Bountiful and Threadbare
Star Wars has always been a galaxy of extremes. At its best, it is exhilarating, funny, emotional and genuinely magical — a universe where dogfights, lightsabers, strange creatures and unlikely friendships can exist side-by-side without feeling out of place. At its worst, however, Star Wars can become trapped by its own mythology, leaning too heavily on nostalgia and familiar ideas rather than creating something new. After seven years away from the big screen, The Mandalorian & Grogu arrives with the difficult task of reminding audiences why they fell in love with this galaxy in the first place. Thankfully, Jon Favreau’s return to the big screen understands one essential ingredient: Star Wars should be fun. It may not reinvent the franchise, but it delivers enough action, humour, heart and spectacle to feel recognisably Star Wars.
Set after the fall of the Empire, the film follows Din Djarin, the armoured bounty hunter better known as the Mandalorian, and his Force-sensitive young companion, Grogu. Now working alongside the New Republic, the pair are sent on a mission by Colonel Ward to rescue Rotta the Hutt, the son of the infamous Jabba the Hutt, who has been taken prisoner by an Imperial warlord. What begins as a relatively straightforward rescue mission soon expands into a larger conflict involving the remnants of the Empire, the Hutt crime syndicate and the mysterious plans of those still attempting to restore Imperial power. It is classic Star Wars territory: a hero, a seemingly simple mission, a collection of bizarre worlds and creatures, and a galaxy that is considerably more complicated than it first appears.
So, what actually makes a Star Wars film good? The answer isn’t simply lightsabers, X-wings or references to characters from the original trilogy. The best Star Wars films combine spectacle with character, making the galaxy feel enormous while keeping the emotional story surprisingly simple. The Mandalorian & Grogu succeeds particularly well when it focuses on the relationship between its two leads. Din’s understated, almost Clint Eastwood-esque presence contrasts beautifully with Grogu’s mischievous charm, while the pair’s father-and-son dynamic gives the enormous action sequences something personal at their centre. Add in enormous space battles, AT-ATs, cantina-style encounters, strange aliens, droids and a suitably rousing score, and Favreau clearly knows which buttons to press. The film even proves that Star Wars can deliver a satisfying adventure without relying on a lightsaber duel to carry it. However, there’s only so much the aforesaid film conjures-up the correct formula as the film gradually and slowly wanes into an experience that doesn’t feel as engaging when you first lay your hopeful eyes on the marvelous introduction. Which leads me to my next point…
Unfortunately, the film’s momentum isn’t quite as unstoppable as its opening suggests. The Mandalorian & Grogu begins at full throttle, throwing the audience straight into large-scale action and giving the impression that the film is going to race from one spectacular sequence to another. For a while, it does. Midway through, though, the pace noticeably slows. The episodic DNA of The Mandalorian becomes increasingly obvious, with the film occasionally feeling less like a carefully constructed cinematic adventure and more like several television episodes stitched together. The quieter sections aren’t necessarily unwelcome — Star Wars needs moments to breathe — but here they sometimes interrupt rather than enhance the momentum. Just as the audience is ready for the next big adventure, the film pauses to wander elsewhere, before eventually finding its rhythm again in the final act.
Ultimately, The Mandalorian & Grogu is an enjoyable return to the big screen for Star Wars, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the franchise’s very best. Its greatest strengths are the same qualities that made the original trilogy and The Mandalorian so appealing: memorable characters, spectacular action, humour, heart and an enormous sense of adventure. Its biggest weakness is that its television origins occasionally show, particularly in the middle section where the pacing slows and the story begins to feel episodic. Yet when Din and Grogu are racing into danger, blasters are firing and the John Williams-inspired spirit of Star Wars is filling the screen, it’s difficult not to smile. It may not take the franchise somewhere entirely new, but sometimes Star Wars doesn’t need to reinvent the galaxy — it just needs to make you want to visit it again. This is something I look to see in next years Star Wars: Starfighter…
★ ★ ★ – Alex Rabbitte