Speakeasy Review: The Mandalorian Series Premiere
The long awaited launch of Disney+ is finally here! Starting today, we have access to the famous Disney vault, every episode of The Simpsons, a vast collection of 20th Century Fox titles, and new original movies and shows exclusive to Disney+. That’s why we are here: To talk about The Mandalorian. So let’s do it…
The war is ended and the galaxy is rebuilding. Set 5 years after the end of the Galactic Civil War, The Mandalorian takes us to the outer rim and shows us how the galaxy is doing since the events of Return of the Jedi. Starring Pedro Pascal (Narcos, Game of Thrones) as the Mandalorian (yes that’s the name we have so far), we see that he is a bounty hunter with a purpose: To help bring his fellow Mandalorians back up from hiding. And he doesn’t let anyone get in his way. One of the people who get in his way meet their end by being sliced in half by a door (this scene has been shown in the marketing for the show). But he’s cheeky when he meets the bounty droid IG-11, who is voiced by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, JoJo Rabbit). They are both after the same bounty, but need to deliver in different states which leads to a nice little rivalry that I won’t spoil. But the humor between the two is great.
That being said, this is no comedy. This is Star Wars at it’s finest: dark, brooding action with a some tongue in cheek humor. In fact, I kept watching this and comparing the feel as a mix between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, creators and executive producers, have created something truly beautiful that every Star Wars fan will love. We also weren’t thrown with new characters and multiple plot lines right away. We only dealt with Carl Weathers character for about 2 minutes and didn’t even meet Gina Carano or Ming Na Wen’s badass beauties. You can tell that this show is in it for the long haul.
The mix between CGI and practical effects is another reason this show is awesome. When Disney Chairman & CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney+ would be in 4K HDR, a lot of people hoped that it wouldn’t be cheap conversions. The Mandalorian proves that isn’t the case. Star Wars definitely has its use of CGI. But this show’s CGI is so nice that you would think the ships are real, the different races of aliens are lifelike, and all other CGI effects are actually practical effects.
I’m excited to see where this show is going. There’s no doubt that there will be emotional times, more action, and more tongue in cheek humor as that’s what makes Star Wars great. The show has already been renewed for season 2 and is filming right now. But we still have 7 more episodes of this first season. The episodes will release weekly, including this Friday 11/15. The only week we won’t get a Friday release is the Rise of Skywalker release week, when we will get it that Wednesday 12/18. As said in the show, bounty hunting is a complicated profession. And The Mandalorian makes it an enjoyable one that I am desperately wanting more of!
THE MANDALORIAN SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: 8.5/10
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