Del and Mladen review ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’
Image courtesy of Disney.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” Starring Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian, Sigourney Weaver as Colonel Ward, and the voice of Martin Scorsese as Hugo Durant, among others. Directed by John Favreau. Two hours, 12 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Plot summary: Mandalorian Din Djarin and his young companion, Grogu, must rescue the son of Jabba the Hutt from the moon Shakari in exchange for information about the location of Imperial warlord Commander Coin.
Spoilers: Of course.
Del’s take
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, movies were made with such joie de vivre they exceeded the sum of their parts. Now, they are made to sell pillowcases and stuffed animals.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” has a hero and a villain; a “plot,” if it can be called that; rising action and a climax; a rousing score – all the ingredients of an actual movie. But its pieces are stitched together by the thinnest narrative thread, and its performances are curiously lifeless. When director Favreau throws the switch and electricity flows into his creation, absolutely nobody will shout, “It’s alive!”
The story is about Din Djarin, a Mandalorian, and his ward, Grogu, a kind of mini-Yoda, who are tasked with rescuing the son of notorious crime lord Jabba the Hutt in exchange for information about the location of Imperial warlord Commander Coin. They discover Jabba’s son, Rotta, is actually a pawn in an evil scheme managed by the Hutt twins, cousins of Jabba and successors to his crime organization. To restore balance to – if not the force then karma – Djarin and Grogu must embark on a series of galaxy-spanning adventures that confront them with mortal peril.
The movie is structured like a James Bond film, with a pre-title sequence worthy of the ticket price. From there it settles into a string of episodic cliffhangers that carry the movie to its not very satisfying conclusion.
Like many Star Wars movies, the actors’ roles are muted – in this case suppressed to the point that nobody really gives a damn what happens to them. Even Sigourney Weaver, queen of the “Alien” and “Avatar” franchises, musters only a pale shadow of the badass gravitas she brings to those other projects. It doesn’t help that Pedro Pascal is concealed behind a helmet for most of the film, and Grogu is nothing more than a puppet designed to sell warehouses of branded junk.
Characters are given zero backstory. If you haven’t seen the Disney streaming series “The Mandalorian” you won’t have any idea what’s happening. But that doesn’t matter because the Star Wars universe has become so fraught with complication you’d need a doctorate’s in entropy to keep track of the entanglements, subplots and allegiances.
In the end, who cares? We know from experience the Mandalorian will outrun, outfight and outlive any adversary, and the strange little green puppet he’s taken on as a friend will sell whatever schlock they slap his likeness on. It’s just another episode in the endless marketing campaign that passes for art in the United States these days.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” is the kind of movie AI would create if AI could make movies. It has no beating heart. Its characters are bland. The plot reads like a series of hastily sketched TV episodes. It has the look and feel of a Star Wars movie but provides nothing in the way of a relatable human experience. I saw the original Star Wars movie, “A New Hope,” in the movie theater 19 times because that movie spoke to me.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” put me to sleep.
I’m giving it a C+.
Mladen’s take
I was giddy during the first explosion-laced, body count-filled, mystique-building 5 minutes of “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” My mind was racing. Where does Mando and Grog belong in the Top Five List of the best Star Wars movies? I put it in 4th place.
Man, from the score and its Andes Mountains bass recorder serenity to Imperial walkers detonating, Din Djarin blasts away from the shadows. When he emerges from the dark, the set pieces become a combination of the finest street-level fighting in any Star Wars film. It’s Jedi, Grammaton Cleric, and Wick hand-to-hand spliced together. Just beautiful. The pacing and, this is important, the realism of the destruction is palpable.
Then, Mando and Grog deteriorates, though not linearly. There are moments that had me thinking there’s yet hope for this film. When the scene cuts to Mando in the spacious cockpit of his ST-70 Assault Ship Razor Crest, I floated into my own sci-fi fantasy. There I am flying my hijacked Va’Ruun Dirge with its vast solar wind canopy hiding nothing in front of me as I explore the worlds of the video game “Starfield.” Lovely.
But, Mando and Grog never realize my hope. The film’s unemotional, way too calm, expository, and plodding dialogue never relented. It sounded too much like humans talk on planet Earth today. The idioms annoyed me. There’s too much of us in this movie. At least Mando never pulled a cell phone from his cloak to post a selfie of him blasting a man-sized centipede‑like creature during an enclosed arena kickboxing-like showdown.
Mando and Grog is too much action and too little story as Del noted, I must concede, very nicely in his take despite getting all French‑y on us. Joie de vivre, Del? Tu es snob? The scriptwriters and the director blew the opportunity to make Mando and Grog an iconic Star Wars flick.
Another problem with the film is a very, very long stretch of cinematography that seemed to exist for no better reason than demonstrating puppeteering. Yeah, Grogu is cute but only becomes relevant late in the film when he saves Din’s life. And that took too long.
As I brooded about the movie, which Del and I saw in unnecessary 3D, its fatal flaw finally occurred to me. More than any other factor, Mando and Grog misfires because it lacks a magnificent Bad Guy. The Hutts are vapid. The former Empire officers turned criminals are puny and weak.
The revelation also helped me understand how I rank Star Wars movies. The best Star Wars movies starting with the best of the best are: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope,” “Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Star Wars Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.” Note that there are only four exceptional films. Why? Because they have Darth Vader. Because they are Darth Vader, more than anything else.
Vader, now dead in the lore and resurrecting him like the Emperor in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is impossible because it would annihilate the Star Wars universe, is also the reason there’ll never be another great Star Wars movie though a very good one remains possible.
Vader has no equal in Bad Guy moviedom. Sure Agent Smith of The Matrix comes close but he’s only software. Vader of the Dark Side is both Satan and God and he looks and sounds like it. His purpose muddies gradually across the four great Star Wars movies. And, as an aside, his “cameo” at the end of Rogue One is one of the most spectacular scenes generated by any moviemaker anywhere.
So, what’s left for the world of Star Wars? Recognizing that each new film needs a fresh plot codified by a great script supplemented by a majestic score that’s enhanced through stunning visual effects without 3D bullshit. In that order. If Disney is unable to do that with the next film sans (there I go getting all French‑y) AI, it’s spacetime for Star Wars to be sucked into a black hole to be never again seen.
“The Mandalorian and Grogu” is a C worth seeing in the theater by those who enjoy action for action’s sake.
Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical writer. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and writer.
“Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” Starring Sofia Boutella as flabbergasting Kora; Djimon Hounsou as uninspiring Titus; Bae Doona as almost likeable Nemesis; Michiel Huisman as meek Gunnar; Staz Nair as the soppy prince Tarak, Ed Skrein as the only-good-enough-character-in-the-film Atticus Noble; and others. Directed by Zack Snyder. Two hours, 2 minutes. Rated PG-13. Streaming on Netflix.
Plot summary: More of mediocre and trope-filled “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” but 17 minutes longer. Rednecks fight an evil empire that can’t feed the soldiers it sallies to subdue rednecks.
Mladen’s grade: C+
Dels grade: D
Mladen’s take
This is an unauthorized review. That means it wasn’t approved by Del. He wanted me to review (and, someday, I will) a movie titled “This Is Not a Test.” Sheesh, Del, are you still afflicted by your memory of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Is that why I’m supposed the review “This Is Not a Test?” Because it’s a nuclear warhead Armageddon film and you’re worried that the Small Man in Moscow will trigger World War III via Ukraine that plunges all of us into Hobbes’s state of nature.
Anyway, let’s talk “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” recently launched on Netflix. Two is no better than One, which is to say all the principal characters, barring one, are bland at best and unlikeable at worst. Don’t care about Kora’s faux internal conflict. Don’t care about Titus’s guilt. Don’t care that Tarak is a nepo baby trying to redeem himself. Just. Don’t. Care. That’s a problem because Rebel Moon offers nothing by way of an original story or grand ideas.
Ready for some alien invasion action? Check out Mladen’s and Del’s review of “The Tomorrow War.”
If there’s nothing pathbreaking in a film, the only factor that can save it is a good script. Neither Rebel Moons have good scripts. Two is packed with the banal such as near-immortality to keep the bad guy going, i.e., resurrecting someone from the half-cell that was saved after they’ve been incinerated, blasted apart, depressurized, I don’t know, take your pick of demises. Other banalities abound, too. Stuff like peasants fighting to keep their simple lives, peasants organizing an effective armed resistance against the system’s behemoth power, Motherworld, with two days of combat training, and peasants harvesting a massive wheat fields in three days using scythes so that they have two days to get military training before the Man arrives with a dreadnought the size of a city and thousands of troops. And, how the hell is the Rebel Moon able to produce an atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere that sustains carbon-based life when, on the horizon, is a gas giant that should be either emitting extreme magnetic radiation from its core that sterilizes everything on the moon, or locks the moon tidally so that all you get is extreme heat without darkness on one half and extreme cold without light on the other.
The secret to enjoying Two for what it is, a second-rate “Star Wars” or “Starship Troopers,” is to pay attention to the film’s few merits.
There’s the sublime evilness of Atticus Noble, the soulless admiral in charge of the Motherland force trying to sack Rebel Moon and capture Kora, who has an alias that, when revealed, surprises or shocks no one in the village. Noble is fit. Noble has a good vocabulary. Noble, who is the opposite of the meaning of his surname, keeps his uniform tidy and his composure intact as he whacks peasants and beats the crap out of Kora. Hated to see him die.
Also noteworthy is the film’s score. The music is particularly effective during Two’s last 50 minutes. In fact, just skip to the last 50 minutes of the film to immerse yourself in the spectacular visual effects. The battle scenes are terrific. Watching automatic plasma fire in slow motion fracturing and melting structures again and again never became boring. The sound is top tier, too. Everything from the zip-bang of rifles to the blast of the big gun on the dreadnought enhanced the VFX.
If you watched One, you may as well watch Two. And, yes, prepare yourself to watch Three, which is on the way. Three promises to be the all-or-nothing showdown between the Dark Side of the For … ah, between the Saviors of the Peasants and the top Motherworld Bad Guy, whose name sounds like it was ripped off from the name of a genus of dinosaur.
Del’s take
After watching “Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver,” I’d like to ask, who’s the more scarred – the movie’s viewpoint character or ME, after Mladen dragged my sorry ass back into that steaming pile of wookie poop. I’ll say this about Part Two – it earned an even lower score than Part One’s dreadful Rotten Tomatoes rating of 23, clocking in at a mere 15 percent. That’s almost as shitty as Truth Social’s stock price.
Check out Del’s review of “Avatar: The Way of the Water.”
Mladen and I reviewed Part One last December and what can I say? Part Two is just as awful. OK, let me back up. It’s maybe a smidge less awful because the audience isn’t forced to suffer through the painful backstory infodump that took place in Part One. See? There is a God.
Here’s what I wrote in my review of Part One. These observations remain painfully true of Part Two:
“Rebel Moon” is Star Wars Lite, if such a thing is possible. When I saw director Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead” I told myself, “Now here’s a guy who knows how to make a movie.” Unfortunately, Snyder is a guy who knows how to make one movie. “Rebel Moon” looks just like “Sucker Punch,” “300” and “Watchmen,” and despite the lofty ambitions, it’s surprisingly bereft of depth.
Let’s not even talk about things like tropes or archetypes – “Rebel Moon” is a bad copy of a bad copy, like that photocopy of the mysterious night shift worker’s ass that turned up on the Xerox machine one morning and now everybody’s passing it around the office.
Dialogue is, well, corny. And not just corny corny, but fanboy at the science fiction convention Dungeons & Dragons icebreaker corny. Characterization is practically non-existent – you’ve seen these people in dozens of movies over the years, starting with Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai,” the same place Snyder got the plot. It would have been hilarious if he’d ripped off J.J. Abrams. Alas, the universe doesn’t have that ironic a sense of humor. FX are not great, either. I should think $166 million would buy you a more realistic-looking spaceship or future city.
It’s all a gussied-up, overhyped pile of same-old, same-old, and I’ll be honest – it actually offends me. The science fiction genre – at least the printed-on-paper part of the genre – has thousands of really terrific stories waiting to be told. Why waste $166 million on this retread?
Are you getting the idea I really hated this movie?
I did embrace one aspect of the Rebel Moon universe – I bought two bags of Rebel Moon popcorn, but only because Walmart had them marked down to $2 apiece. And let me say, even the popcorn was crappy – chewy and stale, with lots of tooth-breaking unpopped kernels. If you want a really good bag of movie-style popcorn I recommend the AMC brand. It’s awesome. Just be sure to heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds.
As Mladen, in a rare moment of cognitive awareness, pointed out, there actually may be a Rebel Moon Part 3. I’m telling you right now if he tries to make me watch that crap I’ll retaliate with lots of gay romance movies and a doc about the continuing evolution of the band Duran Duran. By the way, did you know they got that name from an old Jane Fonda movie, “Barbarella”? Yeah. I saw “Barbarella” at a drive-in in the early ’70s. Drunk, of course, because that’s the only way you can sit through a showing of “Barbarella.”
I give Part Two a D. It’s a goulash of clichés and horrible dialogue, and I’m angry Hollywood thinks I’m stupid enough to want that.
Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical writer. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and writer.
Image courtesy of Netflix.
Starring Sofia Boutella as Kora, Michiel Huisman as Gunnar, Bae Doona as Nemesis, Charlie Hunnam as Kai, Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble and others. Directed by Zack Snyder. Two hours, 13 minutes. Rated PG-13. Streaming on Netflix.
Plot summary: A quiet agrarian village on a fertile moon in a galaxy far, far away is forced to provide a Motherworld dreadnaught grain that it can’t spare. One of the villagers, the first to recognize the threat and the only one with balls though a female, scours the system for a motley crew of warriors who’ll fight the dreadnaught and its vicious commander to protect the hamlet. Part One collects the heroes who’ll resist the evil admiral and his tyrant boss.
Are there spoilers in this review: Not really.
—
Mladen’s take
What can I say about “Rebel Moon” other than it’s an OK film. I didn’t even bother watching it using my home theater.
I thought “Rebel Moon” was rated R. It wasn’t, so the violence is tame, albeit flashy, and there’s almost no cussing. No nudity, either. Shit, the film lacks grit.
The characters aren’t all that charismatic, either. Our heroine is anguished because of who she was and what she did way back when. Her train of misfits are characters we’ve all seen in the past, including the prototypical Asian as ninja.
In short, “Rebel Moon” speeds through character development so that all we’re left with are outlines of personas. There’s the displaced prince, a spiritually wounded mother, a drunken former general, and an insurrectionist who had gone soft returning to the fight against un‑motherly Motherworld.
I’m also tired of hearing the same old voices as droids. In this case, it’s Anthony Hopkins as the latent military bot J-whatever. I listen to the bot talk and all I’m thinking is that’s the king of Asgard.
Because Del is an every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining kinda guy, I’ll honor his frail tendency to try to balance good and bad by noting a couple of the film’s bright spots.
“Rebel Moon” production value is top notch. The film offers very good world building. The CGI is clean, as clean as the meld of real and fake in last year’s “The Creator.” The real people in the movie look like they are a part of the planet, moon, spaceship, city, or field they find themselves in. The creatures depicted in the movie are stylish and one smacks of Greek mythology. The other prominent critter is, oh, “Lord of the Rings-y” and good enough.
I concede that there was a scene or two that absorbed me. I was eager to see how they’d end. Unfortunately, the movie would then return to its mostly uninteresting plot. Dang, sorry about that Del. I inserted a bit of negativity into my silver lining section.
“Rebel Moon” just isn’t that good. And, it just isn’t that bad.
You want to see a very good space opera? Give Star Wars “Rogue One” a spin. Clearly, it was the inspiration, if not outright template, for “Rebel Moon.” Also better alternatives to “Rebel Moon” are “Serenity,” the 2009 “Star Trek” movie, and the new “Dune.”
Will I see “Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver?” Sure. Do I care that I must wait until the movie’s April 2024 release? Not one bit. That fact, all by itself, demonstrates my enthusiasm for the “Rebel Moon” storyline.
Del’s take
Mladen, there’s no need to be positive on my behalf. “Rebel Moon” was awful. And to think: They spent $166 million making that crap? One hundred and sixty-six million would just about cover my homeowner’s insurance and property taxes here in the “free state of Florida.”
Give me a break.
“Rebel Moon” is Star Wars Lite, if such a thing is possible. When I saw director Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead” I told myself, “Now here’s a guy who knows how to make a movie.” Unfortunately, Snyder is a guy who knows how to make one movie. “Rebel Moon” looks just like “Sucker Punch,” “300” and “Watchmen,” and despite the lofty ambitions, it’s surprisingly bereft of depth.
Let’s not even talk about things like tropes or archetypes – “Rebel Moon” is a bad copy of a bad copy, like that photocopy of the mysterious night shift worker’s ass that turned up on the Xerox machine one morning and now everybody’s passing it around the office.
Dialogue is, well, corny. And not just corny corny, but fanboy at the science fiction convention Dungeons & Dragons icebreaker corny. Characterization is practically non-existent – you’ve seen these people in dozens of movies over the years, starting with Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai,” the same place Snyder got the plot. It would have been hilarious if he’d ripped off J.J. Abrams. Alas, the universe doesn’t have that ironic a sense of humor. FX are not great, either. I should think $166 million would buy you a more realistic-looking spaceship or future city.
It’s all a gussied-up, overhyped pile of same-old, same-old, and I’ll be honest – it actually offends me. The science fiction genre – at least the printed-on-paper part of the genre – has thousands of really terrific stories waiting to be told. Why waste $166 million on this retread?
Part 2 is coming and I could care less. I know how it’s going to end. I’ve already seen it. I don’t need to waste my time watching part 2 of a movie that scored 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Mladen’s grade: C (C- if, for a moment, the sci-fi tropes irritate me)
Del’s grade: D
Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical writer. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and writer.
Image courtesy of Disney Studios.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Harrison Ford. Directed by J.J. Abrams. 135 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Del’s take
I’ve told this story before but I’ll tell it again.
My friend Sandy was feeling blue. Her husband was TDY in Korea and her teenaged kids were doing their thing. One day she decided to remedy her malaise by throwing a cookout for the kids. She took a pound of ground beef and shaped it into several thick patties. She toasted hamburger buns on the grill as the burgers sizzled. She gathered all the trimmings and condiments – tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, mustard, mayo, and ketchup.
When the kids looked at those fat, juicy, steaming burgers, they turned up their noses and sniffed, “We wanted REAL hamburgers, like McDonalds.”
Moviegoers have watched the cinematic equivalent of fast food for so long they have no idea what the real thing looks like. To them, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is an actual movie, and a good movie at that. But those of us who know what a real hamburger looks and tastes like know this latest installment of the Star Wars canon is little more than a dime-sized beef-like patty sandwiched between two white-bread buns topped with a pickle and a miserly squirt of watered down mustard and ketchup.
And it’s not even CREATIVE fast food. Instead, it’s a brazen, in-your-face, do-something-about-it rip-off of the first movie. Call it “The Force Awakens a New Hope” because that’s precisely what it is … a splashy, high-resolution rehash.
Here’s the plot: A droid is carrying a map that will help the rebellion find Luke Skywalker, who holds the key to … something. I think it was the revival of the Jedi, but I’m not sure. I wish it were lower popcorn prices.
Special effects are light years superior to the first movie and John Boyega does a good job as Finn. Even Harrison Ford seems to enjoy his outing as Han Solo.
But some of the performances are terrible. Domhall Gleeson’s portrayal of General Hux is comically overwrought, and Carrie Fisher reads her lines as if she were sucking to keep dentures in her mouth. Through no fault of Adam Driver, the Kylo Ren character fails to equal the ominous and imposing Darth Vader; instead, he’s a damaged little boy with daddy issues.
The movie itself seems to lurch from one adventure to the next without much in the way of connective tissue, making it one vast, pointless coincidence.
I went into “The Force Awakens” with the expectation I would see a competent if not creative re-establishment of the Star Wars franchise, much like my experience last summer with “Jurassic World.” I came out offended that J.J. Abrams has no more respect for the moviegoer than to plagiarize “A New Hope.”
The fact that this movie will become the biggest grossing film of all time leads me to believe I am forever condemned to watching the cinematic equivalent of fast food burgers. Oh well, at least it isn’t Soylent Green. Or is it?
By all means, go see “The Force Awakens a New Hope” in a movie theater, because that is where all movies should be seen. Skip the popcorn; you’ll want fries with that.
And a year from now, don’t buy the DVD. You already own it.
Mladen’s take
I want my money back. The money I paid for my “Stars Wars: The Force Awakens” ticket and the money I paid for Del’s “The Force Awakens” movie ticket.
And, I want the money back for all my friends – and the rest of the globe – who have yet to realize that the film is 1) mediocre at best and 2) saved barely by Daisy Ridley’s performance as Rey with assistance from John Boyega as Finn.
I’m also filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau against Disney for false advertising. “The Force Awakens” is not a continuation of the Star Wars saga. It is a remake of the first Star Wars movie released some four decades ago.
The more I think about the movie, the more I become frustrated.
TFA offer nothing compellingly original. A Death Planet, rather than a Death Star. Really, director JJ Abrams?
TFA is laced with weakling bad guys and improbable coincidences that keep the movie moving sideways. As Del noted during our conversation amid a round of disc golf, the movie has no plot, so it’s impossible for it to move forward. It’s worse than the least good of the three original films, “Return of the Jedi,” but better than the prequels. Of course, Jackass 4 is better than Sith tales I, II, and III.
Because I felt little for the characters, barring Rey, I paid attention to what TFA did have to offer, a solid soundtrack and terrific sound effects.
TFA is a distraction. By playing it safe and formulaic to bamboozle all the poor Star Wars fans out there hoping for something to break the disappointment of the franchise’s three most recent efforts, Disney committed a different error. The one called profit motive.
Now I understand the reason for Disney’s hyper hyperbolic marketing campaign, particular using dumbass social media. The Mickey Mouse company had to earn more box office than a heavily marketed, equally unsatisfying blockbuster of six years ago, “Avatar.” Moviegoers were used then and moviegoers have been used today. The lesson that was reinforced by the Star Wars juggernaut? Sell a movie hard enough, build expectations that touch Jakku in a galaxy far, far away, and no one will recognize the difference between a provocative, high-quality, and stimulating experience and cookiecutter entertainment packed with razzle dazzle empty calories.
I hope that this movie doesn’t sink Ridley’s and Boyega’s careers. If they’re forever typecast as Rey- and Finn-like characters, their solid acting skills will never see the light of a good film.
Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical editor. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and author.