Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu - movie review by Lisa Blanck
Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu, the latest entry in the SWU to hit the theaters, will probably make a lot of money, just based on the anticipation I hear from movie-goers. They can't wait to buy their ticket and join the adventure. The saga which began 49, yes, forty-nine years ago, has definitely been around longer than many of its current fans. Director Jon Favreau himself was just 10 years old when the film, which came to be known as Episode IV - A New Hope, opened at the Lowes Astor Plaza in NYC. I still have the ticket from opening day, 1977.
Looking back, it was cheesy, it was corny, it had clearly delineated good and bad guys. John Williams score swept over you like a tidal wave. On both sides, there were fantastical creatures wielding otherworldly powers and weapons. You had the good guys, none of whom were perfect. They all had their faults, and we loved them for that. And then there were the evil, dastardly, conniving, despicable, easy-to-hate humans; or at very least, they resembled humanoids. They had two arms, two legs, a head. They wore uniforms, capes, boots, sported military accoutrements. They oozed hate out of every pore. For years, fans across the galaxy would cosplay epic battles. In the SWU films that followed, sometimes one side won, sometimes the other was victorious.
Perhaps you can see where I'm going with this. Why I felt disappointed. Maybe not seeing more than one episode of The Mandalorian on Disney put me at a disadvantage, expectation-wise. Perhaps what comes across in the new film is exactly the universe through which Din Djarin aka Mando and his apprentice, Grogu, travel. The story was easy to follow. A bounty hunter on the trail, willing to take on a case from almost anyone willing to pay his fee. I give kudos to Jeremy Allen White for his enthusiastic and captivating voiceing of Rotta the Hutt, the creature Mando is being paid to retrieve. Rotta definitely gave us a complete buffet of emotions. A smorgasbord of good, bad, touching, fearless, gentle and courageous. A Hutt providing the emotions that are missing from most of the other characters. Now that's a switch.
However, the film as a whole felt very one-dimensional. Except for Rotta, I never connected to the characters, a major faux-pas in the SWU. I didn't hate the bad guys - because they were either Droids or bizarre creatures. I simply didn't care if they lived or died. These droids felt mindless, the creatures actions simply instinctual. I need humans on both sides of the aisle, some to hate and some to embrace with my whole chest. The human-ish bad guys are either dispatched quickly or morph into something really, well, bland. Sigorney Weaver, as Colonel Ward, definitely tries to bring some humanity into the film, but there's just not much there for her to bounce off of. And I adore Pedro Pascal. Yes, Mando has a strong moral core, but how many times can his character say "I don't want to fight you", and then go ahead and blast his opponent to smithereens?
There were some great aerial dogfights. A chase scene purposely reminiscent of Return of the Jedi's iconic speeder chase. There are throwback asides and embedded characters from previous SWU films, which I'm not going to mention here. Some surprises are worth savoring on your own. A fun barfight in what appears to be a NYC Chinatown in a galaxy far away. A lovely scene with Grogu helping his guardian in the woods. At yet.... my heart and imagination were never fully captured.
If you choose to see it, go to an IMAX theater; the visual immersion definitely helps to lift up the film. If you disagree with my review, feel free to tell me I got it wrong, I can take it. Because when I remember how I felt when I left the theater in 1977, and many SWU episodes after that, as compared to my gut reaction almost half a century later, you'll be hard pressed to convince me otherwise. There's certain to be another episode. May the force be with them next time.
