Love & Thunder Defended by Lego Movie Director Chris Miller

Love & Thunder Defended by Lego Movie Director Chris Miller

The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street director Chris Miller has defended Thor: Love and Thunder from criticism surrounding expectations for the film.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.

The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street director Chris Miller has defended Thor: Love and Thunder from critiques surrounding expectations for the film. The sequel to 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok sees Taika Waititi return to direct the latest MCU theatrical feature. Love and Thunder was released on July 8th, 2022 to a mixed critical reception.

Picking up with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) after he joined the Guardians of the Galaxy following the events of Avengers: Endgame, the God of Thunder is on a journey of self-discovery, hoping to find his place in the universe. But when Thor receives distress calls from across the galaxy, he is warned that a being named Gorr (Christian Bale) is hunting down Gods as part of a quest for vengeance. The God of Thunder must try to save the galaxy once more, alongside Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Waititi). Thor: Love and Thunder scored 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, leaving it with the 4th lowest rating for the MCU on the review aggregator website due to its mixed critical response. But, amidst discussions about why the film has received such a divisive reception, one comedy director has voiced his support for the latest movie in the franchise.

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Related: Why Thor: Love & Thunder’s Reviews Are So Divided

On Twitter, Miller, who co-directed films such as The Lego Movie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and the 21 Jump Street series, defended Thor: Love and Thunder from critiques surrounding its comedic content. The director quote-tweeted a post featuring a meme of John Krasinski’s Jim from The Office using a whiteboard telling fans to lower expectations for Thor: Love and Thunder due to its comedic content. Miller responded with his own The Office meme stating that comedies can still be just as impactful as other genres. Check out Miller’s response below.

Click here to see the original post on Twitter.

One aspect of Love & Thunder that has been critiqued is Jane Foster’s story. While some fans praised the handling of Jane’s battle with cancer and how the ending was handled, others felt disappointed about how Jane died so soon after she was introduced as the Mighty Thor in the MCU, compressing her arc from the comics into a single film and removing a new female hero from the franchise in her first outing. Some have argued that the film’s comedic tone could have lessened the impact of her story. But while viewers have discussed their opinions on how they felt about the film, Thor: Love and Thunder also received praise from Loki director Kate Herron for its mix of humor and dramatic elements.

Considering Thor: Love and Thunder had the 2nd highest box-office opening of 2022 and is projected to surpass Thor: Ragnarok’s opening, many have been surprised by its critical response. While both critics and fans debate the film’s strengths and shortcomings, Miller’s defense is entirely understandable, as both he and Waititi have shown in their previous works that heavily featuring comedic elements does not mean a film cannot tell a deep, mature, and impactful story. As more fans see Thor: Love and Thunder over its opening weekend, discussions surrounding its balance of comedy and drama are sure to continue as fans discuss how Waititi’s latest Thor adventure impacted them.

Next: Which Thor Will Return After Love & Thunder?

Source: @chrizmillr

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023

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Nathan Graham-Lowery
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Nathan is a News Writer for Screen Rant with a wide-ranging interest in all forms of pop culture media, but whose fascination with storytelling began with film. After watching behind-the-scenes features and commentaries on DVDs throughout his childhood, Nathan would go on to learn more about production and writing, eventually graduating with a degree in Film Studies in 2021. Hoping to one day tell stories himself, Nathan is particularly interested in how stories can affect people in ways that empower and inspire them.
As well as consuming varied forms of media, such as film, television, video games, comics, and books, Nathan is also passionate about fan creativity, having grown up in fan spaces surrounded by various fan creations, such as artwork, stories, video edits, and analysis. This has further inspired him to create his own pieces in tribute to his favorite characters and stories.
A passionate collector and heavily invested fan, Nathan’s most notable interest is in the Star Wars franchise, but he is also fond of other series such as Marvel, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Persona, and the Kingdom Hearts franchise, leading to him knowing way too much random trivia about each series.

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