REVIEW:
The latest Star Wars movie here, and first one in a very long while, was not very good. It’s very strange that they even made this movie to begin with, considering that it is based on a Disney Plus Show that there have already been three seasons of, and apparently will be even more coming down the line. So why do people need to go to the movies to see this, and what does it offer that people can’t just watch at home? Those questions needed to be answered, and unfortunately, they weren’t.
The truth is, the Disney Plus show is great (although it does get progressively worse, with the first season being it’s best, then the second season being pretty good, and by the third one, it’s just okay.) But at least that show is serious and dark and uses effects well, which is to say it melds them with practical effects whenever possible, and genuinely lt looks pretty good. Not so, about the movie.
If you want to know how the movie is different than the show, the answer is simple… the movie is more for kids. The movie features more creatures and monsters. It’s exactly the wrong move. What we needed was a more serious, John Wick-style action movie about the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy. We needed a story about him having different targets and crossing one off at a time, a la Kill Bill. And in fact, the opening scenes of the movie give us just that. It’s very strange when the opening scene of a movie is the only memorable part in the entire thing. But between seeing a council meeting where one corrupt leader demands taxes from the representatives who came to see him, before shooting one of them, to the Mandolorian showing up in the shadows, taking out one villain at a time, it’s great. So is the moment when that corrupt leader takes out guns and slides them over to the different members at the table, who just moments ago he was threatening, because now they are under attack.
If the movie stayed with the tone and spirit and energy and seriousness of the opening, it could have been a success. Instead, we get a pretty basic story about Mando having a rescue Rhada the Hutt (the son of Jaba the Hutt,) from a wresting match where he is being setup to be killed. Then Mando has to rescue him from the other Huts (the twins,) who want him dead so they can inherit Jaba’s empire. And that’ basically the whole story. That and a whole ton of monsters and creatures thrown in for no other reason than to make this movie feel bigger and a little different than the show. It doesn’t work. The movie is a wasted opportunity, that could have been something cool.