Weekend Watch: Thor: Love And Thunder, Black Bird

A godly midlife crisis and a tale of crime and punishment.

Image Credit: Marvel Studios

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Thor Odinson is trying to find some direction and Taron Egerton goes to prison. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite

Taika Waititi is one of the few filmmakers where you truly feel the Marvel team allows to cut loose more than most – the success of 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, which helped to blow the cobwebs off the Thor character and allowed star Chris Hemsworth to show off more of his comedic charm – certainly helped with that.

Depending on your feelings towards Waititi’s blend of humour and heart (I’m a big fan), you’ll either key into the way he tweaks every character and idea, or you’ll find yourself annoyed by the left-of-centre treatment for an MCU movie. More so than Sam Raimi’s recent outing, though, Waititi puts his unmistakable stamp on the film.

The story this time picks up after Avengers: Endgame when the God of Thunder rocketed off with the Guardians Of The Galaxy. But he’s soon in the depths of a midlife crisis – no longer quite so invested in battle or Avenging, he seeks more meaning in his life. When a terrifying new threat known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) emerges, Thor must dive back into being a hero.

He's joined in the fray by someone who is old and new at the same time – Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster who, if you’ve seen any of the trailers or TV spots, you’ll know has gotten a superhero upgrade of her own. That’s all you really need to know going into the movie about Jane, but I will say it’s a welcome change to see Portman given some decent material (and jokes!) to get her teeth into this time. She can’t quite avoid being sidelined, but at least here she has an actual storyline. Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is less fortunate: despite ruling New Asgard and coming along on Thor’s latest mission, she’s criminally underused, even if she does get to be funny and typically sly.

Bale, meanwhile, is fantastic: menacing and monochrome (the colour literally leaches from the movie whenever he’s on screen), he’s allowed the Killmonger category of being a villain who does terrible things but isn’t completely wrong in his mission. Loathing gods after his prayers went unanswered, he’s gifted the opportunity to slay them, and sets his sights on a certain long-haired Asgardian.

Along the way, we meet various deities, including Russell Crowe’s ostentatious Zeus, complete with a comically dreadful Greek accent and adoring entourage.

Aside from foreknowledge of Thor’s previous adventures (recounted by Waititi’s rocky sidekick Korg in humorous storytelling form to catch you up), you don’t need to have seen loads of previous MCU entries to know what’s going on here. And the connective tissue to potential future entries is either subtle or relegated, as usual, to the post-credit scenes.

Love And Thunder is full-on Waititi, and that, for me is a good thing. Amongst all the madness he doesn’t forget to deliver real emotion, and the soundtrack, like Ragnarok before it, will delight music fans (and yes, there’s more than just Guns ‘N Roses on the playlist). It also looks like few other Marvel entries, standing out with its palette and witty touches. If you get the vibe, you’re going to be delighted.

Thor: Love And Thunder is in UK and US cinemas now.

Image Credit: Apple TV+

Aside from a few guest shots and some voice work, Taron Egerton’s career has so far mostly been on the big screen, but such is the allure of Apple TV+ that he’s now the centre of a based-on-true crime miniseries that has no less a name than Dennis Lehane running the show.

Black Bird, which is inspired by James Keane’s memoir In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, And A Dangerous Bargain For Redemption, is set in the 1990s and finds Egerton playing Keane, here portrayed as a former star high school athlete whose fortunes soared when he began selling drugs, but who has since been taken down by the Drug Enforcement Agency and, despite taking a plea bargain deal, is sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He's offered an alternate option though; if he’ll agree to transfer to a maximum-security prison full of violent felons and befriend convicted killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) and secure a confession or the location of victims’ remains from him. Of course, it won’t be that easy, and Keane faces other pressures, including his ailing retired cop father “Big Jimmy” Keane (the late Ray Liotta) and just trying to survive the tough new prison.

The series goes the non-linear route, weaving between past and present, following both Keane’s exploits in the “present” and looking into the efforts to investigate Hall’s activities in the past. Lehane and his writing team keep you guessing as to whether Hall is truly guilty, and the tension builds superbly.

Primarily this is Egerton’s show, and he channels his natural charm through intensity, peeling away Keane’s tough layers to find the vulnerability beneath. It’s one of his best performances to date, given the space to breathe and take the character to deeper places than he’s had the chance in movies.

But credit also to Hauser, who has been building quite the career in character work and small roles where he makes a mark (Cobra Kai’s Stingray, for example). Here, he treads the line between creepy and misunderstood, a sing-song voice affect never feeling inauthentic. Then there’s Greg Kinnear as dogged, methodical cop Brian Miller who dedicates himself to finding the truth about Hall, while Sepideh Moafi puts in great work as Lauren McCauley, the FBI agent aiding in the Hall case who assesses whether Keane can pull off getting the information they need. And, of course, Liotta, who died recently and is on stalwart form here, bringing rusted masculinity to Big Jim, beset by health issues but committed to looking out for his boy.

Lehane and the directors – Michaël R. Roskam, Joe Chappelle and Jim McKay let the story burn slowly, simmering the drama until it’s ready to boil over down the line. This could be crime thriller pulp, but it’s shot and performed in such a way as to make it shine, even in its grubbier moments.

The first two episodes of Black Bird are on Apple TV+ now, with a new episode debuting each Friday for six episodes total. I’ve seen four.