How Christian Bale saved Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder

Disney has announced that Thor: Love & Thunder will be streaming on Disn ey+ on September 8. While many fans await the movie’s arrival, it seems only fair to talk about the issues of the film and what saved it from total collapse.

The film was criticized for its tonal inconsistency and screenplay. However, critics have consistently praised Christian Bale for his marvelous portrayal as Gorr the God Butcher. In the movie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), being joined by the Guardians of the Galaxy, goes on a plethora of adventures and fights a number of monsters. After being alerted that a God Butcher has been on a killing spree for any and all Gods, he sets out to stop the villain. So what went right and wrong with this movie?

Thor: Love & Thunder is subpar

The film had all the winnings of a memorable Marvel film. There was action, humor, and even romance. However, the film had a lot missing in its execution. For starters, the jokes seem gratuitous and fail to live up to the laughs of previous movies. It seems poorly-timed and not the best effort in the MCU canon.

The film was more like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the way that it tried to juggle so many things all at once, but came up with a short hand. Despite having Natalie Portman back as Jane Foster, the film has a disjointed feel that it can’t seem to shake off.

To be fair, it starts off with promise akin to a Greek tragedy but turns itself into an off-beat romantic comedy that tries too hard. Marvel is usually able to balance comedy and grounded drama but it seems that the film couldn’t blend the film together.

Christian Bale is fantastic in Thor: Love & Thunder

The previous was the bad, but now let’s get on with the good. Critics have cited Christian Bale  as the highlight of the film and it isn’t hard to see why. His presence as the God Butcher is one of sympathy and fear.

Audiences see Gorr struggling in a barren desert with his daughter praying to their selfish god Rapu. It’s only until his daughter succumbs to her death that Gorr finds Rapu’s jungle and hopes to achieve the eternal reward only to be mocked and belittled. Rapu reminds him of his insignifiance, claiming that there will be more disciples to worship him. Enraged, Gorr renounces him and ultimately kills him with the necrosword and vows to kill all Gods in the universe.

Bale is arguably a fantastic actor and disappears into the character. His sinister smile and look replicate that of Ralph Fiennes’ Voldemort and Jared Leto’s Joker. Bale enthralls the screen with villainous glee every time he pops up.

Hopefully, this won’t be the end of Bale’s Gorr and fans will see him again in some sort of capacity. Possibly Secret Wars?