Why Hello,

Just watched Thor: Love and Thunder so I’ll be doing a movie review today and pick up on post-quantum cryptography tomorrow.

tldr I enjoyed it. It was funny and a good time. There were some flow issues and I’m not sure how well the message hit. Would recommend watching with a group of friends.

We start by seeing a man in the desert with his daughter, ravaged by the heat. His daughter dies and he hears a voice calling to him. He follows the voice to a lush jungle and confronts his god. His god is an asshole who admits to leaving his followers to dead. The man has enough, gets an evil sword, and becomes the God Butcher.

We quickly jump through Thor’s history in the MCU and learn since End Game he’s gotten back into shape and gone on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. After seeing a distress call from his friend he splits up from the Guardians. He learns the God Butcher is coming to Earth. Goes there to protect it.

(speeding up because this is a lot)

Jane Foster, his old love, has cancer and has recently become Thor with his old hammer. They fight off the Butcher with Valkyrie but children are stolen. They go to the city of the gods to get help but their leader, Zeus, is an asshole. They still his thunder bolt and go confront the Butcher.

Jane and Thor rekindle their old love and the team of 3 fight the Butcher. But they learn he needs Thor’s axe for his plan to get a free wish and kill all the gods and manages to get it. If Jane fights anymore she dies so Thor goes back to fight alone. BUT when he’s about to get defeated Jane saves him. The Butcher is able to make his wish but is granted and decides to save his daughter over killing the gods.

Jane dies. Thor raises the daughter.

The movie was funny. It was silly (lmao at the screaming goats). Korg was great.

The acting was perfect for the movie. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale sold me on their characters. In this kind of movie you don’t get a lot of time to do express yourself. When they had to be introspective or feel emotion I believed them. When they needed to be funny it was funny and I could see their characters’ character shine through. The smaller characters were also great. Matt Damon and Russell Crowe were fun on the screen.

I got the villain’s motivation. He lost his daughter and abandoned by the gods. This lead to him being chosen by the sword which took control of him. While he was generally plain evil and this a little silly, I bought it.

I thought the CGI fights were well done because they were accomplishing something other that WOW THE CGI. I wasn’t wowed by the effects or blown away by the action, but that wasn’t the point. There was a fun scene to show off Thor’s powers. I saw creepy spiders. We got a Zach Snider fight on the moon. Kids were being silly with lightning. The CGI was there often as a visual gag or a way to be artistic which I thought worked well and gave it a purpose.

Something about the pacing felt weird to me. It was fast but it didn’t feel like there was any transitions. Like BAM I’m here. BAM I’m here. It felt kinda similar to Everything Everywhere All At Once and Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness (which makes me wonder if this is a trend we’ll be seeing). I liked it in Everywhere but less in Multiverse. I think because it fit with the plot and theme of Everywhere and in Multiverse it felt like it was there to make the movie shorter. In Thor it felt more like Multiverse. The movie had certain places it had to be, certain scenes it had to show, and certain relationships it had to build. Just got to jump to it. I’m not sure if the movie needs moments to breath and let in atmosphere or something else.

If it’s something else I think it is this: the plot of the movie felt like it was hitting predetermined beats. Thor had to be here and now he has to be here. Jane has to have this moment with Thor. There needs to be a conversation between these characters here. This didn’t sink the movie for me it was just noticeable. Particularly in the last act (how did the Thors know to get there? why are the kids there? Why didn’t Thor grab the bad guy before he crawled through the door?).

I’m also mixed on the ending. The villain change of heart because of love didn’t feel quite right to me. I like the idea that Thor learns to chose love so the villain does too. At the same time the villain isn’t controlled by the sword anymore and I don’t have a good sense of what is the sword and what is the person. It feels strange that the father needs to be convinced that he should choose his daughter. If it’s more him than sword that shouldn’t take more convincing (he could have forgotten with the sword madness). If the sword has more power over him, then seeing the love should break him from its control. He seemed more curious about why choose love, which is different but also strange in this situation.

There’s also a little too much telling and not showing. Lots of it is funny by Korg. But some feels like characters saying their feelings to save time.

I’m also confused by the themes. The movie ends with love is important. And a lot of the movie is about Thor and Jane getting back together. But they kissed once and that was about it. Jane decides to choose Thor and stay in bed and then save him while sacrificing herself. But it also feels like she didn’t choose to be with Thor. Maybe that sacrifice is important but then Thor is preaching to Butcher instead of mourning Jane. I guess the Butcher literally chooses the girl Love. I guess this end fits in with the theme but it didn’t feel earned to me (and didn’t get brought up much in the film besides people telling me they are lonely and blocking their hearts off or their behavior is behaviors is because their blocking their hearts off).

I’m also confused at the theme to not need gods. On one hand the gods are clearly dicks. On the other in the end, Butcher gets the help of a god to save and raise his daughter. If most gods are dicks, then why do I care if Butcher kills them? What’s the ramification of the god slaying besides one king on one planet doesn’t like that someone took his land (which I guess showed it but it didn’t make me care because it was all played for laughs). Thor didn’t really reflect on his status on as a god so why should I.

Again, I enjoyed the movie. Good time, definitely see it with friends. I wrote a lot about what I didn’t like because I’m trying to figure it out. It feels like there’s lots of pieces that would make me like it more than I did and I’m trying to figure it out. I think it boils down to Taika Waititi is a great director, the acting was great, and it was funny so it was good. The negatives are that some bits of the movies feel rushed (for time or for plot or by telling) and that negatively impacts the flow of the movie, some steps of logic, and the execution on the big themes that help tie the movie together and create confusion.

Good night,

Lucas

Why Hello,

Just watched Thor: Love and Thunder so I’ll be doing a movie review today and pick up on post-quantum cryptography tomorrow.

tldr I enjoyed it. It was funny and a good time. There were some flow issues and I’m not sure how well the message hit. Would recommend watching with a group of friends.

We start by seeing a man in the desert with his daughter, ravaged by the heat. His daughter dies and he hears a voice calling to him. He follows the voice to a lush jungle and confronts his god. His god is an asshole who admits to leaving his followers to dead. The man has enough, gets an evil sword, and becomes the God Butcher.

We quickly jump through Thor’s history in the MCU and learn since End Game he’s gotten back into shape and gone on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. After seeing a distress call from his friend he splits up from the Guardians. He learns the God Butcher is coming to Earth. Goes there to protect it.

(speeding up because this is a lot)

Jane Foster, his old love, has cancer and has recently become Thor with his old hammer. They fight off the Butcher with Valkyrie but children are stolen. They go to the city of the gods to get help but their leader, Zeus, is an asshole. They still his thunder bolt and go confront the Butcher.

Jane and Thor rekindle their old love and the team of 3 fight the Butcher. But they learn he needs Thor’s axe for his plan to get a free wish and kill all the gods and manages to get it. If Jane fights anymore she dies so Thor goes back to fight alone. BUT when he’s about to get defeated Jane saves him. The Butcher is able to make his wish but is granted and decides to save his daughter over killing the gods.

Jane dies. Thor raises the daughter.

The movie was funny. It was silly (lmao at the screaming goats). Korg was great.

The acting was perfect for the movie. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale sold me on their characters. In this kind of movie you don’t get a lot of time to do express yourself. When they had to be introspective or feel emotion I believed them. When they needed to be funny it was funny and I could see their characters’ character shine through. The smaller characters were also great. Matt Damon and Russell Crowe were fun on the screen.

I got the villain’s motivation. He lost his daughter and abandoned by the gods. This lead to him being chosen by the sword which took control of him. While he was generally plain evil and this a little silly, I bought it.

I thought the CGI fights were well done because they were accomplishing something other that WOW THE CGI. I wasn’t wowed by the effects or blown away by the action, but that wasn’t the point. There was a fun scene to show off Thor’s powers. I saw creepy spiders. We got a Zach Snider fight on the moon. Kids were being silly with lightning. The CGI was there often as a visual gag or a way to be artistic which I thought worked well and gave it a purpose.

Something about the pacing felt weird to me. It was fast but it didn’t feel like there was any transitions. Like BAM I’m here. BAM I’m here. It felt kinda similar to Everything Everywhere All At Once and Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness (which makes me wonder if this is a trend we’ll be seeing). I liked it in Everywhere but less in Multiverse. I think because it fit with the plot and theme of Everywhere and in Multiverse it felt like it was there to make the movie shorter. In Thor it felt more like Multiverse. The movie had certain places it had to be, certain scenes it had to show, and certain relationships it had to build. Just got to jump to it. I’m not sure if the movie needs moments to breath and let in atmosphere or something else.

If it’s something else I think it is this: the plot of the movie felt like it was hitting predetermined beats. Thor had to be here and now he has to be here. Jane has to have this moment with Thor. There needs to be a conversation between these characters here. This didn’t sink the movie for me it was just noticeable. Particularly in the last act (how did the Thors know to get there? why are the kids there? Why didn’t Thor grab the bad guy before he crawled through the door?).

I’m also mixed on the ending. The villain change of heart because of love didn’t feel quite right to me. I like the idea that Thor learns to chose love so the villain does too. At the same time the villain isn’t controlled by the sword anymore and I don’t have a good sense of what is the sword and what is the person. It feels strange that the father needs to be convinced that he should choose his daughter. If it’s more him than sword that shouldn’t take more convincing (he could have forgotten with the sword madness). If the sword has more power over him, then seeing the love should break him from its control. He seemed more curious about why choose love, which is different but also strange in this situation.

There’s also a little too much telling and not showing. Lots of it is funny by Korg. But some feels like characters saying their feelings to save time.

I’m also confused by the themes. The movie ends with love is important. And a lot of the movie is about Thor and Jane getting back together. But they kissed once and that was about it. Jane decides to choose Thor and stay in bed and then save him while sacrificing herself. But it also feels like she didn’t choose to be with Thor. Maybe that sacrifice is important but then Thor is preaching to Butcher instead of mourning Jane. I guess the Butcher literally chooses the girl Love. I guess this end fits in with the theme but it didn’t feel earned to me (and didn’t get brought up much in the film besides people telling me they are lonely and blocking their hearts off or their behavior is behaviors is because their blocking their hearts off).

I’m also confused at the theme to not need gods. On one hand the gods are clearly dicks. On the other in the end, Butcher gets the help of a god to save and raise his daughter. If most gods are dicks, then why do I care if Butcher kills them? What’s the ramification of the god slaying besides one king on one planet doesn’t like that someone took his land (which I guess showed it but it didn’t make me care because it was all played for laughs). Thor didn’t really reflect on his status on as a god so why should I.

Again, I enjoyed the movie. Good time, definitely see it with friends. I wrote a lot about what I didn’t like because I’m trying to figure it out. It feels like there’s lots of pieces that would make me like it more than I did and I’m trying to figure it out. I think it boils down to Taika Waititi is a great director, the acting was great, and it was funny so it was good. The negatives are that some bits of the movies feel rushed (for time or for plot or by telling) and that negatively impacts the flow of the movie, some steps of logic, and the execution on the big themes that help tie the movie together and create confusion.

Good night,

Lucas