Third in line within the core group of heroes is another female warrior,Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson),who fulfils the current blockbuster requirement of having a character who is openly queer but not too visibly so. Bringing up the rear is the rock monster Korg (voiced by Waititi himself),who doubles as narrator,passing on the legend of the “space Viking” to an audience of wide-eyed kids.
It’s all a bit Monty Python,a bit Wes Anderson,but mostly reminiscent of the kind of self-mocking TV ad that draws on classical mythology to sell chocolate or get us to switch mobile plans. It’s this tradition that gives us Russell Crowe playing Zeus as an amalgam of Hulk Hogan and Con the Fruiterer,a far less successful comedic turn than Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster inRagnarok.
Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor:Love and Thunder.Credit:Marvel
For the most part,whatever the criticisms ofLove and Thunder– stiff staging,cheesy backdrops,laboriously spelled out subtext,feeble jokes – they can be justified as part of an aesthetic of deliberate lameness. The problem lies in the intermittent efforts to get serious about matters of life and death.
As certified heavyweight actors,Portman and Bale do whatever they can to make their characters’ anguish credible under the circumstances,while Hemsworth sticks with the practiced blend of sincerity and put-on demanded by lines such as “I feel your pain,but this isn’t the way.”
The blend of childish silliness and willed gravitas recalls Waititi’s recent,divisive passion projectJojo Rabbit,which centred on a naive member of the Hitler Youth. This was hopelessly inadequate as a statement about Nazism,but perhaps not completely toothless as a parable about the perils of hero worship in general.
Loading
How are we meant to feel about the group of imprisoned children who wait to be liberated by the mighty Thor for much ofLove and Thunder,and who ultimately morph into an army of junior warriors in turn?
If there are ironies here,the film avoids pushing them too hard – and the same goes for the occasional hints that Gorr’s anti-god stance isn’t wholly unjustified. Perhaps Waititi too retains a streak of innocence,or perhaps there’s more scope to satirise the myth of heroism when heroes aren’t the product you’ve been hired to sell.
Thor:Love and Thunder is in cinemas from July 7.