Last month, the first “Star Wars” film in almost seven years, subtitled “The Mandalorian and Grogu”, was released in theaters. It follows the titular Mandalorian peacekeeper Din Djarin and his very small companion on another adventure after three seasons of the show that introduced audiences to the characters in 2019.
The first big question that arises after you adapt a show into a movie tends to be, “Is it worth it?” The big budget, the advertisements and global press tour? The answer isn’t quite as obvious as the question, but after reflecting on all of its parts, this film replies “no.”
The film’s main cast is made up of some heavy-hitters, there’s no denying that: Pedro Pascal, who’s been a mainstay of prestige television for the last decade; Sigourney Weaver, the BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning star of sci-fi classics like “Alien” and more recently “Avatar”; and Jeremy Allen-White, who won an Emmy for his work on “The Bear”. In reality, almost all of the dialogue delivered by these characters and their supporting cast amount to one-liners that, in the case of the latter two especially, don't come with much effort at all.
Luckily, the visuals come ready to hold the audience’s attention. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is an exciting “creature feature” through and through, though sometimes overplaying it to a point that borders on overstaying its welcome.
In one memorable scene, Din Djarin and Rotta the Hutt, played by White, fight a menacing line-up of alien warriors in a cage match orchestrated by the former Imperial officer that serves as the film’s main protagonist. Before long, it becomes clear that the warriors and the markings on the ground in the arena make the scene a dead ringer for a much bigger game of “Dejarik”, the name of the holographic, chess-adjacent game played by Chewbacca and others in the Millennium Falcon.
There’s plenty of moments like this that serve the more eclectic Star Wars audience well, and I have no doubt that the action alone can hold those less familiar with the franchise, but they do little to justify the film’s existence when the story could’ve continued on the small screen like it has for the last six years.
It’s not that Jon Favreau, the director and writer, and Dave Filoni, also a cowriter, aren’t great creative partners – the first season of “The Mandalorian” in particular is fantastic – but this feels starkly unlike the series that propelled Grogu and Mando to “household name” status. It’s incessantly loud, busy and constantly tripping over what it said 10 minutes or even 10 seconds ago. There’s almost no breathing room, and at the same time nothing of substance to really take in either.
The film’s cast and spectacle undoubtedly make it a shoe-in for a movie you’ve got to see in the theatres, but the writing, acting and overall contribution do very little to justify why “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is the first Star Wars movie in seven years.
Elliott Wood is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or @DailyLobo on X
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