When Taika Waititi promises that his new Star Wars movie — veiled in more secrecy than Darth Sidious — will "piss people off," I take him at his word. Appearing on the red carpet for his new movie, "Next Goal Wins," the New Zealand-born writer/director told Variety that his one-off movie set in that galaxy far, far away "will be … dramatic pause… a Taika Waititi film."
"It’s gonna piss people off," he concluded.
Waititi said the "dramatic pause" part out loud because that kind of thing is all part of his goofy charm — a charm that's become more hit-and-miss as the years go on.
My first reaction on reading the Variety report was, "Yeah, I bet Waititi will piss people off, including me." But I really don't like being the grumpy old man who hasn't fully enjoyed a new action/fantasy flick since "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019. I have to stop griping about every new thing that fails to live up to expectations that George Lucas set in my eight-year-old mind back in 1977.
Waititi first drew acclaim for the short-lived TV series "Flight of the Conchords," which perfectly captured that goofy charm of his. He cemented his reputation with 2014's "What We Do in the Shadows." The flick was a mockumentary about the world's lamest vampires dealing with issues like bad roommates, paying the rent, and getting into nightclubs. It's almost up there with "This Is Spinal Tap."
That success got Waititi tapped to direct "Thor: Ragnarok." Working from a script co-written by Marvel vets Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost, Ragnarok deftly balanced Waititi's humor with Marvel superhero action.
When Waititi is good, he's very good.
When he's bad... lordy, don't get me started on "Thor: Love and Thunder." Waititi got to write his own ticket after the success of Ragnarok and cowrote L&T himself with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Neither of them seemed to have any idea what they were doing. The film made money but underperformed expectations and left a sour taste in many fans' mouths. Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, later admitted, "It just became too silly."
For a thorough (and thoroughly entertaining) look at how Waititi took everything audiences loved about Ragnarok and either ruined it or took it too far in L&T, spend a few minutes watching this brutal takedown by the Critical Drinker.
Even "Next Goal Wins," out tomorrow and taking Waititi back to his South Pacific roots, is getting barely middling reviews from critics. One wondered if Waititi is "worried that his movie might come across as cheesy if he approaches it with any degree of seriousness or sincerity?"
An action flick works when there's a good laugh to break some real tension. With Waititi, everything — plot, character, tension, action — is usually secondary to the jokes. And unlike "What We Do in the Shadows," which is almost ten years old now, his jokes often as not fall flat.
But you know what? Except for "Rogue One," taking Star Wars seriously hasn't worked out very well for fans or Lucasfilm. Maybe a silly Waititi one-off flick is just the thing to break the tension between fans and a movie studio that's lost its way.
That's the positive attitude this grumpy old man is going to take with me to the theater in 2025.
But just to be safe, I'm going to set my expectations low for... dramatic pause… another Taika Waititi film.
