Remember when we loved Taika Waititi?
Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 3:00PM 
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once upon a time, the prospect of a new Taika Waititi movie was cause for celebration, with excitement erupting across cinephiles everywhere. Now, however, when his oft-delayed Next Goal Wins finally makes it to theaters, the occasion is met with general disinterest. Sure, some critics have praised the thing, but the excitement doesn't seem there. Not even the inspirational true story or the return of Michael Fassbender to big studio fare is enough to provoke more than a shrug. As far as awards go, Oscar hopes are nowhere to be found unless the season suffers some severe transformations.
When did the consensus about the Kiwi director curdle into indifference on the verge of dislike? Well…
Long before he won an Oscar for the JoJo Rabbit screenplay, Taika Waititi was nominated with one of his early shorts. Two Cars, One Night signaled the young director's fledgling interest in the negotiation of sincerity with a twist, playing up the emotional pathos of his work while grasping at avenues for comedy. It also, crucially, focused on kids, as if announcing to the world how much childlike innocence and wonder would come to characterize many of Waititi's best efforts. In 2005, two years after that lauded short, he'd hit upon another comedic masterstroke with the What We Do in the Shadows short, and in 2007, he directed his first feature in Eagle vs Shark, starring frequent collaborator and longtime friend Jemaine Clement.
The path was set for a meteoric rise as each of Waititi's ensuing directorial efforts received more international attention from critics and cinephiles alike. 2010's Boy was the first feature breakthrough, its waver between humor and melancholy a delicate miracle that Waititi pulled off with aplomb, even if his aesthetic idioms were still in development. Then came the What We Do in the Shadows film of 2014, still one of the 21st century's best vampire movies and a good candidate for funniest horror comedy. Simply put, it's a masterful gag, managing to make the mockumentary format sing while paying homage to the genre's history, poking at its iconography, and proposing its own off-beat mythos amid the deadpan.
Still, if asked to name the best Taika Waititi flick, I'd have to go with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, its heartbreaking alchemy so volatile that the surges of sentiment never feel unearned or sugary. Morbidity lurks at the margins, souring the sweetness or maybe just giving it a necessary edge. At the same time, the central characters' grief is the foundation for how affecting the picture ends up being. Sam Neill, in particular, has never been better, and Rachel House is nearly as excellent, as is young Julian Dennison. After such a triumph, Waititi deserved his blank checks and creative freedom, enough space to spread his wings and take his cinema to new heights. How sad that he decided to clip those feathery appendages right away.
Following Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the MCU came a-calling, and Waititi directed Thor: Ragnarok as a necessary aesthetic and tonal departure for the franchise. And yet, this triumph severed ties with his indie origins and started to expose the limits inherent to the director's approach. It also didn't help that he became an instant big name, garnering more fame than most director-screenwriters to the point he became the rare celebrity filmmaker. Teetering on the edge of a mighty peak, there were still new heights to discover, but a fall was just as likely. Depending on your opinion of Jojo Rabbit, you may see it as a step in the right direction or the beginning of the end. For me, it was a plunge into the abyss.
Indeed, watching Taika Waititi sail to that Best Adapted Screenplay victory soured many people on him, planting the seeds of discontent that came to bloom as the pandemic rocked the film industry and the director's public persona grew overbearing. His big return, Thor: Love and Thunder, is a miserable dreck whose every minute reveals a lack of focus behind the camera if not outright laziness. And so, even as Waititi's TV ventures keep getting praise, his big screen output now lives in the shadow of Love & Thunder's infamy. Unless there's a drastic change in the near future, it's difficult to imagine him returning to the greatness of Wilderpeople. At the very least, Next Goal Wins isn't that comeback, and his future projects don't seem that promising either. Still, hope is everlasting.
What's your opinion on Taika Waititi, and has it changed throughout his career, from indie darling to big studio man?
Reader Comments (16)
I still love Taika. I'm not in a rush to see Next Goal Wins as I want a break from watching films in the theaters for now but I'll take him over everything else. Plus, I think he needs a break from films/TV projects for a bit. Thor 5 can still wait as he does have a bit of involvement and let someone else direct it in his place. I'm cool with it. I did like Thor: Love and Thunder for how silly it is as well as exploring the concept of false idols.
You briefly alluded to it, but his TV stuff is where it's at. Though creatively he probably hasn't had too much of a hand in those than his features. Still, RESERVATION DOGS, OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH and the TV version of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS deserve all the praise. So he's still part of some quality at least!
He gives off very strong “LOOK AT MEEEEE!!” energy, so I’ve always found him annoying. And no, that Oscar really doesn’t help. It was baffling, frankly. I had seen Jojo Rabbit in a totally empty theatre except for me and didn’t crack a smile once. I was lost as to why anyone would think “That was the GREATEST writing of the year”. Do voters realize that’s what their vote is literally saying?
I'd say Taika Waititi has become less welcome as an on-screen presence, since I feel that's what we've been getting more out of him recently (I found him annoying as the villain in Free Guy, and while he wasn't the thing that tanked Lightyear, he certainly didn't help), but I've actually been on board with his creative endeavors. I remain enamored with Jojo Rabbit, a film I am always saddened to see people on this site dismiss so callously (though I do remember this lovely blog post on this very site that expressed many of the things I love about it: http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2020/2/6/in-defense-of-jojo-rabbit.html).
As for Thor: Love and Thunder, I blame Marvel for that more than I do Taika. Yes, a.lot of the more annoying moments do read like his humor, but from reports I've read, he didn't have as much of a free hand with this one and wasn't very happy with it. Plus, it still has Christian Bale giving one hell of a villain performance, and I'm sure different people have different opinions on this, but I loved seeing Russell Crowe go over-the-top as Zeus (mostly because we're not used to seeing Russell Crowe go so over-the-top).
I'm not sure what to expect from Next Goal Wins, but I'll give it a look when I can.
I think there's something to be said for how few chances and how little grace non-white people get in the eyes of the public. Taika is too confident, too decidedly not-American to be purely palatable. While not all of his movies are my thing, I think his work on TV as of late has been a triumph -- Our Flag Means Death gives the queer community one of the best, most diverse stories in contemporary media, while Reservation Dogs has been highly successful and beloved. If he wants to make /foster/support these gems while making a few silly movies, I don't see why that's a crime. And, frankly, I think the backlash is unearned.
Unbelievably heartbreaking to watch a creative genius flame out. But it always happens. Why his team let him go back to Thor a second time is beyond me. When an indie Director finds great success in a superhero franchise, that's lightning in a bottle. Lightning was never going to strike twice. I knew love and thunder was going to destroy him and push him off his already crumbling cliff.
I miss the Taika before we knew about his massive ego, hair-trigger insecurity, and desperate need to be famous and seen... before he started crumbling right before our eyes. Luckily he seems to remain intact inside of his acting. His portrayal of Ed "Blackbeard" Teach in Our Flag Means Death is absolutely gorgeous, nuanced, flawless. He's a genius, genius actor. I would welcome any and all projects where he brings that much depth and beauty.
In the meantime, I'm going to try my best to separate the art from the artist, and hope he finds his footing again. I'm still a Taika Waititi fan, but It's becoming more and more apparent that he might not be able to pull out of this professional and personal nosedive.
He became very tiresome very quickly.
His Oscar win is perhaps my least favorite of the past decade. Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women, which gave us a contemporary spin on a mammoth classic while still retaining its essential parts, was so masterful, and yet they awarded that mess.
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is my favourite too.
I always sigh when someone shoots up into fame and breaks up with their longtime partner, spouse, co-parent. After all, this is the person who loved them when they were struggling, and acts as a reality check and grounding.
It seems Taiki’s dream of fame was to be a fabulous celebrity couple. He was already a celebrity couple in New Zealand with his producer first wife. But fame gave him the opportunity to be a Celebrity Couple on a global scale (with Rita Ora) and he seems to revel in this.
New partners often don’t act as a reality check - that’s not what they are there for. They are there to feed the expanding ego.
But artists change and evolve and develop new aspects of their work that we also like. It seems Taika has too much energy to be stuck for long and that his next phase will also be great. And his partnership with Rita Ora May inspire both of them in new artistic directions.
Being part of a celebrity couple can make financing easier, and keep you in peoples minds. Taika could use his finance raising ability for some unexpectedly wonderful projects.
Many recent articles are taking on a rather negative vibe. I get the world is burning and people are being helpless, however it is kind of a bummer to read some of these articles.
What happened to the joy movies bring? Can we please bring that back?
Michael Parsons -- Thank you for the feedback, and we'll try to improve on that front. I've been working on some longer celebratory pieces, including a new actress-y top ten. Hope you'll enjoy that more than write-ups like this one.
I never did.
Hard agree with all you've said. His ego has inflated too huge, it's ruined his charm, and worse, emotional depth, now it's obvious, he's as shallow as his movies are now. In Love and Thunder, he purposely went out to 'ruin your mythos, baby' (his tweet), destroying a long beloved character, so bad, the actor never wishes to work with him again, it was a spit in the face of long time fans.. and the end of his rule. No one respects him now, hollyweird can have him.. Just another tarnished idiot, was great for a while, no longer..
I had absolutely no idea who he was until I watch Reservation Dogs! I am not even familiar with any other movies that you have mentioned, with the exception of JoJo Rabbit, which I have yet to see. I’ll tell you this, though, despite whatever qualms people may have with his recent flops, Reservation Dogs is one of the best television shows I have ever seen. I’m currently on my third round of viewing. It is one of the most important shows I’ve seen in terms of sharing a true cultural experience of Native Americans. Any of you who have only watched his films or who may be disappointed in his latest works, I encourage you to watch this series with an open mind. It’s BRILLIANT!!!!!! I even joined a Reservation Dogs, Facebook group, so that I could make sure that I wasn’t the only one obsessed with these characters. Apparently I’m not! It’s been a wonderful experience to hear Native Americans express how grateful they are to finally see their true selves represented in a respectful way, after being portrayed as antagonists , historically. I learned so many things that I never knew about the beautiful people. Again, I implore you to watch the entire series and then assess how you feel about Taika.
Man, this take saddens me. Plenty of us still love Taika, so it's disappointing to read stuff like this, especially since it doesn't really give any real reason for not liking him anymore.
It became clear what the problem is when you said you didn't like Jojo Rabbit. If you think that was "a plunge into the abyss", then you're very different from the Taika fans I've witnessed elsewhere. It seems more like you liked a couple things he did but don't like most of his stuff. And it seems that your opinion is based more on his life outside of his work.
The bottom line is that there are a lot of us who still love Taika. Yes, Love and Thunder wasn't one of his best, but it wasn't as bad as people make it out to be. And that's the only other movie he's made between Next Goal Wins. So, it's a little hard to take "his movies have fallen way off" narratives seriously.
He had a string of Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, and Jojo Rabbit.
Then he made Thor: Love and Thunder.
So, he had 5 good or great movies and then one that wasn't great but still not bad. And now Next Goal Wins.
As has been said, his TV work is still unimpeachable. Our Flag Means Death is amazing. Reservation Dogs is also amazing, even though he has a more background role in that. Same with What We Do in the Shadows. I'm still a big fan. I'm sorry you aren't, outside of a few early projects.
thevoid99 -- To be perfectly honest, that part of LOVE & THUNDER is what most impressed me—basically, the dynamics of the Christian Bale stuff. But then, I thought it didn't cohere with what Waititi was doing elsewhere, and formally, I disliked the project as a whole.
Ryan T. -- This piece was mostly about his film work, but you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.
charlea -- Humor is highly subjective, but I also didn't respond to anything of what he was trying to do in JOJO RABBIT, comedy-wise.
Richter Scale -- I should have probably mentioned his work as an actor. Indeed, I've always considered him a performer of limited range with the potential for greatness. But things like his FREE GUY villainous turn are rather disappointing.
Brennan Moline -- Thank you for bringing that perspective into the conversation. You're right that, as an industry and culture, Hollywood is much less forgiving to non-white non-American artists. I can only apologize for adding to what can be perceived as an unfair backlash.
jules -- And Waititi's work is both disastrous as an outright script and an adaptation. The way he twists the book's ending and primary relationships to fit his sardonic tonalities doesn't gel for me.
Andrea Jones -- Thank you so much for this comment and for advocating for RESERVATION DOGS.
Matt Blue -- Maybe I should have gone more in-depth into what I dislike about his recent output, but this was intended as a piece to spark discussion and analyze a general consensus. That said, LOVE & THUNDER is an audiovisual mess that disappointed my formalistic sensibilities. JOJO RABBIT is another story, a project that, to me, fails as an adaptation and even more as satire, shallow in its exploration of historical-political themes and overall construction. Even the performances seem misjudged somewhat.
That being said, this is not the space to review that film with enough detail. I can only point at some writings that approach my take on that flick - Mark Asch's take and Tim Brayton's review come to mind.
Still, I'm glad you're still a big fan, and thank you for your comment.
Indeed, thank ALL OF YOU for your comments, your feedback. It's much appreciated.