Warning: This article contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Thor: Love and Thunder has faced a few choice criticisms, but these can actually be rectified by Korg's narration. After the success of Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi took the mantle again for Thor's fourth solo adventure. Waititi's style has always leaned towards the irreverent, and it was his unique, laidback style that made Ragnarok such an MCU favorite. Thor wasn't the most popular MCU character for a few years, largely due to his first two films being seen as too serious and lacking a unique spark. Waititi changed that, but people think he may have gone too far in Thor: Love and Thunder.
It's very evident that Thor: Love and Thunder prioritizes comedy and jokes over action and storytelling, almost making it the MCU's first true comedy. This has been received controversially, though, as it strays from the established MCU style. Perhaps what made it worse was the inclusion of such a daunting villain as Gorr the God Butcher, who was lost among the jokes. Yet, when reminded of who is telling the story, Love and Thunder's tone makes a lot more sense.
It can be easy to forget amongst Thor: Love and Thunder's color, characters and jokes, that it is actually Thor's good friend Korg narrating the story to a group of children. The Kronan Korg is, literally, a sentient pile of rocks who speaks with a muted and calm New Zealand accent. He is beloved for his zaniness, and there is no other character like him in the MCU. When it's brought to memory that this character is narrating Thor: Love and Thunder, the film's wackiness makes more sense, and therefore saves it from criticism that the film is overtly unserious because that is who Korg is at his center.
Thor: Love and Thunder's Comedy Works Because Of Korg's Storytelling
Korg has always been a lighthearted comic relief character. When he's onscreen, the audience knows they're in good hands and are already prepared to laugh, because the character is so abundantly hilarious. His intimidating warrior exterior combined with his soft and naive interior allows for Korg to tell some of the best jokes, and have many perfect one-liners. The fact that Thor: Love and Thunder can sometimes feel like many one-liners in quick succession makes perfect sense in this light, given that Korg is narrating the events. Most of Korg's dialogue is inherently comedic, and therefore, the comedy in Love and Thunder has an excuse to come thick and fast under his narration. As for the film's nonchalant tone and lacking villain, Korg has always approached danger with a fair amount of aloofness. Thus, his version of events is likely to be a lot more lighthearted than they might have actually happened.
In many ways, it's quite genius of Waititi to make this narrative move for the Thor: Love and Thunder story. Having the film narrated by a comic character is a great way of explaining away any criticisms regarding its ample jokes, or that it's too laidback or too irreverent. The story is being told from the point of view of a talking pile of rocks, so of course, most of it is likely to be told in a hilarious way.
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