Review: 'Thor: Love and Thunder' plays up the comedy of the Norse god — but why can't Marvel's standalone movies stand alone more?

In the fourth movie where the Norse god Thor is the title superhero, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” director Taika Waititi has found the genre most appropriate for our muscular hammer-thrower: A sitcom.

More overtly comical than Chris Hemsworth’s eight past appearances as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this installment lets our thunder god get introspective, considering where he fits in a universe where his father Odin and brother Loki are dead, his Asgard has relocated to Earth and is ruled benevolently by his friend Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and he’s currently helping out beleaguered planets alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy. (The whole crew — Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel — are on hand for brand maintenance more than actual story.)

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), feels the urge to visit New Asgard. The urge is coming from the shattered remnants of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir — which rebuilds itself and imprints on Jane. When Thor returns to New Asgard, which is under attack, he’s surprised to find Jane has taken on the powers of Mjolnir, along with a new working name: Mighty Thor.

Thor doesn’t have much time to take in his ex’s new situation — or learn what the audience knows about a secret Jane is holding — because of what’s attacking New Asgard. That would be a new villain, Gorr the God-Butcher (Christian Bale), who’s on a mission to destroy all gods. Gorr kidnaps the children of New Asgard, and Thor, Jane, Valkyrie and Asgard’s resident rock creature, Korg (voiced by Waititi) go in hot pursuit.

First, though, they head to the planet where all the different gods live, a side trip for comic relief purposes that culminates in an audience with the big kahuna of godhood, Zeus (played by Russell Crowe, who deploys an accent that’s aiming for Greek and lands near Mario and Luigi. 

And therein lies the major problem with this new “Thor” adventure: It doesn’t feel like there are any real stakes — even with the kidnapped children, or major characters facing the prospect of death in different ways. But when you’ve got a director like Waititi, who finds a humorous way to depict Hitler (as he did in “Jojo Rabbit,” for which he won a screenwriting Oscar), why should you expect a serious approach to comic-book godhood?

The movie also shows the pitfalls of relying too much on the MCU canon, or trying to pull more characters from Marvel’s deep comic-book library. There’s enough in the script, by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, to keep us invested in Thor’s post-Thanos spirit journey, his rekindled relationship with Jane, and his recurring dilemma of being his conflicted feelings for Mjolnir and his current axe, Stormbreaker. 

Some have complained about Marvel characters crossing over without purpose before, but “Thor: Love and Thunder” is the most clearcut case of Marvel bloat. If Thor can lose the dad bod he gained in “Avengers: Endgame,” the Marvel franchise can trim down the excess from movie to movie.

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‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

★★★

Opens Friday, July 8, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity. Running time: 119 minutes.