At The Movies with James Phelan: Star Wars - The Mandalorian & Grogu
Pictured, from left, Bai, Clang, Keeto and Grogu in Lucasfilm's The Mandalorian and Grogu. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm
There are gaps in my film knowledge. I freely admit it. Sometimes these black holes are bang in the middle of pop culture. To be clear, I like ‘Star Wars’ in a general sense. The original trilogy coincided with my childhood so the initial adventures of Luke Skywalker sparked something in me…
Yet what it sparked was not obsession. So, when it comes to the specifics at the extremities of the George Lucas-inspired universe, my attention to details is hazy at best. All of which means I can easily rub avid fans of this franchise up the wrong way. For instance, I'm tempted to claim that 'Boba Fett & Mini Yoda' would be a better title for this mostly likeable addition to the canon.
Instead, I have to worry about a whole host of assumed identities, codenames and aliases for nearly everyone onscreen. But if you want to understand the dynamic of this film, I guess the chemistry comes down to a simple juxtaposition. This film is about the hardest man in the galaxy paired with the softest sidekick imaginable.
So it is that bounty hunter Din Djarin conducts his violent trade with a pint-sized green guru perched on his shoulder. The tiny Grogu is in the learning stages of how to channel the Force but his burgeoning powers are destined to literally grow more important as events unfold in this film.
Set during an unstable period after the evil Empire has fallen, the Mandalorian is repeatedly hired by the New Republic to track down imperial warlords for their past crimes. The fledgling democratic order of the universe is threatened by whispers of an emerging plot for the evil Empire’s resurgence.
With rumours of conspiracy swirling, solid information becomes currency. So it is that Din and his apprentice are sent to broker a deal with two slug-like Hutts who want their nephew freed from imprisonment in exchange for vital secrets. However, when the intrepid central duo find that Rotta the Hutt has no wish to be returned to his relatives, the pair respect his wish for freedom. Thereby breaking the overarching deal.
The two older Hutts don’t take kindly to this perceived betrayal and choose to extract their vengeance on the bounty hunter. This leads to a prolonged sequence on the Hutt home planet, which is a bit of a swamp that the film gets bogged down in. It’s a shame because the film starts really well with a battle on an ice-encrusted planet. If the film had continued at that clip, we would have had a classic on our hands.
As it is, the film settles for a simple revenge story, which is an antidote to the overly busy bloat that has infected other films in this ever-expanding saga. Yet rather than needle-sharp simplicity, it all left me wanting more. More fun. More jeopardy. And, yes, more complexity. In its opening, the film teases that the identity of one elusive warlord is a deep, faceless mystery. Rather than being a movie-long puzzle, the situation is bizarrely solved in an underwhelming instant.
By the time X Wing fighters are swooping in on a climactic bombing run, the sense of not having other tricks up its sleeve is pretty profound. Maybe the filmmakers are deliberately seeking to generate déjà vu. Generating a bit more excitement might have been the way forward. A better deployment of the talents of the two main characters was possible. The formula for success is tantalisingly close here but paradoxically it’s also a million miles away.
