Thor: Love and Thunder

Ever since defeating Thanos and reversing the Snap that occurred five years ago, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has had some battles with enemies with his new band of companions, The Guardians of the Galaxy. However, in general, he has had the luxury of taking it pretty easy. As such, Thor has had some difficulty, though, figuring out what exactly his role in the universe is now.

We’re going to sidestep away from Thor for a moment though and visit Dr. Jane Foster Natalie Portman), you know, Thor’s former love interest from the first movie. We come upon Jane at a cancer treatment receiving chemotherapy for her stage four cancer. Jane is not ready to give up fighting though. An idea begins to form while reading through her Norse mythology books… Mjölnir! (Thor’s former weapon—the hammer). Mjölnir will be able to give her the powers of Thor and keep her young and healthy, and she knows just where to find it.

Fast forward a few days. New Asgard is under attack from a group of strange shadow creatures when suddenly Thor appears to save the citizens, but he’s not alone. Out of nowhere, Jane appears in a Thor-like outfit, Mjölnir in hand, calling herself, “Mighty Thor.” It’s an awkward reunion at first, but Thor learns to adapt. Amidst the chaos though a mysterious figure named Gorr the God-Butcher (Christian Bale), kidnaps the children of New Asgard.

It’s up to Thor, Mighty Thor, and King Valkyrie (the ruler of New Asgard) to track down the children and return them safely to New Asgard.

It’s funny, it’s been eleven years since the first Thor movie came out; only eleven. It received an Average morality rating on our site. If you look at the MPAA rating it stated “PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence.” The second Thor film, “Dark World” had the same rating, same description and added “sensual content.” The third film, Ragnarok, again, had the same rating and same description but went from sensual content to SUGGESTIVE content.

In this fourth installment, “… Love and Thunder” we now have “intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity.” It’s as if, throughout the course of each film Marvel kept pushing the limits as to what they could and couldn’t have in a PG-13 rated film. It’s a shame, truthfully, because when a movie pushes the rating to its limit it makes some viewers, such as myself, very uncomfortable. As I stated to the theater manager yesterday, content that would have been rated R ten or fifteen years ago, some of which I saw in “Love and Thunder” (which I’ll discuss later), was in a PG-13 rated film like “Love and Thunder.”

Perhaps I could overlook some of the violence, the language and suggestive material (and that’s a HUGE perhaps). What I can’t overlook though is how far and how much blasphemous, and yes I say blasphemous, content made its way into “Love and Thunder.” It is almost on the same level as “Eternals.” Of course, you expect a certain level of fantasy and mythology to go along with a Thor film. But “Love and Thunder” goes beyond what is acceptable, especially since this film is being marketed toward children and teens (I will get into this more in the Offensive Content section).

From a performance standpoint, Chris Hemsworth is still as charming and as funny as he’s ever been as Thor. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle from time to time. It was also nice to see Natalie Portman back in a supporting role. Tessa Thompson did an okay job, though her appearance was very minimal (though I must admit I let out a big “sigh” in the theater when I heard her name was KING Valkyrie and not Queen Valkyrie). Enough Hollywood, just enough). The most laughable performance, sadly, is Russell Crowe as Zeus, as though he was the comedic relief at times, his Greek accent was so terrible it detracted from the brief scene he was in.

Offensive Content

VIOLENCE: Please note not every violent moment is listed here, only the main issues you should be aware of. In one of the most appalling scenes (my mouth dropped), Gorr rips a creature’s head off in front of some young children and throws it at them. He also talks about ripping apart creatures. A corpse is seen hanging from a bridge. Someone is seen missing an arm. Shadow-like creatures attack people and then are butchered. More shadow-like creatures kidnap some children in a terrifying manner. A god is killed and beheaded (the beheading takes place off-screen). Characters are seen dying in brief flashbacks. There is a brief fight sequence on a planet. We witness some buildings crumble. Someone gets hit with a plasma bullet. A character is supposedly killed. A fight occurs between some gods and Thor’s crew (Thor, Jane and Valkyrie). Thor’s crew are strangled by some vines. Children are empowered by Thor to fight the shadow creatures. A character dies.

VULGARITY: S-words (11), A**-hole (1), Cr*p (1), Fr*ckin (1), P*ssed Off (1)

PROFANITY: G*d (1), Oh my G*d (1), D*mn (5), H*ll (4) — including “Go to H*ll”, H*ly Sh*t (1)

SEX: Zeus asks a crowd, “Where are we going to hold this year’s orgy?” King Valkyrie is openly bi-sexual in the film and kisses a woman’s hand. A character graphically mentions how his two dads made a baby (don’t ask). This same character is also openly Gay and we see him holding hands with another character. Thor and Jane share two kisses and are romantic at times (no intercourse occurs). Thor kisses several women. Men are shown shirtless.

NUDITY: There is a scene involving male rear nudity (this male is nude in the front, we only see partial nudity in the front though). When this occurs we see females looking at his rear and also swooning over his nudity and sighing when his clothes come back on.

ALCOHOL: Characters share a couple glasses of wine. Alcohol is brought on board a ship. Thor has beer.

PAGAN MESSAGING: The film discusses the concepts of multiple deities ruling earth and how the deities grow frustrated at the idea of how humans don’t look to them anymore. *MILD SPOILER* In the beginning sequence we learn that a character became a villain because he was worshiping a false god he believed would spare him and his child, but the god laughed at him and told him “There is no eternal reward. Just death.” *END MILD SPOILER* In fact this message is mentioned not just once, but a few times. A sequence takes place in Omnipotence City where the multiple deities rule. A sequence takes place at the Gate of Eternity (without giving too much away, it is NOTHING like the real Heaven. It’s almost like a purgatory-like state). There is a scene, post credits, where someone is welcomed into Valhalla (a place of eternal, blissful life in Norse mythology), and we see Valhalla. Also Valhalla is referenced a couple other times in the film.

Message

As I mentioned before, one character becomes a villain at one point because a false deity that he worshiped tells him that there is nothing eternal for him when he dies, only more death.

This is an extremely false narrative, poisonous to anyone who listens to it! There is only death for those who die without believing in Jesus, accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior and trusting Him with their whole heart. The first half of Romans 6:23 says,

“For the wages of sin is death,”

The last half says this…

“but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus’ mercy, love and forgiveness is unending! There are absolutely no strings attached. With accepting Jesus into your heart comes eternal life. There is no fear of death, no fear of Hell.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” —John 3:16-17

“For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” —Romans 10:10

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” —Ephesians 2:8

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” —John 1:12

Final Thoughts

“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” says Thor at one point in the movie. You took the words right out my mouth, Thor. Marvel (and Disney by association) has fallen hard.

In my opinion, and perhaps this is harsh, the words “wholesome entertainment” and Marvel no longer go hand in hand. When you compare films like “Captain America” and “Iron Man” from over a decade ago to the Marvel films that we have now, I can’t help but pray and hope that Disney and Marvel make a complete 180 degree turn around before it’s too late.

Christian audiences are strongly discouraged from attending “Thor: Love and Thunder.” The violence is heavy (sometimes appalling), the language is heavy as is the sexual content and nudity, and it is FAR more ungodly this time around than in previous films. It is definitely NOT for children.

• Violence: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderately Heavy
• Sex: Moderately Heavy
• Occult/Paganism: Heavy
• Woke: Most definitely
• Vulgar/Crude language: Moderate
• Nudity: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

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