Thor: Love and Thunder”: a lot of comedy and a villain

Thor: Love and Thunder”, the fourth film of the blond Nordic god of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (UCM), arrives tomorrow in theaters with high doses of comedy, the renewed return of Natalie Portman to the franchise, now not only as a romantic interest of the protagonist but as a superhero and with a godslayer villain “with whom anyone can identify.”

This is stated in a talk with Télam by the American actress Tessa Thompson, who takes up, in her case for the third time in the growing UCM started back in 2008 with “Iron Man”, the role of Valkyrie, the last survivor of the women warriors of the Viking mythology that now occupies the role of king (thus, in masculine) of New Asgard on Earth.

Somewhat weary of the sedentary life as a civil servant, Valkyrie is ready to assist Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Jane Foster, now Mighty Thor thanks to her contact with the legendary hammer Mjölnir, on a galactic journey to stop Gorr, “ The butcher of gods”.

Played by Christian Bale, he is perhaps the villain with the most interesting origin of the -so far- 29 films in the franchise: after the extinction of his planet, his civilization and, above all, his loved ones, he finds that his devotion and prayers never provoked divine intervention. Filled with a fierce rage, he sets out on a mission to subvert the universal order by killing each of the gods one by one.

The premise proposes epic and drama, although in the well-known record of its director, the New Zealander Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit” and “Thor: Ragnarok”), the film seeks a balance -often exaggerated- in important doses of absurd humor.

Thus, the love story of Thor and Jane, before failed and now with a glimmer of hope, the destruction of thousands of innocents, the kidnapping of boys and girls as extortion or the deadly threat of the dark Gorr for the most privileged beings of the world. universe, is colored by gags with the god of Thunder naked or the clownish pirouettes of Zeus incarnated by Russell Crowe.

“How can you not have fun? We’re incredibly lucky to be able to make movies in general, but particularly to make these kinds of movies that travel the world and are meant to give people a great deal of joy,” Thompson sums up, regarding the film’s undoubted lighthearted approach. production.

Télam: How was it to return to this character? Did you miss Valkyrie?

Tessa Thompson: Yeah, I really missed her a lot. She’s a character that I love to play, and that she demands a certain amount of physical intensity and before doing these movies I try to get myself in the best possible shape. I feel like I can expand Valkyrie, go into new dimensions.

T: When the public met her in “Ragnarok” she was a broken, depressed, cynical person. How would you describe where she is now?

TT: She still likes to have a drink every now and then, but not like she’s trying to self-medicate or because she’s depressed and sad. And I think this movie felt like it really explored a lighter side of her than we’ve seen in the past and that, even in battle, she doesn’t necessarily start from a place of anger. Now she’s from a really noble place, trying to protect her people and I liked that element, and also being able to see her in relation to the character of Natalie (Portman), the Mighty Thor (Mighty Thor in the original in English), to have a sister again, which is something I think she’s been wanting for a long time.

T: He doesn’t feel super happy being king of New Asgard either…

TT: This was a difficult thing to balance when Taika and I were figuring out the characters. She is very happy to be king. She loves her people, she has been serving her for thousands of years essentially as a soldier. She’s a little… I wouldn’t even say she’s bored, she just suffers with some of the things that come with being king of New Asgard, because it’s a place that has become so bureaucratic and also because it’s become kind of of tourist city. She is glad that people want to come visit her, but she is different from the Asgard she knows. And I think she’s navigating that and over the course of the movie she’s going to figure out how to be king on her own terms. She also misses the thrill of battle, the sense of adventure,

T: Gorr is not like most villains: he is not driven by pure evil or material ambition, but rather wants to bring justice against these gods who never cared for simple beings. In these times of obscene social inequality, do you think he’s a villain the audience can relate to?

TT: Absolutely, I think he’s a villain that people are probably going to root for sometimes. I think in our film there’s this idea of ​​gods like Zeus, these gods that we put on pedestals, these people that rule our universe, and certainly in America right now we’re living in a moment where I think we have a lot to question and demand from our leaders. We see examples all the time where it seems that our leaders treat us like property, that they don’t give us entity, and it’s certainly the case with being a woman in America right now (because of the recent repeal of abortion rights). They make you feel like your life isn’t really that valuable. And I think Gorr is a villain that anyone can relate to, you get it.

He’s a villain because of his trauma and because of his pain, and I certainly feel a lot of righteous anger right now. I may not make the same decisions as Gorr, but there are a lot of leaders in my country that I feel pretty hateful things about right now.

T: In this movie there are two superheroines out of the three heroes of the story. Of course it is not something mathematical, but do you consider that it is a reflection of the transformation that Hollywood is going through?

TT: I wish so, although my hope is that we get to a point where this happens so often that it’s not even talked about. The last film I did with Natalie (“Annihilation”, 2018) has a lot of female scientists in the lead and they marked us “wow, there are so many powerful and interesting women in this film” and I feel that if it was a film with five men, none of them would ask him the same question. They wouldn’t be like, “Wow, what was it like to have all these strong male characters in one movie?” I hope we get to that stage.

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