Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is back for a 4th Marvel Cinematic Universe outing and THIS TIME he has a another god for his adventure in Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), the Mighty Thor! They've teamed up to save the deity pantheon from Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Here we'll get into some quick, uncut thoughts I have about Taika Waititi's new movie for the MCU.
Panel of Frames Episode 03 - Full Transcription
Looks like Marvel has finally brought the thunder. We're gonna be talking about Thor, love and thunder with no spoilers this time. What did I think of the NCUs newest outing with Thor? I'll let you know that right after this.
Welcome back to panel of frames. Today's episode is brought to you by me, myself and I. So if you wanna support this podcast, uh, five star me, if you can, but share me if you can too. And also. There's a subscribe button somewhere. somewhere on the page that you're looking at this on. So subscribe to us on Spotify, Google podcast, and we're working on a YouTube just as we're working on a website.
Thank you. In advance. As you heard from the top, we are talking about throw love and thunder. The God of thunders fourth, the, the cinematic, I was supposed to say, theatrical, cinematic, thematic. Outing just, uh, happened it's happening today, but it happened, it happened tomorrow. I dunno why they say they're releasing like on the day of, and then show it the day before still they still do that, but most people can catch it only on the weekends.
So I wanna talk about that today. That's what I wanna talk about today. And that's, that's honestly gonna be all we're talking about today. I wanna get right into it. There's not gonna be spoilers here. There will be a spoil. I wanna do a spoiler one so bad. Y'all there's so much that I wanna talk about.
Cause overall, let me give you my thoughts overall, the movie, it is serviceable. It works most of the time. Like the stuff that didn't work. I don't hate, I just dislike the stuff that worked. I love. So this, this is good overall. And. It kind of tracks with what they're getting. I think their, the run tomato score is going in between 69 GIY and 70.
It keeps bouncing between those two. And I, yeah, I kind of, I, I kind of concur I'm on the lower end of that. Cause if I give it a three outta five, which is the highest I'll give it, it's a six outta 10. So you know, all that math stuff. Let me get started, man. You ready? Cause I don't go into, I'm not gonna go into specifics.
I'm not, I'm not gonna go into spoilers. Like I said, I just wanna go into some scenes that I, that stuck out to me the first five or 10 minutes we are in Marvel movies. Do this all the time. We're shown, uh, the key antagonist and how he comes to become an antagonist. I feel like, and I say five or 10 minutes, but if I go back and time that it's probably less than five minutes, we have less than five minutes.
To really cement this huge and cuz he's pretty strong to be he's he, he needs an accessory to be strong, but he is pretty strong and has a strong reason to be doing what he's doing. I just don't feel like we spend enough time with him to get connected to him, especially considering the end of the movie, which I will not go into.
I will just allude. Enough for you to understand? So gore Christian Bell, first off, man, he looks disgustingly. Skin is peeling he's it doesn't help the, uh, white quanie uncle fester skin that he's got on skin is peeling in the sun. He finally finds in Oasis man, and. He, he runs up on the person or the deity that his people serve.
And obviously y'all know his name is gore, the God killer. So it probably didn't go. It probably didn't go any, any, it's probably not gonna go. How you exactly. Okay. We're gonna have to cut that part out. It's probably gonna go exactly how you think it's gonna go with a name like that. And that set him up, but I feel like that whole sequence of him suffering should have been just a little bit longer cuz they fade through to show the passage of time, but it feels like they're doing it in like 30 seconds and it's not enough for me to be like, okay.
Yeah, totally. And I guess the movie doesn't want you to do that cuz he is the antagonist. He's not doing good things, but he's doing 'em for a good reason. But at the end of the movie, it's like, they want you to feel sorry for him. So I'm like, you. Could we should have gotten more connected with this character.
Especially Christian Bell did a fantastic job. Every, every scene he was in on point. And that's why I was so happy to hear him speaking in his natural accent, his natural accent, because I knew that was gonna add, like when actors have to put on an accent, it diminishes their acting just a little bit because it's not their natural state of speaking.
Since he didn't have to put on an accent, his acting. A little differently. It went better. It's like Patrick Bateman, but it's deeper, you know, and Patrick, Batman's pretty deep pause. he's it is it's. I don't know how to, how exactly to describe him. I'm trying to find the words at one point, though. He did, he literally did the Batman voice.
He literally did it like just for a second too, cuz he didn't talk like that. Throughout the rest of the movie, but that one moment he did the Batman voice. It was exact. And I was like Batman, and then it never went, it never happened again in the movie, but let me know if you catch that. So besides that, we switched from that to what's going on with throwing the guardians, by the way y'all guardians are in this junk for about three minutes, they I'm just gonna let you know I'm gonna let you know they have no, they have no focus on the plot.
And I think it. At the behest of Disney and or James gun because James gun doesn't want them to do something with those characters that will contradict his plans for S gai three, speaking of James gun, we're gonna get back to him in a second but most of this movie is conversations and their, you can tell they're improv, there's improv to an extent and.
They've been told certain things to say through the improv. And you could, you could, you could really feel Tay T's influence in this one. You could fill it in the last one, but it is ramped up here. Think how Tim Burton's Batman was the first time. And then the Batman returns it's like, they just let him, they just let him go.
they just let him go. And in this one, you can feel it. And let me skip ahead a little. So, cause I'm trying to, I'm running through this movie linearly in my mind. So we get a lot of what's going on right now. We switch from Thor directly to Jane and man, what a contrast, what a contrast like there's. Her her life.
You probably heard some spoilers or whatever. I'm not gonna give away what her storyline is, but her life is just as lonely as THS, but it's, it's even sadder. It's even sadder. If that is possible, it's even sadder. And. We, we get more of her character. Honestly, this is the most character Jane has gotten in all three of these movies.
I feel like this is the most. She has been fleshed out. We got a backstory for her. She has a whole backstory that we are just getting into in this movie, bro. Hey, her mom. All that stuff. Like I'm like, yo, where was this? Obviously they didn't plan it. It was about Thor, but where was this in the dark world?
Or, you know, but they didn't have anything planned. They didn't, they didn't add anything to her character. So, which is why I, I felt like. In the dark world, I was like, Jane Foster is not coming back cuz she did not have a good time with that movie. And I could tell when watching it, she didn't have a good time.
This one, she had a good time. She had a really good time with this one. I? And you can tell, you could tell by contrast her acting in this and the dark world and the first door and in order. From how much fun she had to the least amount of fun she had it's this and then the first door and then the dark world just completely, she wasn't even in endgame, even though that was her, that was like stock footage of something that was like a deleted scene.
So she didn't even show up for that. But she had a lot of fun in this woman and I, I was glad to, I was glad to see cuz you could tell she did great. Down to how her banter with Thor was going and how they went back and forth and, and how quippy she got. She got very quippy, but it's, it made sense. It wasn't forced shoehorned in like how people see the MCU with the jokes are, unfortunately their conversations are the most natural, probably the NA not her and his, but just all the conversations in this movie.
Very, very natural. but it's it's, it is contrasting with the plot because they're heavy, heavy, heavy, hover. There are heavy things happening in the plot that you have to give a little room to breathe and they are constantly throwing joke. You're gonna hear this a lot too, with all the reviews you hear, because they they're constantly throwing jokes in at points where you're like, wow, that was a sad moment.
Like I went through that with him in a movie ago and that was sad. And I understand that we're trying to be all, you know, hype and happy that maybe don't even mention that. Then if we're gonna do that. Because we remember we're on Thora. Of course we remember end game and infinity war and dark world.
Most of the time, you know, you not gonna just, you're not gonna just jump into love and thunder, most likely if you're not in the th already. And I'm progressing ahead in my mind, also the plot had a logical progression. It really did, but there was a lot of story threats happening at once. There was gore obviously, and then.
Thor and, um, Jane and then valry is in charge of new Asgard, which she's, she's pretty bored. I thought she was gonna be worse. Like as far as how apathetic she was toward what she had to do for the, for the new ASCAR town city, cuz it's basically just a bootleg Disneyland, six flags. I thought she was gonna be more a.
But she was the right amount of apathetic. She was like, I have to get this stuff done like that. She, she really took to her role as king of new Asgard. Like she, that I, I have no complaints about her, about her at all. I really liked her. I don't think she should have been in there anymore, but I definitely don't want her in there any.
If that makes sense, co gets cor I don't even have to explain I don't even have to explain. Um, if you watch the trailer, there is a shot of Russell Crow as Zeus. And let me tell you, I could barely, I could barely focus on what he was saying because I was just. I was laughing so hard. I was like, dude, his choice, Russell crow's choice.
Superman's dad. Russell crow's choice for, um, his biological dad, his choice for Zeus, his acting choice. I'm I'm sitting there. Just, I cannot stop laughing. I was like, why did you? But it, it fits because look, I'm just give you a hint. The gods in the ACU, bro. They not, all of them are created equal because there's one who thought referred to as the nicest guy you've ever met, which means if he knew something was going on, he would've helped.
And then, and then you got. Who was like, don't care. this is we, we ain't, we ain't shit like, and we don't care. We don't care. Nobody cares. What I did like is when they went to this, they, they, they ended up at a Pantheon type place, what an omnipotent city. And there's a bunch of different gods. There's a dumpling, God, which is.
That's gonna be a plushy. Like that's, if it's not already a plushy, it's gonna be a plushy. It might already be a character, but there's a bunch of different gods by the way. Wakanda's goddess BA apparently she was sitting in front of Jane and valry. She was sitting right in front of him. And I was like, wow, are y'all gonna address this are y'all gonna address that.
That is basically who the Wakanda's people worship she's right there. She's right there. Or, you know, a human, I don't know if she was an avatar or what, but she was definitely a human representation. If you look at her African and they never called her out by name, we just knew from an early screenshot that that was her and they kind of sidelined confirmed that it was her, but she has nothing to do with the.
I just find it interesting that wow, she's right there. And y'all BA who bass was fine, bro. I BA and then things were happening and she was reacting. Like I was like, yep. That's that? That's some do Melia right there. That is, that is the Panther goddess right there. She was fine, bro. She , I don't know how else to, like I was like, yeah, she, they really got the right one chocolate and skin and everything.
I was just really good. So actress who, who played that character hit me up on this random podcast. Hit me up. If you find this random podcast, man, love to have Y on. Top of a lot of things. So we're gonna go past Zeus and I'm gonna just skip to, I'm gonna skip to the end, because the interesting thing about the plot, it just goes, and I don't the pace, there's a pacing issue, but it never felt like things were going on for too long.
There were some points in the, in the movie where I was. This feels like a TV show. There is a, a specific moment in, this is why we're doing a spoiler thing too. A spoiler talk too, because I can't really get into super specifics, but there's a specific moment where valry Jane and Thor and cog are in the same room and they're talking and it's.
Obviously improv and it gets extended. That felt like peacemaker. I was, I, at that moment, I was like, I feel like I'm watching peacemaker. This is like a TV show right here. Some of the shots that he lingers on are like wide shots are like TV shots, a lot. and it's not enough to drive down the quality of the whole film because there are definitely, it's mostly film, like most of the movie, but there are moments where you're like, was this, did you have like scripts written in episode form?
Like what , how did you do this Taika? How did you actually produce this? So I'll be interested in, into hearing the audio commentary for that, like the official movie audio commentary for that. but the end of the movie, when we pass by Jane and Thor's relationship, which is a central core focus, it is. And it, it, it is not unwelcome because I love how awkward they are with each other until they just are like, okay, this is what's going on in my life.
You know, I, I, I, I really like that. That felt really natural. I, I loved that. As a matter of fact, it felt really natural. The fights were great now that we get to the end that end fight the end fight before the final end fight was amazing. The final end fight was not amazing, but it was funny. It was really, really funny.
And man, I can't give you anything on that. Just know Thor can lend his power to anyone as an I forgot that he basically has the olden force cuz olden is gone. So when he says things to things he can echat them and it's cool because he kind of. Learns cause the first time he did it, he did it by mistake.
And then he kinda learns like, oh, oh yeah, my father enchanted my hammer. So I can, I should be able to do that now. And he does it and man, it's worth it. it is worth it. I'll give you that. I will give you that by the way. And this is not a huge, this is really this really not a spoiler. I think it should have.
A bigger part of the plot, to be honest with you, it just Elba had a kid in the movie not in the movie, but he just kind of pops up and like, oh yeah, that's uh, that's his son. I'm like, bro, you can't just pop this vein. What the, like, you can't just do that. You can't just do that, but they did it. And I guess he's a contender for the young Avengers.
He's not a big part of the movie. Uh, he's a he's he's, he's a mid. Mid medium size part of the movie, but he's not, he's not a huge part of the movie he's in there enough for them to push him towards something else, like for him to show up somewhere else he's in there enough for that. My favorite part about the end of this movie is that they showed us somebody that I've been waiting to see forever.
And it's a cosmic entity. I've been waiting to see this entity. And when they showed up, I was like, that is exactly like, like frame by frame pixel by pixel. That is exactly how I thought that that thing would look that is precisely. Exactly. How I thought how I thought it would look from when I saw it in the comic book pages that is exa like, it's like a twoish, but in 3d, it's amazing.
It, it, it's amazing. And I was just happy to see that it showed up and it's not a huge part of the plot either. It's not there's they have to get to it, but it's not it itself, it doesn't speak. It, it , it just kind of sits there and does what it does later on, you know what I'm talking. Clearly by the end of this, like when you go see it, man, I, I, I've been waiting to see that thing for 10 years.
I'm telling you, I thought it was gonna be a bigger part of this entire franchise, but I'm happy to see that. I'm happy to see that. I, I guess that can't do that because the very nature of that entity is. How do you even make a plot for this? How do you even make a plot for this? In fact, Tyco, YT didn't know how to make a plot for it.
So he just kind of put it in there and used it some other kind of way. And I was like, okay, this is serviceable. Cause I could see it has that much power to be able to do that. So it makes sense. So like I said, overall, everything works. The very, very end of the movie. I, I was very confused at the very, very end.
It was cute. It was the movie's cute. The end of the movie's really, really cute. It is really, really cute, but at the same time, I'm like, Hm, that part felt forced. Uh, that part felt, uh, It's like one character signs, another character up for something. And it's not right. I, when I say, when I was watching the movie, I don't know how else to say it.
When I was watching movie, I was like, you really finna, you, you are not gonna be around for this. you're not gonna be around for. And you putting this on this person. What I don't, I don't want to, and of course the person accepts, I'm like, okay, well, I guess we know what the next, we know what the title's about, what it refers to.
And we know a gist of what the next movie and possibly, you know, what Thor's role in the next phase is gonna be. and I'm gonna let y'all know. I think Thor is gonna be on his way out. I don't know. I don't know if it happens at five or six. He's this, this next, maybe in this next avenges movie, but I don't see Thor.
I don't see Chris Hemsworth, Thor staying past one more. Avenges movie with this, with what just happened. That's that's what I. And it's it's, it's not like he got some kind of sickness or anything, but I don't see him. I don't see him staying after this after, after a certain point after this. Cause I see Walmart, I see one Avengers movie, but it's gonna happen.
Y'all he's he's gonna go away. Hope y'all ready. but this is it. That is all. That's all I care to get into without spoilers. The spoiler bed is gonna be way more in depth. So I'll post that here too. I'll give it a day for, you know, most of y'all to see it. Maybe I'll post it on Sunday. Probably not. Cuz y'all ain't going y'all ain't gonna listen to that.
Y'all ain't gonna live. Turning into Chris Tucker I'm not gonna post it on Monday, Mondays for the news episodes, by the way, I'm switching it to Monday. um, I think that's it y'all but overall, like I said, serviceable movie, I wouldn't pay full price for it again, I would definitely catch it at a discounted price.
Like, you know, I paid $12 for it, so it's not too bad. I, I would pay $10 to go see it again. Maybe 10, maybe nine. But overall, if I'm nitpicking, it's a 2.5 outta five. If I'm just letting all that go, which I kind of am. It's a three outta five. So that's it for me guys here. Let me know what you thought of throw love and thunder somehow on on whatever podcast thing you're listening on.
Or if you're listening on YouTube or something like that, we don't have YouTube yet. We're doing it. We're doing it. We got YouTube. What do I do? Gibberish? I'll catch you guys later. Spend your host Fox ROEs and. State Crimson.
