Thor: Love and Thunder Doesn't Know What Kind Of Story It Wants To Tell

gamerant.com:

The release of Thor: Love and Thunder marked yet another entry into Marvel's constant onslaught of new content. The much-anticipated film marked director Taika Waititi's second dip into the MCU after the hit that was Thor: Ragnarok. Naturally, because of Waititi's popularity online, most people were incredibly excited for this fourth chapter in Thor's story, especially as the MCU had been drifting away from stories with the original Avengers in them, and a lot of fans were eager to see one of the MCU mainstays back in action.

However, the overall reception to the film was mixed. Some fans really appreciated the bright, goofy tone of the movie in the same way that they loved Ragnarok, while others were more critical of the film and its writing choices. The problem withThor: Love and Thunder is that while it delivers the fun tone that fans expected, that tone doesn't mesh well with the much more serious subject matter that the movie is attempting to cover, which leaves the whole thing feeling a little disjointed.

Loki's Absence In Thor: Love and Thunder Hurts The Movie

Love and Thunder is not just a successor to Ragnarok in terms of chronology; it actively attempts to recreate the same tone and style that the previous movie employed. This makes sense, of course, as fans absolutely loved Ragnarok and the fresh new feel it brought to the MCU. However, Love and Thunder suffers from trying to emulate Ragnarok a little too much, to its own detriment.

Love and Thunder tries to explore themes related to things like self-identity and even death, but the goofy tone doesn't really fit in with that. This isn't to say that movies that touch on sensitive topics can't also be funny; Waititi himself has managed to walk that line gracefully