Thor: Love and Thunder

Story

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) hasn’t been able to move on after breaking up with renowned scientist and author Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Thor fights alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy to defend persecuted planets and cultures, but he struggles to find a deeper meaning to his life.

When the Guardians receive thousands of calls for help, Thor and Korg (Taika Waititi) split from the group to go and help an old friend. Amid the devastation, they learn that Gorr, (Christian Bale), once a devoted father but now the God Butcher, is on a mission to exterminate all the gods.

Meanwhile, Jane is fighting a losing battle with stage 4 cancer. In her search for answers and for something to help her heal, Jane responds to a summons from Thor’s hammer and is transformed into The Mighty Thor. She suddenly finds herself fit, strong and able to join Thor in his battle against Gorr, who has come to Asgardia.

Gorr wants to destroy Thor and take his axe, Stormbreaker, to open a door to Eternity where all his wishes will be granted. When Gorr sees that he’s losing the battle in Asgardia, he abducts all the children from the village to lure Thor to the Shadowlands. With assistance from King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and The Mighty Thor, Thor sets out for Omnipotent City to seek the help of the gods in saving the children and defeating Gorr. Through the example of Zeus (Russell Crowe), Thor and friends soon learn that the gods are interested only in helping themselves and that they must set off alone if they’re to save the children.

With King Valkyrie gravely injured and Jane’s cancer rapidly progressing, Thor finds an army in the children he was trying to save. With their help he manages to defeat the dark monsters – but not before Gorr opens the door to Eternity. In this eternal realm the unexpected takes place. Although death visits twice, ultimately life prevails.

Themes

Revenge; murder; kidnapping; death of a child; cancer; the renouncement of religion and gods

Violence

Thor: Love and Thunder has some violence. For example:

A sun god throws fruit at Gorr. Gorr tells the god how he and his people have suffered and starved and how his daughter died.
The sun god grabs Gorr by the neck and strangles him. Gorr stabs the sun god through the neck and decapitates him, vowing that all the gods will die.
Some brief scenes show a battle in which a man is impaled, a mother and father die, and a man has an eye socket burned out.
Spacecrafts smash and explode.
Thor jumps and kicks at spacecraft, and they explode. He kicks a machine, blasting it into pieces.
Giant goats scream at each other as they are dragged towards Thor.
A minor character is accidentally shot.
A character’s arm is cut off in battle.
A sword goes through the head of a beast.
Thor and the others fight Gorr and his dark monsters. There is stabbing, hitting, slicing and smashing. An axe goes through someone’s head, and other creatures are electrocuted.
The Mighty Thor’s hammer splits into pieces. Each piece destroys a creature before the axe reassembles itself.
Thor throws Zeus’s lightning bolt straight through Zeus’s chest. With help from the others, Thor then attacks the guards of Omnipotent City. Golden blood spurts everywhere as people are blasted apart. There is slicing, stabbing, kicking and throwing during the battle. When the last guard is dead, the stage is covered in golden blood, as are Thor and his companions.
Korg is hit and it looks like he is killed, because his body falls apart and disintegrates. His face is left intact and he can still talk, so his friends take his face with them.
When Thor and the others get to the Shadowlands, The Mighty Thor realises that they have walked into a trap. They’re all imprisoned and bound by menacing vines while Gorr tells King Valkyrie how the gods have failed her. They failed her when her sister and friends were killed and when her whole family was massacred.
Gorr makes the vines slowly strangle The Mighty Thor while telling them that she’s dying anyway. He says that he put his faith in a higher power and his daughter died. He keeps strangling The Mighty Thor, and her eyes bulge out. Gorr makes The Mighty Thor suffer so that Thor will call Stormbreaker and Gorr can steal it.
Gorr summons his dark creatures to come out of the shadows. They fight Thor and the others. There’s smashing, hitting, bashing, slashing, stabbing, slicing and so on.
A character gets stabbed in the back by the lightning bolt but doesn’t die.
King Valkyrie is stabbed in the back by a sword.
Thor and Gorr battle each other for Stormbreaker.
Moments after the battle, The Mighty Thor transforms back into Jane, who collapses on the ground.
A huge stone head falls and is about to crush the kidnapped children as a temple begins to collapse. Thor saves them just in time.
Thor trains the kidnapped children to become space Vikings. He transfers some of his power to them, giving them the ability to shoot lasers from their glowing eyes. The children smash, hit, throw, punch, slice, stab and decapitate the monsters they must fight. One little girl splits a large serpent down the middle.
A character is smashed unconscious.
Gorr nearly kills Thor.
The Mighty Thor headbutts and bashes Gorr.

Sexual references

Thor: Love and Thunder has some sexual references. For example:

Zeus repeatedly refers to an orgy the gods are planning.
Korg describes how 2 fathers hold hands over a lava pit to make a baby boy.
A female character looks longingly at another female character and kisses her on the hand before leaving.
There are references to King Valkyrie, who is said to be gay. She loved several girls who were all killed on the battlefield.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Thor: Love and Thunder shows some use of substances. For example:

Zeus tells Thor and the others to have some wine and grapes because ‘anything goes in Omnipotent City’.
Thor drinks beer and pours some on Stormbreaker.
Someone tells a character that she won’t find the answer in the bottom of a bottle.

Nudity and sexual activity

Thor: Love and Thunder has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Thor is stripped completely naked by Zeus before a large assembly of gods. We see a full backside view. Some women look very pleased by what they see and disappointed when Thor is clothed again. The women themselves are very scantily clad.
Jane and Thor kiss passionately.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or mentioned in Thor: Love and Thunder: Cheetos and Lays chips.

Coarse language

Thor: Love and Thunder has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth Thor movie from Marvel Studios. The movie features fabulous special effects and interesting characters. Although it the movie has a humorous side, it also has some intense scenes that will be too dark and scary for younger children. It’s best suited to older teenagers and mature or adult audiences.

These ae the main messages from Thor: Love and Thunder:

We should live life to the fullest because we don’t know how long we have or what tomorrow holds.
We should keep our hearts open and seek love.
There is no greater power than the ability to help those in need.

Values in Thor: Love and Thunder that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, sacrifice, courage, determination and love.

Thor: Love and Thunder could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

kidnapping children or holding people hostage to get what you want
taking someone’s life or using violence to solve your problems
focusing on revenge
treating cancer patients with sensitivity
being tested in very challenging ways and losing faith in religion or God
using children as soldiers.