Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

Do you know what you really know? Like, for instance, do you know whether or not you’re watching a movie that’s good and entertaining, or just one that appeals to your personal tastes, and sense of nostalgia, and maybe a few other things, too? This is a film that gives that bit of mental exercise a real workout. I can honestly say that I enjoyed most of this movie…but maybe I’ve just been watching Star Wars flicks for so long—practically my entire life—that I don’t have an independent ability to judge such a movies. Quite a bit of what made the Mandalorian TV series so enjoyable is present here—the action and fight sequences, Mando's steely character and the ironic juxtaposition of that with his relationship with Grogu, and just the whole Star Wars-ness of the thing—but then again, there are clear flaws here, too. For instance, the score. You weren’t expecting me to mention the score; indeed, with most movies you barely even notice the score. Here the score is front and center, trying very hard to make itself heard and noticed, with a whole range of odd and genre-busting compositions that demand the viewer’s attention. That’s not a good thing; a film score can be inventive and memorable, but it should still take a back seat to the narrative. There also seems to be a distinct lack of creative vision—or at least interesting ideas—in the direction the story takes; it appears that most of the thinking went into how things look and not so much into coming up with new, clever story ideas. So the art direction is fine, but the plot has holes and lacks any interesting twists. Perhaps that results from a reliance on the familiar, given that there’s plenty of fan service going on in the characters and settings and minor details. (There’s even a visual callback to the board game from the very first film.) You get the picture with this picture: it’s for fans, and anyone else can go pound all the sand on Tatooine. So I can’t recommend it to you, nor tell you to avoid it, either—you have to figure that for yourself. Or not. That is the way.