There's a problem with Star Wars.
That problem is that we've developed a set idea of a Star Wars movie. And here's the thing. If I want to watch a movie and have that comforting knowledge of exactly what is going to happen, what beats, what tropes...
...I'm gonna queue up a Bond movie.
Star Wars has all of this amazing worldbuilding. They own everything from the old EU and can pick and choose what they want to use.
Rogue One was amazing. Solo, on the other hand, was Just Another Star Wars movie.
Which brings us to the news strategically announced on May the Fourth Be With You:
Taika Waititi has been tapped to co-write and direct a Star Wars movie.
I almost squee'd. I sadly didn't get the chance to see Jojo Rabbit yet, although I know I should. But Thor: Ragnarok is one of my favorite superhero movies. Waititi is a brilliant talent, with a sense of humor that closely matches my own, probably because he is Jewish (Yes, you can be Jewish and Polynesian at the same time!)
And then I went: "But what a missed opportunity."
Taika Waititi should have directed Solo.
Taika Waititi should have directed Solo.
See, what I wanted from Solo was a romp. A heist movie. A caper. They covered the story I hoped for, but not in the right way. Sure, we got to see the Kessel Run. Sure, we got to see Han Solo gain ownership of the Millennium Falcon.
But we didn't get to see those things in an interesting and original way. The best character was a droid and she wasn't that well done.
The movie tried to go into droid rights, but did so clumsily. Imagine what a director that really knows how to point the finger at colonialism would have done with it.
And it would have been funny.
(And he wouldn't have come up with a new white ex for Solo when we already had a woman of color as Solo's ex girlfriend in the EU).
I'm very excited to see what Waititi and his co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairnes (1917) come up with, but I still think they missed an opportunity. Under his helm, Solo wouldn't have failed.
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