A Review: The Mandalorian
I’m still unsure about The Mandalorian (2019 – ). The best thing people are saying about it is, ‘It’s not offensive!’ This is important to understand. People are judging it against the curve of Disney’s Star Wars movies, the way they judged The Force Awakens (2015) against the sour taste that the Prequels had left. But what if that curve wasn’t there? How would it stand up? I just don’t know. Well, it’s not offensive. The Galaxy I like the feeling of the setting. Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983) – you know, that movie where we thought the Empire was overthrown and the…
Embracing the Mess
An interesting criticism of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) is that it’s ‘fan service’. I wasn’t aware that fans desired plot holes, shallow characterisations, contrived narrative, an incomprehensible edit, and the return of a villain long dead. They were never on my wish list. I don’t think they were on anybody’s. The Rise of Skywalker isn’t fan service. It’s damage control. It’s Disney backtracking from what they’ve given us and trying to find the Star Wars in their Star Wars. And they accomplish that in the tiniest and briefest ways. The Rise of Skywalker puts the trio of main characters in an adventure together. It gives Rey an…