Criticism aside, can we talk about how amazing and beautifully done the Love and Thunder ending was?
I'm going to preface this by saying I fall into the 'Love and Thunder was great, people are just unhappy' camp. However, I'm willing to concede a lot of the common criticisms of the movie. For me, what personally elevated this movie above the rest of P4 was the ending.
I love how the climax of the movie didn't come down to a grand-show down between max-power Thor and max-power Gorr. For a character who is used to brute forcing his way out of problems, this is a huge development in Thor's character arc and, after so many emotional highs and lows with the character, feels very earned.
The way that they juxtapose Jane-Thor's relationship with Gorr and his daughter at the end was beautifully done. It was emotionally satisfying, tied up many of the themes in the movie (love, loss, relationships, revenge) so neatly. How beautiful is it that Thor trusted Gorr to do the right thing? And Gorr trusted that Thor would in return treat his daughter well?
On the other hand, it is works wonderfully for Gorr's arc too. Since the start of the film, Gorr is convinced that all gods are evil and that the world would be better off without them (the inclusion of Zues being a dick was a great addition that also made us think: wait maybe Gorr has a point). Yet, his decision to save his daughter and entrust her to Thor shows his change of heart: he no longer believes all gods are evil, and trust Thor, a god, to raise the daughter that he literally went on a genocidal god-killing spree to save. And part of that change of heart comes from the fact that Gorr can see how genuine Thor's love is for Jane, so it connects back to those themes as well.
This for me is a million times better than the typical CGI fan-fare battle that we get. And sure, we got that with the kid Thors fighting shadow demons, but that was a build-up to this moment. Almost every P4 Marvel film, with the exception of Dr. Strange, has relied on some kind of giant CGI battle that always just feels so emotionally empty and dull (Spiderman was the only one that did it well). Eternals, Shang Chi, and Black Widow, all had some stupid CGI battle with no emotional stakes that just ruined the ending and dragged it out for too long.
I know Dr. Strange had a similar ending with him saving America, and then poofing Wanda to see her humanity. However, this feels less-earned because the movie never really gives a satisfying explanation for why 616 Dr. Strange is so much more 'human' and empathetic than the rest of the Stranges except for the fact that he is our 616 Strange. Thor, on the other hand, we have seen go through depression, obesity, love, loss, a million highs and lows, that have led to this moment in a way that we can feel like 'yeah that's believable, and its deserved.'
Then it ends with a montage of him finally getting to hang-up his cape, so to speak, and live the life of peace that he wanted (alluded to at the beginning of the film), but as a father figure to the daughter of his once-greatest nemesis. And her name is Love; boom. queue love and thunder credits. Beautiful. Best ending of P4 hands down.
TL;DR: ending was amazing because it juxtaposed Jane and Thor's relationship with Gorr and his daughter. Thor actually loses and realizes that empathy rather than brute force is the only way to 'win.' Gorr believes all gods are evil but has a change of heart seeing how Thor treats Jane and realizes that he may have been wrong, and brings his daughter back and entrusts her to Thor's care, a god. In doing so, all the big themes of the movie coalesce around an emotionally satisfying conclusion, and we skip the typical big-monster or big-fight CGI fanfare that has (IMHO) ruined most of the other P4 movies.
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