Oscar-winner Taika Waititi's new Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has finally thundered into cinemas globally, already on track to be one of the biggest box office movies of the year.
The fourth stand-alone Thor superhero movie, the second from Team Waititi and Hemsworth, Thor: Love and Thunder is another classic Thor adventure, his deputy Korg (Waititi) rocking it at his side, the new King of New Asgard (Tessa Thompson) reigning supreme and a whole new baddie called Gorr the God-Butcher (Christian Bale) to despatch.
Since we last saw him, Thor has taken his Endgame beer-swilling mid-life crisis to the god-gym and with the Guardians of the Galaxy in tow he and his new god-bod are back in the planet-saving game.
Our one and only Thor seems to be loving everything minute of that, and then the ex turns up.
Yep - Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) re-enters the MCU fray and yep, she's Mighty Thor. Needless to say, after an ignominious breakfast, their relationship is just a little bit complicated.
No question Thor: Love and Thunder is a lot. There are space dolphins, giant screaming goats and Russell Crowe in a tennis skirt. The requisite cameos are a-plenty and so is the dry antipodean tom-foolery we've come to know and love.
But more than all that, what we have here is a whole lotta love and in all its many, varied and vibrant forms. And love is messy, and everything about this flouncy funny helter-skelter gag-fueled comic-book extravaganza filled me with exactly that - love. And the kind of all-encompassing unconditional love and thunder we all need right now.
Thor is not a perfect film, but for me, it was the perfect two hours my cinematic soul wanted and needed.
Four-and-a-half stars.
