Thor: Love and Thunder review *spoilers*

Since the day at the 2019 Comic-Con that Marvel announced not just that they were making a new Thor film, but that Natalie Portman was coming back to wield Mjolnir as Might Thor, this has been the one. No other film has been as eagerly awaited by me in that time. 

And there was probably no chance that this film could possibly live up to that much built up expectation. But Love and Thunder comes damn close.

Okay, might as well gush about Natalie. My adoration of this woman for nearly 30 years has been well chronicled across any number of formats. But one of the few things she hasn't really done a whole lot in movies is be funny. She hasn't starred in a truly funny movie since No Strings Attached. Even her last real MCU appearance in The Dark World she was mostly serious. Now, she's as great an actress as there is and nails her dramatic roles, but one of the joys of her performance in L&T is that she gets to be fun, and funny, and show some real silliness at times (while also getting to be serious at a few key points). This is just total movie star stuff. Of course she looks incredible too (even when she's sickly she's still stunning). Her MCU return is just a homerun from every angle.

We get proper Thor back. (I still just don't like Endgame Thor). But he's back in this one. Hemsworth nails the comedy, the action, the heart. I mean, you know at this point that he's going to be great.

Christian Bale was a great get to play Gorr the God butcher. I think his villain is a little bit underwritten, but that is why you hire a Christian Bale to have him fill in the gaps through the performance. You get why he is doing what he's doing (as an atheist I kind of even agree). And he has one of those late stage redemption arcs that I'm a sucker for (plus what happens with his daughter at the end is just wonderful). I do wish they had maybe shown one big scene of him killing gods. He only actually kills one on screen. 

We get a pretty good amount of Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. She's great of course, though overall Ragnarok gave her more to do. Korg has a pretty sizable role (I'm sure what happens at the end with him will piss off the right people)

Thor opens the film amongst the Guardians of the Galaxy. It works as an appetizer for GOTG3 next year. Mantis's whistle is great. We do get a couple other brief appearances by MCU characters (welcome back, Sif). Russell Crowe's one big scene as Zeus is a lot of fun.

There is a terrific flashback showing Thor and Jane's relationship between The Dark World and Ragnarok. It's like for 5 minutes this becomes the MCU's first romcom. There's a great running gag in which Thor's axe Stormbreaker becomes jealous of his feelings for Mjolnir. Somehow even the bit with the screaming goats works. 

I will have to watch this more to decide if I like it more than Ragnarok (which has proved to be one of the most rewatchable movies of the MCU). There are a few points where I felt like maybe the comedy was pushed too hard, but I also thought that at first about Ragnarok. I never felt like it detracted from the Jane cancer storyline, or from Gorr's pain.

There are a few iffy moments here and there throughout the first two acts. But it's in that final act that the film really elevates. They don't quite pull off another "Immigrant Song" fight, but they do lay an emotional wallop on you that no MCU movie since Endgame has achieved. Jane's death fucking got me, even though you know it's coming.

Mid credit scene was okay, but this movie has my favorite after the credits scene ever, where we see Jane enter Valhalla (and meet Heimdall). So the goddess is now amongst the gods. Where she belongs.