I’ve just seen Thor Love and Thunder. It’s not as good as Ragnarok, but thankfully alot better that the latest Dr Strange film so there might still be (a small) amount of blood left in the marvel film franchise. I’d put it on the high side of average, worth watching if you like other Marvel films - but it won’t convert you if you don’t.
Chris Bale puts in a good performance as the lead bad. Russell Crowe had alot of hype as Zeus but I didn’t feel he played the slightly comical role too well. Natalie Portman looked pretty disinterested in most the scenes she was in and clearly just wanted the paycheque. Thor was Thor.
I saw Elvis in the cinema a week ago too. It felt like it needed a good edit as it’s run time left me watching the clock by the end. A good arty take on Elvis’s career but man it dragged on in the 2nd half.
I felt similarly about Love and Thunder. If you like Marvel you'll like it - and I think it was better than Dr. Strange 2 and maybe also No Way Home.
The first half of the movie had some entertaining moments, however, a lot of it felt forced and like they were trying too hard to recapture the action-comedy magic of Ragnarok. I liked the second half a lot better - I'd agree with you that (for me) early on in the movie it seemed like people were disinterested but I did find the movie post attack on zeus to be a bit more genuine, and frankly a bit heartwarming.
I liked the resolution of the film, it was a nice change of pace from just walloping the badguys - as frankly, was the bad guy even that bad? I genuinely thought the ending was sweet.
The post final credits scene was really great too.
Frankly, I think they made this movie for Dads around my age.
The stand-up performance of the film of course was Matt Damon who continues to play an Asgardian actor playing Loki on the small stage. Bravo.
I hadn't read any hype about Russel Crowe being in this. His character was silly, but it worked for what it was - to show people that gods and others are not great because they are powerful, but because they use their power for good.
I couldn't understand Crowe in the end credits scene when Zeus said his son's name though. Whoever it was looked...silly.