Credit – Chris Hemsworth Instagram/Marvel Studios
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ released on July 7th, and received the mandatory habitual praise an MCU weekend box office release is expected to get. Headlines poured in from the usual online mags saying things like, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ “roared”, “raced”, “scored franchise best”, “nabbed a mighty box office opening”, or “stormed to the top of the box office”. We all know the mainstream media has this sycophantic relationship with Disney and protecting anything that comes out of their studios, even if it is trash. But over the last few days, kinks have formed in the MCU’s armor. Audiences have been increasingly lackluster on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, to say the least, and there have been those in the mainstream media that have been extremely critical of ‘Love and Thunder’. This is atypical, and even more curious, because this is an MCU movie featuring one of the most recognizable MCU characters. But, be that as it may, there are some predicting that ‘Love and Thunder’ is going to have a big week 2 drop off. Why? Well, because ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is just a bad movie. It makes fun of itself, loses the audience in boring one liner after one liner, and turns a once revered character in the MCU into a hapless buffoon. But maybe that was the point.
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Proves How Directionless the MCU Actually Is
I’ve been saying for a long time, that Marvel and the MCU were going to get rid of Thor some how, and making him a shell of his former glory, or a second rate character, was one way they were going to do it. Well apparently, that’s exactly what they did. An article from the Daily Dot summed it up perfectly.
“Thor’s origin story saw him evolve from an immature jock to a selfless hero, and since then the MCU has struck a balance between his comedic side and the epic fantasy drama of Asgard. Love and Thunder essentially rewinds him to an earlier stage of development; an irresponsible dumbass once again. You get the sense that Waititi and his co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson simply didn’t know what to do next with their title character.”
Further on in the article, The Daily Dot describes ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ as definitive low for Taika Waititi.
“This is not the rainbow 1980s theme park ride that Marvel’s awesome posters suggest. In fact, my prevailing experience was boredom and irritation. A few Guns’n’Roses needle-drops can’t save the disorganized script and murky visuals, making this a definitive career-low for Waititi—and a disappointment for anyone who hoped to see another Ragnarok.”
And The Guardian summed it up as greeting card triteness.
“For the most part, however, this romp, which pits Thor against Christian Bale’s cadaverous God-slayer, is superficial stuff – a film that brings a greeting-card triteness to its themes of love and sacrifice; that harvests internet memes (screaming goats) in the service of easy laughs.”
CNET described ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ as a shallow unsatisfying mashup.
“It neither leans into its director’s style or maximizes its cast’s dramatic potential, feeling more like a shallow, unsatisfying mashup”
The critical reviews are endless, but the point is, that Marvel has taken an established MCU character and made a joke of it, allowing the director to personalize and ridicule the Thor character at the expense of what was established before. ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, feels more like a Taika Waititi movie, than an MCU movie, and just more evidence that this current iteration of the MCU is severely directionless.
Related: An MCU That is Directionless
Marvel and the MCU Have Done This to Themselves
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is going to have a 68% drop off from its first week opening. That ranks among the worst of all MCU releases. What’s even worse for Disney and Marvel, is that the drop off and bad audience scores have been the worst from the last 3 out of 4 MCU releases. This does not bode well for a once MCU guaranteed box office success. Marvel and the MCU have done this to themselves. They have force fed unknown characters, and identity politics into all of phase 4, leaving fans tired and bored, and more importantly…walking away. ‘Love and Thunder’s’ 68% drop off is not surprising to those of us fans who have been warning Marvel, that interjecting woke politics into the MCU was a recipe for disaster. All you have to do is look at the receipts. All but one of the last 4 legitimate phase 4 theater release has made any money, and the one that did, barely crossed the finish line. ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ needs to make anywhere from 650 million to 700 million just to make a profit, and it’s quite conceivable that it doesn’t get there. I point you to a great video by Valliant Renegade, who clearly defines all the numbers involved for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ to reach that profitability goal.
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is a Taika Waititi Movie and not an MCU Movie
The problem with ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, is that this was a movie that Taika Waititi wanted and not the fans. Marvel has been hiring directors to infuse their own personal identities into these Marvel characters, and have forgotten all about what the fans want. All Disney and Marvel have to do, is look at phases 1-3 for proof…with ‘Captain Marvel’ the outlier of course, because that was Kevin Feige’s poster child for what was to come in the MCU. The Russo brothers are a perfect example of directors who care about what the fans wanted to see, and you could see it in every one of the movies they directed for Marvel. It’s really not that hard to make a comic book movie, or any movie for that matter, that the fans want to see. Tom Cruise did it with a sequel 36 years after the original with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, and look how successful that’s been. No identity politics, no egos in direction, and just plain old deference to what came before and what the fans wanted. Tom Cruise has been saying it loud and proud every time he’s in front of the fans…he made this movie because of them. Taika Waititi, Disney, and Marvel, should take notice and maybe learn a thing or two, and stop making the MCU personal pet projects filled with identity politics, and get back to making movies for the fans.
