The Mandalorian and Grogu

 I had intended to get these thoughts out earlier, but time did not permit, so we’ll see if I end up forgetting things on my mind. The Mandalorian and Grogu was fine. It’s nearly two and a half hours of Star Wars that makes a serviceable movie with nothing truly egregious. I think it would be better against the lower bar of TV episodes, but it didn’t leave me feeling disillusioned with Star Wars movies, as has happened before. So… fine. Three out of five. Five or six out of ten.

There are people who could unabashedly enjoy it and call it good and… I kind of envy that, but just can’t.

From there, anything I say can get spoilery, but I do have a lot of little thoughts. Let’s start with some positives:

• I like Mando. The stoicism and curtness is I fine line to walk, but I think the character is still pulling it off and maintains a certain presence.

• I like Zeb. He’s a little bit CGI-y for my preference, but I have a fondness for the character from Rebels that does not feel unjustly milked here. He provides just a hint of levity and a good conversational sounding board when present, helping keep the movie from becoming more bereft of dialog.

• I actually kind of like Rotta. He’s not super convincing to me as a majorly successful gladiator because he seems to have so little up his sleeve beyond size and strength, but his teen/young-adult perspective on situations in the movie is a general positive for me.

• I even like Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward. It’s a fairly small part, but the contributions were another positive.

So, yeah, most of the core characters were good for me.

The not so good?

• Grogu. The “I’m a baby who does cute things” archetype worked for me until it came out that he’s over 50. Then, not so much. His inability to speak is a liability in almost every scene because “looking cute” conveys almost nothing. So it’s hard to take him seriously as a character (rather than just a supporting addon). That made the length of the movie centering on him crawwwwwl. You could argue that he gets an arc here in having to “grow up” and by the end, Mando is teaching him to pilot rather than keeping him from the controls, but it gives me no confidence the character will show much of that going forward. His Force powers feel even more narratively convenient than most as he uses them so rarely, but then does exactly the thing that needs doing in the moment.

I mean, okay, maybe part of it is me. I accept that Star Wars includes cutesy, kid-focused elements at least since Return of the Jedi (and at the time, I was totally target demographic for ewoks), but that has become one of my least favorite aspects of Star Wars. I feel like you can please kids without cute-ifying things so much. So when Grogu and the Anzellans went to stage a rescue mission, I was wincing and wanting to check the time. They just aren’t terribly convincing or compelling to me.

• In a general sense, I didn’t like the pacing. Some moments felt rushed: group discusses difficulty getting past guards, then cut to Mando in the central control room. Some scenes dragged: Grogu in the marsh.

Smaller thoughts/nitpicks:

• Mando riding the small walker down a mountain and between larger walker legs started out looking goofy to me, then pushed credulity. I know Stormtroopers have a bad accuracy rep, but sooo many misses… This actually continues later in the movie. I don’t think I saw Mando even take a blaster shot to the beskar. He’s thrown around some (blunt force trauma must not be a thing), but all the shooting seems to totally miss (Zeb too).

• Mando shot down a fleeing target an instance before jetting out of an exploding vehicle. The target was declared dead. Did they check off-screen, ‘cause I think people have survived worse in the franchise…

• I still kind of like the U-Wing. The wings are even more impractical than most in Star Wars, but the sleek craft with some combat and some transport capacity has always appealed to me.

• The New Republic pays Mando with a shiny new Razorcrest? That feels unnecessarily convenient. I guess it saves on/reuses merchandise? Not long after: “Oh, well, they needed to give him space enough to transport a hutt.”

• I’ll admit, I sort of like the stall owner, even though “ask questions and casually throw money at someone random” seems like a sloppy way to get information on who’s who in a new place.

• The gamer in me figured Mando could just tell Rotta, “Okay, have your ‘last’ fight and when that doesn’t work out, let me know and I’ll break you out.” Instead, he goes through a lot of extra trouble, gets knocked out (man, not even the slightest environmental protection in that armor), and stripped of weapons (but not armor) to have to fight in the arena himself.

• Rotta saying the Twins wanted him dead immediately clued me in on how Mando would not turn him in, and thus Rotta would lead to Coin instead.

• The creatures continuing to be shown after breaking out of the arena felt excessive. It made me think Mando and Co. might have to spend the time to recapture them all or something, but that didn’t happen so it was just… a lot of chaos on screen for the sake of spectacle, I guess.

• The “arms smuggler’s” turtle-like ship was an interesting design, and I give it points for that, but it doesn’t fit the usual Star Wars aesthetic in my mind.

• Mando gets himself captured again even after being alert. And again, he loses most of his weapons, but not his armor.

• Someone finally takes Mando’s helmet (I guess we have to have a face reveal?), but not his other armor. Then, even after commenting on the value, they toss it into a pit after him. Facepalm

• Hmm… y’know, a swimming pool with sides that aren’t readily climbable might be a reasonable execution pit for Mandalorians, given the weight of armor and lack of air tanks…

• I thought the more advanced TIE models and Rebellion fighters were special for being hyperdrive-capable while being so small, but that Anzellan ship must be a goddamn marvel of miniaturization, as it’s about the size of a land speeder and is mostly open for crew. That’s… ugh. Another “small” detail thrown into a movie that has potentially major repercussions that are overlooked.

• Dodging blasters for days, but hit by a poisonous venomous tooth around the armor? That’s… a very narrative wound for you.

• See, Grogu bonking Mando’s head trying to fit him into a shelter is comedic, sure. Him doing so repeatedly just feels eyerollingly stupid. And maaan, that must have been claustrophobic to wake up in.

• So the smuggler’s ship was crashed in the swamp. That implies either the smuggler went straight there (perhaps bribed by the Twins), in which case there would be no reason to shoot it down, or it came there later. For some reason. With Rotta. But the weapons were left in it. Wait, how the hell did that play out, because no scenario I can envision makes much sense. Later: “Oh, it’s just a lazy way to use something from earlier in order to give Mando a vehicle and chance to rearm.”

• For that matter, Chekov’s Gun short swords - because later, Mando needs to have a melee fight with his CGI-heavy bounty hunter opponent.

• The big droids reminded me of Judge Dredd’s ABC Warrior.

• Okay, I teared up when the New Republic strike team jumped in. Now, that may speak more to me than the movie as heroic comeback/victory moments almost always get me these days, even if they shouldn’t be that emotional. My brain just seems to work that way.

• And... it kind of bugged me to see the Razorcrest at the NR base at the end. Did they stop off after the rescue to pick it up from Mando's house? That's where it was left when he was kidnapped. It was just needed there for him to fly off in.