korg to
find Sif nearly dead on the battlefield. She tells him of Gorr, his plan to
kill all gods, and his next target is New Asgard. He takes her to New Asgard
and Gorr is already attacking the city with his shadow realm monsters. Thor
joins the fight and crosses paths with Mjolnir but it goes to the hand of
another “Thor.” Soon it is revealed that it is Jane Foster, Thor’s
ex-girlfriend. They band together to finish the fight, but Gorr escapes while
kidnapping all the children from the city and taking them to the shadow realm.
Thor decides that they will need an army to fight Gorr and feels that they
should go to Omnipotence City where Zeus is the leader of the gods. Thor
idolized Zeus growing up and now is disappointed to see a selfish Zeus who is
scared of Gorr and now fears that Thor and his friends know the location of
their city and say they cannot leave. A fight breaks out and Korg is nearly
killed with Thor overpowering Zeus with his own Thunderbolt weapon. With the
Thunderbolt, Thor believes they can fight Gorr and the small group travels to
the shadow realm to meet him there and rescue the kids.
While searching for the kids, Jane finds Gorr’s plans to use Stormbreaker
to open a way to Eternity, the celestial being who can grant him his wish to kill
all gods. Gorr captures them and as they break free and barely escape, Gorr
steals Stormbreaker. Jane reveals her stage four cancer diagnosis to Thor and that
Mjolnir is draining her of life each time she uses the hammer. Thor implores her
to stay in the hospital while he goes to fight Gorr.
This is where I will stop short of the spoiler because the ending is worth
everything. The full circle of the theme of loss is beautifully done. Thor loses
Jane to add to the list of loved ones he has lost, but gaining a child to care
for and love is a bittersweet ending for the film on an emotional note. Seeing
him try to parent a young child who has powers is humorous and leaves us
knowing Thor may have the chance to heal from the emotional beatings he has
taken across the various films in the franchise.
The writers have nailed the drive of the villain and brought home all the
losses of our hero to show that love is the answer. Where there is hate, love. Thor:
Love and Thunder is a delight for all ages that deserves another film by
these writers and director to continue to delight audiences. To the director, I
say ‘Chur Bro!’
Thanks for reading Writing Movie ‘WRONGS.’
Writing Movie Wrongs (MovieWrongs.com) was created by Author Jim West to show how great storytelling is built on strong writing. In each review, he aims to highlight points in film that capture what the medium is capable of, or provide feedback on small improvements that would make a huge difference to the story’s plot. Read more about Jim West at JimWestAuthor.com.