Another great Taika Watiti flick

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2020)

Taika Waititi's latest satirical take on the Nazi youth is heart wrenching, hilarious and beautiful.
Despite my fears that the film was going to go down the route of using the shocking subject matter to compensate for poor writing or to get a cheap laugh through dark comedy, This film once again showed the world that Taika Watiti is one of the most talented and comical directors of the modern day. In the plot we follow our 10yr old main character JoJo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) as he aspires towards becoming one of Adolf Hitler's Elite Guards, however his progress towards his goal was quickly Hampered by a devastating injury and the discovery of what his mother (Scarlet Johanson) has been hiding right under his nose...
Roman Griffin Davis gave stellar performance as the title character, helping convey that the young manipulated boy has a heart of gold outside of the diabolical brainwashing he has endured. Scarlet Johanson gave it her all as JoJo's rebellious mother, portraying a kind and resilient parent. However, it is undeniable that Taika Watiti as a 10 yr old's perception of Hitler steals the show from start to finish, as he makes arguably the worst man to walk the earth seem likeable. Other notable performances would have to go to Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa Korr, a jewish girl being housed in secret by JoJo's mother and Sam Rockwell as Captain Klenzendorf, a disgraced Nazi higher up put in charge of the training of the Nazi youth.
The writing of the film is simply sublime, with funny quotable's left and right, Watiti's dark comedic style really shines through every inch of the film. A great example of this is when JoJo unwittingly blows himself up with a grenade after being inspired by imaginary Hitler to be more courageous. Yet the film is also great at showing that it has heart, mainly seem through Jojo and his mother's heartwarming relationship and the sibling like love between Jojo and Elsa. The film portrays its subject manner graciously, as it holds nothing back when poking fun at the Nazis, yet it never shied away from showing how wretched they are
The streets of 1940s Germany are portrayed in a very colourful fashion mostly due to amazing set design and beautiful cinematography. Extra care seemed to be given to make every set lit perfectly for the scene and time period, as well as having every uniform as realistic as possible to add to this believable setting. The film looks very crisp and refreshing, most likely because of the lack of terrible CGI and great use of angles.
Overall JoJo Rabbit is a great satire that doesn't rely on cheap laughs and shock value to deliver its anti hate message in an amusing fashion, with terrific performances and great writing JoJo Rabbit may be one of the best satires of the decade
9/10