A review of the latest episode of the “Star Wars” saga:”The Mandalorian And Grogu”
I’ve been a “Star Wars” fan since we release of what we now call “A New Hope” in 1977, so I wasn’t going to miss this 12th contribution to the cinematic canon. However, if (like me) you haven’t been following the development of the franchise on Disney+ streaming TV series, you might welcome a bit of explanation regarding the titular characters of this new film.
The Mandalorian (played by Pedro Pascal) is a bounty hunter in a helmeted costume and from a group introduced to us by Boba Fett, who seemingly can kick and shoot his way out of any danger, while Grogu (presented by a collection of puppeters) is a young and speechless member of the species to which Yoda belonged, who is still maturing his telekinetic powers. The timeframe is just after “Return Of The Jedi” when there are still warlords from the defeated Empire plotting against the New Republic. Remember Jabba the Hutt? Well, his son and a couple of other Hutts are a central part of the plot.
So, in this adventure, there are references to familiar characters and plenty of familiar themes with plenty of new creatures threatening our heroes. We even have cameos from Sigourney Weaver (as if appearing in the “Alien” and “Avatar” franchises was not enough sci-fi credit) and the veteran director Martin Scorsese (voicing a four-armed, street-food vendor). And there’s lots of action from the get-go. There’s a problem, however, if your leading character hardly ever reveals his face and mumbles through a mask – think Tom Hardy as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises” – and too much of the action is in the dark and too much of the dialogue is clunky, so this is a thoroughly entertaining film but lacks some of them magic of the original sequel.