Thor: Love plus Thunder minus Comedy

Better than the theatrical cut, but a too steep overcorrection, especially in narrative flow. Removing almost all of Jane's story and changing Zeus' role just feels out of place and the removal of the ending makes it less emotional. While I appreciate the more abrasive humor being cut, I didn't necessarily think every single joke in the movie should be cut either. The intent in the description was to mimic Ragnarok, but it ends up feeling like a slightly better version of Thor 2. Like Thor's obsession with a team is taken directly from Ragnarok, it's a continuing gag that's established in character for Thor (It also makes sense as being due to his loss of the Warriors Three, his original team). Cutting it feels out-of-place. There's a lot of things like that where it feels like Thor is being reduced to his Thor 1/2 personality, rather than his Ragnarok personality. Again, it feels like an overcorrection, like this edit would be great for people who hated Thor in Ragnarok already (There is a contingent who feels Ragnarok was too goofy), but not for those of us who loved Ragnarok. Like is someone loved Thor 2, they'll love Thor in this edit. This is a better Dark World than Dark World.

31 minutes were cut in this edit, and I feel like it needed only about half of that removed. The film has no time to breathe anymore, and the TC already had a rushed pace as it was. Maybe there is no way to really fix Thor 4 without access to Watiti's 4 hour assembly to workshop some decent version from. Though from what he's said, that assembly was just 2 extra hours of more goofiness so maybe not. Maybe the film was doomed from the beginning. A misguided film made by a good filmmaker. It happens sometimes even to the best directors, and maybe it's time I just moved on from obsessing over what this film could've been anyways. I'll accept this is probably the best that could be done with it.

I absolutely hated the original film, so by making this something watchable, you've worked miracles. Thank you for redeeming this movie!

The theatrical cut was messy and full of poor attempts at humor (and screaming goats, for some reason).. This edit does a great job at trimming most of the cringe out of this film, and greatly improves it. Makes me wish the theatrical cuts of MCU movies had editors who cared as much about the story as Tremault seemingly does.
I loved how Gorr's story and motivation are clearer, how we discover who the Mighty Thor is together with "our" Thor, how we discover that underneath her facade - Jane actually is suffering, how Sif now actually talks more like a true Asgardian, and many, many more changes.
Not everything is perfect about this edit, of course. The source material was full of quips and jokes, so trimming them leads to some continuity issues (e.g., location changes, props disappearing) and pacing issues (hardly any time to breathe).
All in all - most of those issues did not bother me too much. There were only two things I wish would be altered if Tremault plans on creating another version of this edit:
(1) 41:50 The use of November Rain feels very out of place. I think there's no need for anothe GnR song in the movie - and especially in this scene. I would replace it with some instrumental piece from the OST..
(2) 1:05:20 I understand there's no way to completely cut the scenes in which the kids gain powers, but if there's a way to further trim some of them (i.e., if there's a kid fighting without Thor in the frame) - trim it.
Keep up the good work!

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.

Foreword
I truly enjoyed the original Thor movie. Dark Fate was a bit dry and too serious, but also worked really well in terms of narrative and pacing. Though I know people love Ragnarok, it's always hurt me that they took the most powerful Hulk comic (Planet Hulk + World War Hulk) and super glued it to a Thor movie - but people enjoyed it on the whole and Chris Hemsworth seemed to enjoy a lighter interpretation of his otherwise aloof and unstoppable character.

But we can all agree that Love and Thunder was bad. Too irreverent of the characters, too frenetic in its pacing and editing, bookended by slapstick jokes and poorly executed comedic riffs - it was a nightmare, and it also laid waste to one of the greatest Thor comic storylines. So I came into this edit not with high hopes, but with desperation.

Technical Quality: 8/10

I didn't get as much compression or choppiness as some other reviewers. I watched on a 1080p 55 inch Samsung TV with surround sound and really only had a few artifacts on the garish colors of the intro/outro and the darkest blackest scenes had some crushing of the shadows - but nothing worse than I get through 4k streaming these days. Overall, for the size, I think it was pretty well done!

Editing Quality: 7.5/10

The problem is, there's just not much source material to pull from. In the theatrical release, every 15-30 seconds, there is a joke, a reference, a strange edit to a new scene, a clumsy transition. Cutting around those must have been a nightmare. There are several scenes that are necessary for the narrative, but are riddled with tasteless jokes. I enjoyed the inclusion of part of the deleted scene with Zeus explaining to Thor how to use the Thunderbolt and how the Thunderbolt would lead them to Eternity - it made sense as to why in hell Thor would even want the thing, but to use the rest of the scenes with Zeus and actually progress the movie - to tie it in with future releases - you HAVE to keep Thor hurling the Thunderbolt through Zeus' chest and running away with it.

You're cursed either way, but I liked seeing a portion of that put into the movie.

Many scenes are extremely obvious massive cuts have been made (like the very end of the movie, which I feel might have been a mistake, as it gives us no closure for Jane and Gorr's deaths, but I completely understand why it's there.

There is a scene, after New Asgard is attacked by Gorr, in which Thor is inside a community center watching his people bicker, fight, and lament the theft of their children, and the jump cut from a room packed with people to a room half-collapsing with a giant hole in the floor IS jarring, but again - there's no way to edit around it! These mandatory scenes are all hot glued with soul-crushing goofiness.

Overall, I think the editing was well done, I just wish there was more to pull from to connect these scenes together, particularly in the second act of the movie. But the first act is fanastically edited - especially everything before the departure of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I do wonder if the entire edit could have been slowed by 2-4% just to give us time to take a breath with all the rapid fire edits - but that's just a thought.

Narrative: 8/10

Again, it's like trying to pour water into a bowl made of hair. All the biggest pieces were there, but the trip to Ominpotence City is probably the most messy part of the entire film (both the theatrical and fan edit). There's so little to work with and so many scenes were cut for comedy's sake, it's a marvel 90 minutes survived.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I liked this! The use of music in the opening was a little too sad/somber for me, but the flashbacks framed around Thor, who admits that meditation makes him more angry, not less, was a good touch. I really loved seeing the opening of the movie move along and not spend 20 minutes faffing around with weird comedy. Especially the cut moments with the collapse of the alien's temple and the god awful dialogue from Siff were so welcome, i cannot overstate it. If there was just a bit more to work with, id' have rated it a solid 10 for my enjoyment. I don't think there should have been even a single frame cut from Christian Bale's time as Gorr the God Butcher, and i'd have liked to see a little bit of Jane Foster's backstory with bonding with Mjolnir left in, but overall I can watch THIS edit of the movie without heaping piles of regret. So that's a win!