Review Detail

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually really enjoyed Love & Thunder when I saw it in theaters. I didn't find the comedy too grating (except the goats), I was just engrossed by Thor & Jane's story together. Honestly, at the time I preferred it over Ragnarok by virtue of feeling like a sequel to the other Thor movies & not a reboot. Plus, I genuinely prefer the Marvel movies that lean into more bizarre comedy (Thor movies, GotG, Ant-Man & The Wasp). Still, I was interested in an alternate take on this film, especially since it was under 90 minutes, and the result was interesting to say the least.

I will say, there were a lot of noticeable cuts that blared out to me as being edited. The ones that stood out in particular were the double echo of Star Lord saying "we need your help to win this battle" at the beginning, Thor getting light-headed seeing Jane again, Axl's first time contacting with Thor, an Asgardian saying the "this is all our fault" non-sequitur at 23:00, a lot of Omnipotence City, the list goes on. I'm worried the baby got thrown out with the bath water in trying to minimize the comedy, because I don't like how Jane is just there at the beginning, Jane & Val's relationship feels very rushed. Val goes from wanting to die in battle & joining her fallen sisters to sitting the final fight out, & Zeus just comes across as baffling, flip-flopping between giving Thor advice & wanting him dead.

The only thing that remains consistent is Thor & Jane's relationship. I prefer Thor's intro in this version, putting his journey through a more somber light, but I still think Jan'e story is hurt by cutting out the earlier scenes of her dealing with cancer (I actually wonder if there's a way to have Gorr & Jane's introductions play out in parallel before the credits). Still, one good thing I can say about the cuts is that by having Thor be dead serious about returning with the kids, I can actually picture this Thor being a dad at the end of the movie...which made it that more disappointing that the entire ending was cut out. I know a lot of that ending was baked into Korg's narration, but that's still gutting the emotional button of the entire film.

Anyway, I still recommend this version as an alternate way to watch the movie, & there were a lot of good elements, but this edit was just not for me. Then again, maybe I'll change my mind when I decide to rewatch the theatrical cut.