Early Reviews of “Thor: Love and Thunder” Divide Marvel Fans
by Emily Nagle
Critic reviews for “Thor: Love and Thunder” have come storming in, and they’re already tearing the Internet apart. Despite the film not releasing until this weekend, Marvel fans are debating over the quality of the film based on the small amount of reviews that are out.
Lots of viewers are comparing the upcoming film to its predecessor, “Thor: Ragnarok“, which, like “Love and Thunder”, was directed by Taika Waititi. “Ragnarok” scored a 93% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and to date is the most successful film in Marvel’s “Thor” trilogy. Comparatively, its successor only has a 71% critic rating.
“In some ways, Thor: Love and Thunder feels like Ragnarok redux,” the critic summary on Rotten Tomatoes reads, “but overall, it offers enough fast-paced fun to make this a worthy addition to the MCU.”
Some critics have described “Love and Thunder” as watered-down compared to its predecessor, with humor that falls flat, awkward pacing, and confusing tone. On the other hand, many critics have praised the film for its eye-popping visuals, emotional depth, and Waititi’s unique direction.
Now, Marvel fans who haven’t even seen the film yet are debating whether or not it’s a quality film based on critic feedback. More specifically, they have found problems with viewers criticizing the vastly different tone of the film compared to previous Thor films; it has been described by some as reminiscent of a rom-com. With critics blasting Marvel for using the same formula for most of their projects, fans find it strange that when the studio finally decides to put a new spin on their usual techniques, critics find problems with that as well.
Those who attended advance screenings yesterday have also tweeted about how much they ended up loving the film. YouTuber iNabber praised the film’s visuals, writing, “am seeing so many people complain about how Thor 4 looks visually but trust me after seeing the movie i can happily say it’s easily top 3 best looking MCU movies, in the third act it’s genuinely absolutely gorgeous.”
Even still, there’s still a couple of days left before passionate Marvel fans can decide on the quality of “Love and Thunder” for themselves. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is rolling out to theaters this Friday, with an opening weekend projected to surpass that of “Ragnarok”; studios have predicted a domestic gross of $140 to $160 million, included in a total of $300 million worldwide.