Director Taika Waititi has been designated for the role of helming the next Star Wars movie. The New Zealander is known for his outrageous creative takes on things old and new. His work with Jojo Rabbit and What We Do In The Shadows has liberated the binds of what can be done from behind the director’s lens.
Marvel’s visionary take on Thor: Ragnarok made it a refreshing movie to watch after the monotonous stream of Phase 3 movies. But at the same time, the movie also drew the line which separated MCU’s repertoire as a comic adaptation from a comedic experiment. So the question now arises whether Waititi’s genius will shoot the Star Wars universe toward a brilliant new tangent or digress it into an entirely unworthy one.
Taika Waititi Reveals His Star Wars Vision
The galaxy far, far away has given us groundbreaking movies based on the imagination and ideas of George Lucas. Since the 1977 eponymous space opera film, we have set foot into a universe not exactly defined by the laws of our real one, but we have loved and accepted it with equal admiration.
However, the epic sci-fi franchise has only been able to go so far with originality. The constantly expanding universe has stopped moving beyond the bounds of the original sequel and prequel trilogy. All the works since the initial 6 have gone back and forth in different times and places to show the stories of the characters associated with the first plot.
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This is where Taika Waititi comes in. The plot of his new Star Wars film has been kept under a tight wrap and understandably so. Waititi has only recently given a peek into what he envisions for the future of this franchise.
“Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand. I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’ That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”
Also read: Hayden Christensen Demands His Own Darth Vader Series on Disney+ After Obi-Wan Kenobi
Will Waititi’s Vision Be a Success?
To think of what the director has accomplished to date, never having failed to deliver a box office record-breaker, it is not that far-fetched to think this next project too will be a success. But just blowing the roof off the theatres is not the sole aim of a franchise installment.
The critical aspect of the film’s success rests in the fact that Waititi deals best with the concept of the absurd. His works are littered with the non-sensical albeit they are satirical commentaries on the cruel, deteriorating society. His genius is best at work on the sets of visionary, imaginative movies with producers who give him the liberty to fully explore what he is capable of. But how much of the absurd is the right fit for a veteran and seasoned franchise like Star Wars?
It should be a cautionary tale for Marvel and Star Wars lovers. Thor: Ragnarok was once in a lifetime movie that forever marks the point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Asgard ceases to exist. And yet, a film with such gravity, although brilliant, was turned into a comic farce when it came to the portrayal of the usually grim titular character. Can Star Wars afford to carry such a risk or is this level of creative genius just what the saturated universe needs right now?
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