Thor: Love and Thunder is finally hitting theaters this Friday and MCU fans have been looking forward to seeing the God of Thunder's next solo adventure as well as the return of his ex Jane Foster, who is now wielding the Mjolnir, and the introduction of the villainous Gorr the God Butcher played by Christian Bale.
As we are approaching its release, there are questions that fans are wondering: Is it going to be another great entry in the MCU? Is it on the same level as Thor: Ragnarok? Is it going to be a disappointment? Now, the critics are weighing in and the scores are lower than what you might expect.
As of the time of the writing of this article, Thor: Love and Thunder is sitting in with a 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on the 151 reviews they gathered so far and a 61 score at Metacritic based on the 40 reviews. In comparison, the previous film Thor: Ragnarok has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93% and a Metacritic score of 74.
While the film is still on the "tomato side" in its Rotten Tomatoes score, it is become apparent now that the newest MCU film is getting mixed reviews (still teetering on the positive side) and not receiving the same kind of response that Ragnarok had. It is also below Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which is sitting in at a score of 74%.
The critics who gave positive reviews such as Perri Nemiroff of Collider praised the film for "Taika Waititi's exceptional handle on blending humor and heart" while Robbie Collin of Daily Telegraph singled out Bale for giving "the series its best villain in years." However, there are also critics like David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter who called the film "weightless, flippant, instantly forgettable" and A.A. Dowd of Digital Trends who described it as a "rare Marvel movie that barely holds together."
As someone who has seen the film, I can understand why the film is receiving mixed responses from the critics since they doubled down more on the silliness aspect that Waititi did on Ragnarok and that might put off some people that don't like to see that type of humor in an MCU film or does not prefer that tone at all. Ragnarok also set the bar high for this film so there are expectations that it will be on the same level or even better than it.
At the end of the day, this is all subjective and your mileage may vary so there is a chance that you'll have a very different reaction from the critics and you'll end up liking the direction and tone that Waititi did. It is curious to see what the audience score will look like and whether it will have a huge opening weekend similar to the other MCU films.
Also Read: Thor: Love and Thunder 5-Day Teaser Highlights Thor vs Gorr Showdown
Thor: Love and Thunder is set to be released in theaters this Friday.
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