Thor: Love and Thunder

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Thor: Love and Thunder
• a review of Thor: Love and Thunder completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 14 July 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has never moved on after his breakup with renowned scientist and author, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). While he fights alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy, defending persecuted planets and cultures, 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 rest to go and help an old friend. Amidst the devastation, they learn that Gorr, (Christian Bale), a devoted father turned god killer, 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, she responds to a summons from Thor’s hammer and is transformed into The Mighty Thor. She suddenly finds herself fit and strong and able to join Thor in his battle against Gorr, who has come to Asgardia to finish Thor off and take his axe, Stormbreaker (a weapon forged by Thor), which will help him open a door to Eternity where any wish he makes will be granted. When Gorr sees that he is losing the battle in Asgardia, he abducts all the children from the village to try to lure Thor to the Shadowlands. Thor, with assistance from King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and The Mighty Thor, sets out for Omnipotent City to seek the gods help to save the kids and defeat Gorr. They soon learn through Zeus’s (Russell Crowe) example, that the gods are only interested in helping themselves and that they must set off alone if they are 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 and with their help he manages to defeat the dark monsters but not before Gorr opens the door to Eternity. It is in this eternal realm that the unexpected takes place and though death visits twice, ultimately life prevails.

Revenge; Murder; Kidnapping; Death of a child; Cancer; The renouncement of religion and Gods.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• A sun god throws fruit at Gorr who tells the god how he and his people suffered and starved and how his daughter died.
• The sun god grabs Gorr by the neck and strangles him. Gorr then stabs the sun god through the neck and decapitates him, vowing that all the gods will die.
• There is a brief flash of scenes in which a battle takes place, a man is impaled, a mother and father die and a man is shown with 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, smashing, an axe goes through someone’s head and other creatures are electrocuted.
• The Mighty Thor’s hammer splits into pieces, each piece destroying a creature before it reassembles itself.
• Thor throws Zeus’s lightning bolt straight through Zeus’s chest. He then, with help from the others, begins attacking the guards of Omnipotent City. Yellow blood spurts everywhere as people are blasted apart. There is slicing, stabbing, kicking and throwing as they battle each other. 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 as his body falls apart and disintegrates. His face is left intact and he is still able to talk so his friends take his face with them.
• When Thor and the others finally make it to the Shadowlands, Mighty Thor realises that they have walked into a trap. They are 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 how she is dying anyway and how he put his faith in a higher power and his daughter died. He continues to strangle The Mighty Thor, her eyes bulging out. He causes her suffering in order to get Thor to call Stormbreaker so he can steal the weapon for himself.
• Gorr summons his dark creatures to come out of the shadows. They flight Thor and the others, smashing, hitting, bashing, slashing, stabbing, slicing etc.
• 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 kids as a temple begins to collapse. Thor saves them just in time.
• Thor trains the kidnapped kids 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 then 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.
• Thor is nearly killed by Gorr.
• The Mighty Thor head-butts and bashes Gorr.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• There are numerous scenes where darkness spreads and slowly transforms into evil, terrifying creatures. The scenes are very creepy and disturbing and the sinister, suspense before the horrible monsters are manifested will be distressing for most young children. One scene in particular shows Gorr standing at a distance, with glowing, emotionless eyes. His appearance is very eerie and as he sinks a sword into the ground, dark creatures crawl out and race towards the town, and dark fingers stretch into the rooms where children are sleeping and cast menacing shadows on the walls.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• In the opening scenes there is a starving, parched child, carried in the arms of her father across a dessert wasteland. She dies in his arms and is buried beneath some stones while he cradles the grave and cries.
• Numerous children are simultaneously abducted by the dark monsters Gorr has released. Their screams echo throughout the town as their parents are defending the village. By the time they realise what has happened, their children have disappeared. Parents are frantic as Thor and the others mount a search to save them.
• A brief scene is shown of Jane as a child who is visiting her mother as she dies of cancer. The scene is not scary but it may be emotionally distressing to some children.
• Gorr dies crying with his little girl cradling him in her arms.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• A group of kidnapped children (which are shown in various scenes throughout the film in varying degrees of distress) are held captive in a spiky cage, in a dark and shadowy place. They are terrified as they listen to Gorr tell them a story about decapitation (he also mentions the possibility of feasting on children). He is extremely disturbed and evil-looking. He takes a large, eel-like creature in his arms as he speaks to the horrified and whimpering kids. He rips the head off the eel, holds it up so they can see all the grotesque stringy bits where it was once connected to its body and then he throws it at the group of children who are huddled together while screaming and crying. The scene is very dark and distressing.

• Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Cheetos are mentioned and Lays chips are clearly displayed in one scene.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Zeus makes repeated references to an orgy the Gods are planning.
• Korg describes how two fathers hold hands over a lava pit in order to make a baby boy.
• A female character looks longingly at another female character and kisses her on the hand before leaving.
• Reference is made to King Valkyrie who is reputed to be gay and who loved a number of girls that were all killed on the battlefield.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Thor is stripped completely naked by Zeus before a large assemblage of gods (a full backside view is visible to audiences). A group of women look very pleased by what they see and later disappointed when Thor is clothed again. The women themselves are very scantily clad.
• Jane and Thor share a passionate kiss.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Zeus tells Thor and the others to have some wine and some grapes as, “anything goes in Omnipotent City”.
• Thor drinks beer and pours some on Stormbreaker, who is jealous that Thor is talking to his old weapon.
• A character is told that she won’t find the answer in the bottom of a bottle.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• There is repeated use of the words, “shit” and “shitty”.
• A character is called a coward.

In a nutshell

Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth Thor movie from Marvel Studios. The film features fabulous special effects and interesting characters. While the film definitely has a humorous side, there are some pretty intense scenes that will be too dark and scary for younger children. The film is best suited to older teens and mature or adult audiences.

The main messages from this movie are that we should live life to the fullest as none of us know how long we have or what tomorrow holds; that we should keep our hearts open and seek love because that is all any of us really wants; and that there is no greater power than helping those in need.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Teamwork
• Sacrifice
• Courage
• Determination
• Love.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Kidnapping children or holding people hostage to get what you want.
• Taking someone’s life or using violence as a means to solve your problems.
• Turning all your thoughts towards revenge.
• The way that cancer patients are sometimes treated.
• Being tested in horrific ways and losing faith in religion or God.
• Using children as soldiers.