Cast of 'Thor: Love and Thunder

Chris Hemsworth in "Thor: Love and Thunder." How'd they make this himbo boring? Credit: Jasin Boland./Marvel Studios ...

While they are captivating in their details, designs, and cultural inclusivity, the blink-and-you'll-miss-them nature of this sequence speaks to the slapdash approach that makes the film deeply frustrating, as it is littered with wasted opportunities. In the end, Love and Thunder is raucous, flashy, and vacuous, not satisfyingly fun. The storytelling is lazy and bumbling, which makes the emotional beats feel clumsy. But best of all is when he turns into a kids' show host from hell, decapitating a snake creature to use it as a puppet to terrorize the children he's abducted. There must be room, after all, to watch the dull flashbacks of Jane and Thor's tepid isolation of affections. Sadly, Crowe is not given a ton to do in his first MCU outing. Thor: Love and Thunder is a mess that can't make sense of what matters. In a dank cage on the dark side of the universe, Bale brings color and a twisted hint of a loving dad whose soul has been mutilated by grief. But while a bunch of the characters we've loved return for this fourth installment, the thrill is gone. Here, that sexual spark is dulled, even though — as trailers teased — Hemsworth gets naked and Jane has a sexy new look. Meanwhile, Jane is enduring an arc all about mortality and disease plucked straight from the comic books. Blonde, buff, and clad in Viking armor, Jane is now known as Mighty Thor, and she can kick all kinds of monster butt.