The Mandalorian and Grogu

I couldn’t be bothered to watch this in the cinema, but when it came on TV I figured it would do for entertainment while I did the ironing. And it did, just about.

The film is 2 hours, 15 minutes long, but is mostly padding. I’m not sure what percentage of it is fight scenes, but I’m guessing that it is over 75%. You don’t need to pay much attention. The rest of it is mainly Pedro Pascal doing his Clint Eastwood impression, and Grogu being cute.

Probably the most interesting part of the plot is the presence of Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta. He was a kid when Jabba was killed, and he ended up being an arena fighter. So we get to see a Hutt who is tough and mobile rather than a slovenly worm. Jabba’s twin siblings are the main bad guys of the film.

There are nods to other films. The initial scenes on the Shakari Moon are clearly intended to invoke memories of Blade Runner, and the arena fighting harks back to Thor Ragnarok, and the Gladiator movies.

I suppose, like Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies, the film might be intended mainly to sell toys and video games. I’m not sufficiently clued in to that world to know. But I would not recommend paying to see it. I was able to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu because I have a Disney+ subscription so that I can watch X-Men ’97.

The one saving grace of the film is that it has Sigourney Weaver playing the New Republic Commander. She’s excellent as usual. The rest of the film is probably only of interest if you are a fanatical Star Wars fan.