Thor: Love and Thunder (no spoilers)

Vertighost

I'm not a fan of most of Waititi's attempts at humor (& there's a ton) so the first hour of this fell very flat for me. Plays very much like a parody or series of SNL skits. He even tries to inject humor into some pretty serious topics which just makes it feel like nothing's at stake. If the humor works for you though, you'll enjoy it.

I did wind up liking it though because the non-comedic moments worked for me and they increased as the story went along. The movie also includes alot more of Jason Aaron's run than I ever would have imagined and so that lent everything a great deal of unpredictability which saved it for me. The performances were great. I was a big fan of Aaron's Thor run including with Jane as Thor so I was glad to see some key moments here.

Another thing I found surprising was the wall-to-wall Guns N Roses and even outright Axl love. I'm a big fan of GNR's old stuff, but I continue to be stunned by the arbitrary nature of what people choose to deem problematic and offensive. I'll be very curious to see if any of the comic geekspeak gang - particularly Ian, who often lets us know when he finds something problematic - finds Waititi's GNR/Axl worshipping deeply problematic given Axl's history and songs like "One in a Million". Apparently NO one on set or in the studio or marketing ever heard that song or of Axl's deeply misogynist history? Accusations of abuse from at least two different women? I don't allow an artist's ugly words or past behaviors affect my enjoyment of their work, but it's unusual that so many people (especially in Hollywood) who figure out a way to find an old tweet from a teen or a badly phrased sentence a reason to get someone fired or lose out on something are going to be more than okay with all of the Axl love in this.

Brack

I think the big problem is having to reverse out of the GOTG cul-de-sac. I assume had James Gunn not been temporarily persona non-grata at Disney, we might have had a GOTG between Endgame and Thor 4, and that would not have been needed. The non-animated GOTG cast looked bored, and the sequence added little.

Then there's a tone problem where each set-piece scene after that is good, but the connective tissue relies on jokes to get from A to B, even when A might have warranted being a little more sombre rather than immediately launching into comedic back and forth.

Luckily Christian Bale is fantastic, almost feels like he understood the script better than anyone else on the production. And while Russell Crowe's accent is a little dodgy in spots, his performance as Zeus as a Greek dad was well observed.

Mihawk

I've heard a theory, that I'm kinda hoping is true. And that's, that Kang is already operating, and sorta either manipulating the time line already, or just letting events occur, as it is. Because when you look at it, the 4 main Avengers in the MCU, are either out of the picture, or shells of their former selves.

Tony Stark, the person that discovered time travel, is dead. The greatest leader, Steve Rogers is an old man and retired. The Hulk, say what you want? Isn't the devastating wrecking machine anymore. Thor, you could say the direction his personality has taken, is because of all the loss he's suffered and is broken, and nowhere near the focused person he use to be.

And you can throw in Black Widow and Black Panther in there as well. Widow had enough "pull" to rally a team together. And I think T'challa would have been the natural leader after Steve.

There are no Avengers, this is the perfect time for Kang to strike. And also the perfect environment for a team of Dark Avengers to exist. Which is what I'm hoping Thunderbolts secretly is.