The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu.
A long time agoin a galaxy far, far away – 2019, that is – a man wearing a helmet walked into a bar and potentially saved a franchise. “Saved” may be a stretch, but it helps to remember: When The Mandalorian premiered on Disney+ in November of that year, the house George Lucas built (and sold to a mouse) was on slightly shaky ground. “Solo,” which depicted the early adventures of a young Han Solo as a daring smuggler, was mired in backstage drama and significantly disappointed at the box office in 2018. The finale of the long-running Skywalker saga, “The Rise of Skywalker,” was scheduled to hit theaters a month after the series premiered – and seemed like a pleasant response to its risk-taking predecessor, “The Last Jedi.” There were still animated series that delved deep into the backstories and dustier corners of the universe. But we’d always wanted more live-action adventures in the Star Wars universe – and it started to feel like we were wishing on a monkey’s paw.
Then came The Mandalorian, which followed the adventures of a bounty hunter named Din Djarin. Everyone simply called him Mandalore, or “Mando” for short, after his connection to his adoptive planet. Like Boba Fett, he wore a damn cool steel helmet and had an impressive arsenal. Unlike his counterpart in the mercenary business, he followed a code called “The Way” and adhered to a strict code of honor. He also had a Baby Yoda at his side, who made for a wonderful double act in the style of “Lone Wolf and Cub”. Created by Jon Favreau, who wrote six of the first season’s eight episodes, this first streaming outing offered exactly what had been missing: thrills, chills and good old-fashioned fun. The series took place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi – and despite occasional concessions to hardcore fans, it didn’t feel overwhelmed by the weight of the in-house mythology.
As Season 1 came to a close toward the end of that year, there was a sense that the franchise might be entering a period of renewed creativity and minor streaming heyday that the movies couldn’t—or simply wouldn’t—compete with. The Wookiee will live with the Lamb, the Anzellan will settle next to the Hutts, the Twi’leks and the Zabraks and the Mon Calamari, and a child – a small, green, long-eared and infinitely cute child – will lead them.
Star Wars on streaming course
Cut – or in the spirit of Lucas, side-swipe – to 2026, and, well… you get the idea. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger thought a “less is more” approach was necessary as early as 2019, and that was before the flood of Star Wars content over the past seven years. The corporate bosses may have put the theatrical productions on hold, but the streamer regularly pumps out new series to continue milking the franchise. One of them was first class (“Andor”). Others sank into unrestrained nostalgia (“Obi-Wan Kenobi”), got lost in the thicket of fan-favorite characters (“Ahsoka”) or offered an unfortunate combination of both (“The Book of Boba Fett”). Even The Mandalorian, which copied the template of old TV Westerns so effectively – you could have called it Have Blaster, Will Travel – began to stumble over crossover continuity problems. From season 3 onwards, you had to have seen the Boba Fett series and be aware of some of the overarching plot twists to understand what was happening. An all-or-nothing principle crept in, garnished with increasingly lean storytelling. It’s called MCU syndrome.
Nevertheless, the further adventures of Mando and Grogu, his little powerful sidekick from a swamp on Dagobah, remained the franchise’s most promising bet for a return to the big screen. So now we have The Mandalorian and Grogu, in which Pedro Pascal once again dons the T-visor helmet and travels across the galaxy. Where he once offered his services to the highest bidder, Mando now primarily hunts villains for the rebellion. And if you judged this film – directed by Jon Favreau, written by Favreau, acting Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor – by its opening sequence alone, you would think the old magic was back. A gangster is blackmailing Imperial refugees on the planet Hoth – after ten seconds the callback levels are already in the red. Mando comes in, shoots first, asks questions later. The roguelike villain flees, half AT-ATs and full-sized AT-AT walkers are deployed, and our hero and Grogu finish the job. This is undeniably exciting in a very classic way.
After the duo has arranged everything beautifully, they return to the rebel base, where their contact – hello, Sigourney Weaver – is waiting for them with a new assignment. And this is exactly where the problems begin.
[Wir hatten Spoiler angekündigt, zur Erinnerung.]
When the plot stalls
Your character, Colonel Ward, wants the Mandalorian to track down a particularly bad guy with ties to the remnants of the Empire and bring him in alive or dead. One problem: Nobody knows what he looks like. But “the twins” – Jabba the Hutt’s relatives who now lead his criminal syndicate – have clues to his whereabouts. Before he can catch the target, Mando has to do them a favor: track down and bring back their missing nephew Rotta the Hutt.
By the way, Rotta reminds us a little of his future father, but since he’s paying off a debt as a pit fighter, he looks less like Jabba and more like a fit John Cena. (Rotta the Buff, right?) He’s also a CGI creation, voiced by Jeremy Allen White – although you wouldn’t know it because his voice has apparently been put through a filter that makes it completely unrecognizable. Which raises the legitimate question: Why the hell did they hire Jeremy Allen White?! Let the man cook! Rotta also gets a speech about how he doesn’t want to go back to his relatives, that being Jabba’s son is a burden, and that he just wants to be his own boss.
Ironically, there are no words to describe how atrocious the dialogue White is given here – perhaps he read the script and then contracted for the voice change to distance himself from this trash? There’s the old anecdote about Harrison Ford lashing out at George Lucas over his lyrics on the set of Star Wars, shouting, “You can write it, George, but you can’t.” say.” Perhaps The Mandalorian and Grogu’s biggest connection to the original is that it appears to continue this dubious tradition.
Rotta turns out to be an ally of Mando and Grogu in their search for the unknown. Mando outsmarts the twins before they would inevitably outsmart him. The Hutts hold grudges for a long time, however, and the rest of the film essentially becomes a cat-and-mouse game between the criminals and our dynamic duo.
A few shining moments
There are a few shining moments, including a car chase that pays homage to “The French Connection” and a giant white sea serpent that looks like it slithered straight from the cover of a Frank Frazetta-illustrated paperback. Grogu justifies his place in the title. There is also an astonishing amount of repetition, a sluggish narrative pace, a handful of attempts at jokes that simply fall flat, hardly any hint of character development and more dead space than you would expect in a film that is based on gunfighter narratives and old serials.
The series’ eccentric casting approach, which gave us Werner Herzog as the client, now gives us Martin Scorsese in a small supporting role. And if you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like when America’s greatest living filmmaker voices a four-armed alien making interstellar grilled cheese sandwiches from a food truck, you should buy a ticket quickly.
Easter eggs and fan service
Of course, there are also Easter eggs and appearances from recurring characters from the series, deeply buried references and plenty of material that will make the true connoisseurs squeal. The fans want to be served! At my screening, some of the audience cheered when one scene cut conspicuously to a man simply sitting at a table. The credits said that this unnamed pilot was played by Filoni. Although I don’t want to lie. I briefly thought, “Did they just sneak Kid Rock into this mess?” (Just a note.) The whole thing culminates in a big dogfight staged for old times’ sake. One is reminded of the many great battles between rebels and imperial forces that the films have featured over the years. Such fond memories do this film no favors.
Shouldn’t this be Lucasfilm’s new hope for a comeback on the big screen? What went wrong? The holiday weekend opening looks successful by “normal standards” – the film is expected to break $100 million today – and yet it’s already considered a likely contender for the lowest-grossing Star Wars film of all time. The regulars would come anyway for the first few days, but after that you get the sense that the audience, wondering why they should go to the cinema to see something that would have worked better as a mid-season story arc, is making for a flop from the start. And this hesitation is justified. There is little to suggest that this material would have needed the hyperspace jump from the streamer to the multiplex. It is strictly for the less demanding fans – and the shareholders.
Maybe the expectations were that this would be the thing that really brought wonder and greatness back to the franchise – help us Pedro Pascal, you’re our only hope! –, simply inappropriate. But they wanted this film to bring back the feeling that Star Wars cinematic events, whether with pulp TV roots or not, are actually events. Now they’re just more content in a sea of franchise excess. At the box office, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will prevent the company’s balance sheet from plummeting. Creatively, he makes the entire franchise seem completely and completely done. To paraphrase a wise man in a helmet: This is not the way.
