The Mandalorian

The show stars Pedro Pascal as the titular character, an exceptionally good bounty hunter always hidden behind his near priceless Mandalorian armour. The character’s bounty hunter code is challenged when sent after a morally difficult target and he chooses to do the right thing. The show is set in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens and is heavily focused on the chaos that follows the death of the Emperor.

The Golden Age Of Television

There was a time when film was the perceived cultural superior to television but in the last twenty years things have changed – this is the Golden Age of television. Film and television can tell stories in different ways – in my opinion, Goodfellas and The Sopranos are the high-points of the portrayal of gangsters in their respective mediums but have different strengths and weaknesses. The Mandalorian has a main story arc but within that are numerous smaller stories, characters who get to shine in a particular episode. It often felt with the Star Wars films you are getting a glimpse of a huge universe, whilst and TV shows can go into depth.

One benefit to doing a TV show over another film trilogy would be that a film trilogy would inevitably feel it had to be about saving the galaxy and with some even bigger ultimate weapon. The Mandalorian is about saving one child and a smaller story can actually be more engaging.

The Trouble With Trilogies

I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited about a film as I was about The Phantom Menace and like many, I convinced myself it wasn’t that bad, but that couldn’t last. The prequels were a disaster with a few redeeming features – there are many, many problems with them ranging from casting to too much CGI to just being boring. The text crawl at the start of The Phantom Menace talks about tax disputes and while I do think a movie could be made about war sparking from something that dull The Phantom Menace failed.

It’s hard to even discuss the sequel trilogy without being overwhelmed complaints of the fans – they’re too much like the original trilogy, they’re too different to the original trilogy, Rey is a Mary-Sue, they ruined Luke, and then there’s the torrent of sexism that was also present in much of the criticism. For what it’s worth I think the sequels have problems but are much better than the prequels. The Last Jedi is an uneven film yet it has amazing parts to it – Luke and Kylo Ren’s confrontation is incredibly well done and a brilliant way to deal with their history. The biggest problem might have been it felt that the different directors had different ideas of what they wanted to do.

The Star Wars Universe

There is a wealth of material for more television shows. Aside from the films, there are a variety of TV shows, dozens of books, graphic novels, computer games and more:

The Old Republic – The Empire overthrew the Galactic Republic but there would be wars, conflict and interesting stories throughout this period. It could explore the time when the Jedi were at the height of their power.

It’s not all about the war – There’s a lot more going than just the civil war between the Empire and Rebel Alliance – there are bounty hunter guilds, crime syndicates, strange religions and more.

So Many Characters – There are a wealth of interesting existing characters. What about Chewbacca’s life before Han? Or ace rebel pilot Wedge Antilles – the only pilot to have fought in both Death Star battles? I was genuinely thrilled when Nien Nunb (pictured above) turned up in the sequels – for those who don’t know Nunb is the small alien who co-piloted the Millennium Falcon with Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi and would love to see more of him. If they’re willing to embrace the Dark Side, Disney could explore Darth Vader’s war against the Jedi.

Whatever happens next we all know Disney aren’t going to stop making Star Wars films and tv shows – let’s just hope they’re worthy additions.

Also Read: Was It Really That Bad?: Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker

The post The Mandalorian – A New Hope For Star Wars appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

“I have a bad feeling about this”

Rise of Skywalker currently sits at a 6.7/10 on IMDb, putting it just ahead of Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, and scoring the least of the sequel trilogy. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has the second-lowest score of the whole franchise, with only the animated Clone Wars film scoring lower. After the division that The Last Jedi caused in the fandom, it was important for the final installment to have more universal appeal, unfortunately, in trying to appease everyone, the film doesn’t take any risks and relies heavily on nostalgia, without any of the buildup that made the orignal moments so satisfying and iconic. In addition, many of the plot points were retconned, Rey did have an important lineage, Kylo Ren donned his mask again, and Palpatine was brought back from the dead by cloning or dark magic or… something.

So, without the magic of a midnight screening, would I see the stitches holding this film together? Well.. yes and no

“Bring balance to the Force”

Some of the film’s faults are apparent right away, Palpatine, after dying in Return of the Jedi, has returned with an ominous and vague plan. How he returned is handwaved over, almost like the film is trying to jedi mind trick you, and his message announcing his return to the galaxy is never heard (except in Fortnite, because of course). Although it is always wonderful to see Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor, his presence doesn’t really add anything other than tie up some plot threads that had already been dealt with. And while the film does seem to go out of it’s way to attempt to put things back on track, it really doesn’t do that much damage when compared to some of the orginal retcons. Let’s not forget that Vader and Anakin Skywalker were once two seperate people, and that Luke and Leia weren’t related. While the Rey reveal in particular does more harm than good, she does still have a solid arc about choosing her own family.

The film also has a few plot points that don’t make much sense, such as the Sith dagger. It does feel like it’s jumping through hoops to explain some elements but not others. Again though, this isn’t a problem unique to this entry, Palpatine’s plots are hilariously convoluted in the prequels as well as Luke’s rescue mission in Episode VI. It also leans very heavily on nostalgia. Nearly every iconic moment from the original films is referenced. Some of these moments work better than others. But the things the film expands upon are some real highlights. The connection between Rey and Kylo Ren remains the best thing about the trilogy. Their “Force Skype” power expanding to allow physical objects to pass between them adds an intriguing new dynamic. The final duel between them is suitably dramatic. The main trio finally being together is wonderful and some legacy characters get a great sendoff.

Was it really that bad?…No

It doesn’t manage to compete with top tier entries, but it certainly isn’t the worst. It feel more like a sequel to Force Awakens than Last Jedi and it can’t quite decide what it wants to be or have guts to stick with some plot points. It feels rather similar to Solo, which isn’t a bad thing, but feels to safe for what should be the final word in the story.

Would Trevorrow’s version have been an improvement? It’s hard to say as the two are very different, but have some interesting similarities.

Overall, this one just needed more time in the oven. The rushed development and behind the scenes drama creates a lack of vision, but there is still a solid action flick in here akin to Force Awakens or Abram’s Star Trek reboot.

Also Read: Was It Really That bad?: Star Wars Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace

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