I’m one of the few people remaining on Earth that has yet to completely gel with the directing efforts of Taika Waititi. Many of his films showcase a certain knack of creativity, one that I feel isn’t necessarily capitalised on all too well. His work in What We Do in the Shadows or Jojo Rabbit has provided audiences with a necessary spectrum of entertaining moments, but they’ve fell rather flat for me. Perhaps heading back into his earlier works would uncover the great mystery of his style, which is one of the main reasons I ended up watching Eagle vs. Shark.
My mission in uncovering the style of Waititi was somewhat of a success. I discovered that his tone and direction really just isn’t for me. This became rather clear to me with Eagle vs. Shark, an early Waititi piece that looks to highlight the beginnings of his stylistic choices. For that reason, among many, Eagle vs. Shark becomes extremely sloppy rather early on. Starring Jemaine Clement and Loren Taylor as two socially awkward misfits who find love in an otherwise hostile world, we follow around these horrifically stereotypical, flatlining nerds as they head on a trip to face off against Jarrod’s (Clement) nemesis in his hometown.
Quite honestly, the film outstays its welcome, an impressive feat for any film clocking in at under eighty minutes. It feels very much a product of its time, not aging well at all since its release in 2007. The poorly aged moments of the film can be felt in the direction itself. Camera placements that show off its shoestring budget not as a setback, but as a medal of honour for the genre. Its visibility in the independent scene seep into the films script, a tale of two generic losers coming together, in unison of just how quirky and strange they are. Clement and Taylor have an ample amount of chemistry at times, the unfortunate predictability of the story leads to a complete breakdown of anything that could be deemed meritable though.
The main issue I have with Eagle vs. Shark is that it tries to act zany and obscure when in actuality it is cringe inducing, very annoying and poorly balanced between its comedy and its drama. There are definitely strong aspects of both throughout, but they tend to drown out one another at all the wrong times. A few glimmers of humour make their way through in extremely pure fashion, but are then filtered out by the inherently straightforward and loud dramatic relationship between our boring lead characters.
