After a 7 year wait for a new Star Wars full length movie, this effort neither satisfies the die-hard fans, nor convinces the casual viewer that this is anything more than a VFX-fest. There are plenty of scary monsters, cute puppets and a ton of shoot ‘em ups leading to scene after scene of fiery explosions. The best part of the film is the score by Ludwig Göransson (Sinners, Venom, Creed, Tenet, Oppenheimer), which enhances the overuse of action scenes.
The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords are still scattered throughout the galaxy. As the New Republic tries to protect everything they fought for in the Rebellion, they look to the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu to take up the task on the outer reaches of the galaxy.
Jon Favreau, (Iron Man, The Lion King) who created The Mandalorian Disney+ TV series, directs this film, co-written with Noah Kloor and new LucasFilm boss Dave Filoni. But the dialogue is pretty slim, uninteresting, and barely furthers the story. It is especially noticeable in the weak dialogue given to Sigourney Weaver lacking the authority of her role under the most pressing circumstances. She looks great but is too accomplished an actress to waste with weak dialogue.
On a huge screen in IMAX for 2 hours, Pascal’s Mandalorian is a waste of vast screen real estate. There are two credited stunt performers for Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) so it’s fair to ask how much are we actually even seeing Pedro Pascal in the film anyway?
Having the hero essentially be an emotionless disembodied voice from inside a shiny helmet works better on a small screen, like a TV or phone, as it did for three seasons of series episodes. As a result, this masked man is unable to reveal any emotion, which influences the other characters in this latest action flick.
To remind us that this a popcorn-muncher Action/Western kind of film, Favreau even gives the Mandalorian his own sound effect. You can hear the faint sound of spurs jangling as he walks, sounding like the cowboy hero striding into the bar looking before a gunfight.
It’s hard to envision Grogu as anything more than a puppet, which is what Favreau intends. Again, the big screen does this character no favors. When he’s called on to be more than cute we wanted more personality, to see this guy more animated and expressive. Favreau seems to hold back, as Grogu and other characters, seem to aimlessly wander, lost in space, and just happen to show up where they need to be. How do they know where to look? Favreau has the characters be more reactive, instead of having the brains to come up with their own real plans.
Favreau gets his best assist in creating an entertaining effects-driven character from legendary film director, Martin Scorsese, who voices the multi-armed alien Ardennian. Scorsese gives this food-truck fry cook with attitude a fun New Yawk accent.
The slug-like Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta is an important character in this story. But there is no way to discern the voice of popular actor Jeremy White of The Bear whose voice is completely unrecognizable in this film. It has been heavily processed and auto-tuned. Jeremy! Are you really there? It could have been anybody’s. Another in a line of disappointments.
There are some really lethal looking monsters, especially later in the movie when our Mandelorian hero ends up being thrown in and around deep water by a vicious serpent with razor sharp teeth. We think this monster and several others scary beasts are way too ugly and frightening.
We usually don’t “pile on” when it comes to negative reviews, but in this case it’s really hard to find the up-side for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Maybe it’s time for the hero to lose the helmet more often, and tickle Grogu to get more reaction. We really wanted to care more for these characters and this film. This aimless tale feels lost in space.
Walk Disney Studios Motion Pictures 2 Hours 12 Minutes PG-13
