I have to be completely and totally honest with you - I had forgotten about Disney’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” was slated for release this year.
I mean, once I saw the trailer cropping up over the past few weeks, I knew then, but prior to that the flick seemed like some nebulous and far-away thing.
And that may be because I found the trailer so painfully vague and basic.
Still, I got my chance to watch the movie last weekend and have to tell you that while it was fairly action-packed, I feel like the overall storyline was pretty bare.
I mean, the bounty hunter shtick gets a bit boring, but that’s the main character, so how do you jazz it up?
I want to also note that the soundtrack was a rather interesting component due to composer Ludwig Göransson infusing the usual Mandalorian theme songs with a heavy hand of synthesizers and I’m not mad about it!
The Mandalorian and Grogu on-screen is a science fiction film directed by Jon Favreau, who co-wrote the film with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor.
Produced by Lucasfilm and Fairview Entertainment, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is part of the Star Wars franchise and based on the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian (2019–2023).
Pedro Pascal reprises his role as Din Djarin / The Mandalorian - who was also portrayed on set by Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder - alongside Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Martin Scorsese, and Sigourney Weaver.
The movie is 132 minutes long and rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action.
The Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pascal) known simply as Mando, and his foundling Grogu, work for the New Republic to hunt down neo-imperialist warlords of the former Galactic Empire.
After a successful mission, Mando is tasked by New Republic commander Ward (Weaver) to find the mysterious warlord Commander Coin.
The New Republic has been offered intel on his whereabouts by the Hutt Twins, siblings and successors to the deceased crime-lord Jabba, but only in exchange for rescuing Jabba’s son and heir Rotta (White) from the planet Shakari.
Mando receives a new Razor Crest ship as pre-payment from Weaver for the task.
Mando reluctantly accepts the assignment, and upon arriving at Shakari discovers that Rotta is a popular gladiator in a fighting pit owned by the crime lord Janu (Coyne).
Rotta was desperate to step out of his father’s shadow and currently enjoys his status as a self-made fighter and refuses to be rescued by Mando.
Rotta claims that his next fight will repay his debt to Janu and set him free.
Mando tracks Janu down and offers to buy Rotta’s freedom, but Janu refuses, revealing that he intends for Rotta’s final fight to be a Dejarik match.
The match will feature Rotta continuously fighting monsters until he is killed.
Mando returns to Rotta with this new information, but Rotta refuses to believe him.
Instead, Rotta ends up calling for security guards.
Mando is subdued by a strange gas and, upon waking, must fight Rotta in the arena.
He defeats Rotta, but surrenders rather than killing him.
He tells Janu that this fight has fulfilled Rotta’s debts, and that Janu must now set him free.
Naturally, Janu is a crime lord and behaves like one, which doesn’t bode well for either Mando or Rotta.
Still, the pairs’ hardships aren’t even close to being done, though the movie does end on a happy note overall.
I’d have to put this as a fairly decent entry into the Star Wars universe – but there have been better films!
