The fashion is to get off on Marvel, but "Turn: Love and Thunder" is full of surprises and flashes

"Turn: Love and Thunder" is actually four movies in one ticket.

Director Taika and Ititi shoot in all directions and sometimes miss, but overall watching it is an experience, and Russell Crowe deserves a special award for his role as Zeus

Avner Shavit

07/07/2022

Thursday, 07 July 2022, 17:12

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Trailer for the movie "Turn: Love and Thunder" (Film Forum)

Star rating for movies - 3.5 stars (Photo: Image Processing,.)

Taika and Ititi are the kind of people who are not clear how they have time to breathe, sleep or drink.

The New Zealand filmmaker, who won an Oscar two years ago for the screenplay for "JoJo Rabbit", is involved in a variety of TV series, writes a new episode in the "Star Wars" series, finishes making a film about the world's worst football team and is only a partial list of future projects From his creator.

In the meantime, you can enjoy "Turn: Love and Thunder" written by him, called the Marvel superhero who was also responsible for the previous solo film starring him, "Turn: Ragnarok".

Waititi's frenzy is also reflected in the film itself, which is actually four films in at least one ticket.

"Turn: Love and Thunder" turns out to be a combination of romantic melodrama, wild comedy and theological drama, all within the narrative of a folk tale, and within Marvel's expanded universe, from which characters emerge for short guest appearances.

"Turn: Love and Thunder" is the fourth episode in the film series starring the superhero, and it also closes the edges of the previous three and also prepares the ground for the future.

But even though he faces so many tasks, and even though he mixes so many styles, themes and sub-characters, in the end his script revolves around an axis of only three heroes.

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Closes the edges and prepares the following.

From "Turn: Love and Thunder" (Photo: Film Forum)

And the three are: Thor, of course, as usual played by Chris Hamsworth;

Dr. Jane Foster, his longtime lover, who at the beginning of the film turns out to be suffering from cancer in the fourth stage, and is once again played by Natalie Portman; and the arch-villain on duty So they did not prevent her death

. - her ego, which allows her to enjoy no less formidable powers than his own.Together they try to stop the angry puppy, who illustrates to them the meaning of the phrase "revenge for a little boy, Satan has not yet created." Even if it means harming other children.

Despite the implication of this synopsis, "Turn: Love and Thunder" has some of the most unbridled humorous flickers in Marvel history.

These culminate in a scene where Thor and his partner enlist the help of Zeus.

The King of the Gods is usually portrayed in cinema as the prototype of all superheroes;

But here, played by Russell Crowe, he is a chubby hedonist and useless, who is only interested in one thing - orgies.

The scenes in which he participates are endowed with a cheeky, playful and shattering of iconic humor, which jumps between nonsense and witty satire in a way reminiscent of Monty Python - and this is of course the biggest compliment one can give.

As a balance, there are also particularly dark scenes here.

It's not new that villains in comics are getting darker.

Gore, naturally, is revealed as part of this trend - he is cruel, he is bitter, he has lost it completely, and he drags his opponents to dark places, in the literal sense of the word.

In one of the crucial confrontations between him and Tor, the film's colorful color palette changes to black and white.

For a moment I thought it was a problem with the projector - but no, it's a deliberate gimmick.

To me it does not work.

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I thought this was a problem with the projector.

But no, that's a gimmick.

From "Turn: Love and Thunder" (Photo: Film Forum)

The arch-villains of today are not only darker, but also more rational.

Gore is not just a psychopath.

He has a motivation that can be understood, and he has an orderly subtext that presents a legitimate question - why do we need gods if they are not here to save our children anyway?

The reflections remain superficial of course, because Waititi runs as usual like a dorsal rabbit, but at times they manage to touch on interesting issues like parenting, divinity and a world without God.

The moments "Turn: Love and Thunder" are even reminiscent of Malik and Bergman films, and this happens in important moments - for example the climactic moment, which expresses theological reflections through spectacular photographs of the sea and the sky.

And among all these, the film also needs to find a place for the love story between Thor and Jane Foster and for her story with herself, while dealing with the terminal illness and what seems to be the last days of her life.

But even though it's such a crowded cauldron, "Turn: Love and Thunder" is actually a relatively short film for Marvel:

Everything here is plentiful, even the problems.

Bale's view is good, but he fails to create arch-villain for the Pantheon, because his character is too similar to the characters we've already seen and there's nothing in it that will differentiate her.

In addition, some of the episodes starring him cross the boundaries of bad taste, and are simply unpleasant to watch - especially the scenes in which the arch-villain puts children at risk.

Only one thing interests Zeus - orgies from "Turn: Love and Thunder" (Photo: Film Forum)

On the other hand, the love story here is also problematic.

Unlike the relationship we only saw recently in "Spider-Man: There's No Way Home," here there is a lack of romance and true passion.

Thor and Dr. Jane Foster's plot line does not feel organic, nor does his connection to the plot seem forced. It just is not that. Part of the blame is on Hamsworth and Portman, actors are limited overall, together and separately. A couple whose love is greater than life and greater than death.

Despite all this, in the end the film leaves a positive impression. I watched it before the reviews were published, and as in the case of "The Eternal", they surprised me with their negativity. Turn: Love and Thunder "are many and clear and I have mentioned them above, but it does not negate its value. It is full of ideas, full of surprises and full of brilliance.

There’s a reason why every studio and every streaming service now objects to the services of the thriving New Zealand filmmaker: he knows how to give the little touches in the right places.

For example, the use of Ganz & Roses songs as a glue between the scenes, which adds energy and emotion to the result, or the casting of Russell Crowe, whose appearance as Zeus is short but memorable.

Andititi will probably make better films in the future, but "Turn: Love and Thunder" is also not a bad film at all.

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• Christian Bale

• Natalie Portman