Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is a sequel to Thor: Ragnarok which came out in 2017.  Both movies were directed by (and in the later he also doubles as writer and actor)  Taika Waititi.  So you know the movie will be fun and maybe a little silly but highly entertaining.  Waititi definitely delivers the goods.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) begins the movie where the first one left off with an overweight Thor fighting the good fight with The Guardians of the Galaxy.  In search of inner peace, he shapes up, and parts ways with the Guardians in order to answer a call.  Apparently Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) has made it his mission to destroy ALL gods in the universe. So Thor leaves the Guardians in order to help defend the transplanted remains of Asgard (which has been turned in to a Disney-like tourist attraction) from Gorr’s attacks. While he’s doing that, a former character returns, now wielding Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer! Now that we have the plot details out of the way, we can sit back and watch the fun.  One of my favorite moments was seeing Russell Crowe camp it up as Zeus.  Other fun roles were played by Sam Neill, Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Melissa McCarthy as the Asgardian Players and Taika Waititi  as Kong, Thor’s wacky sidekick.  Other people you will see in various parts big and small are Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, and a cute group of courageous kids.  As in all Marvel movies, there are end credits: two to be exact.  You will miss the second one if you do not stay to the very end.  I found myself laughing out loud at some of the writing, which is quite clever, but I found the story itself a little lackluster.  For mindless summer entertainment though , I don’t think you will be disappointed.   Oh, and fun fact – Chris Hemsworth’s daughter, India Rose plays the titular Love.