Launching exclusively on the brand new Disney+ streaming service is the Star Wars show fans have been waiting for for months now. Set after the fall of the Empire, The Mandalorian focuses on a lone bounty hunter who remains nameless (for now), and caught in the underbelly of the galaxy.
Despite a measly 39 minutes for a pilot episode, there isn’t much more anyone could ask for from an introduction episode. It’s short, simple, to the point, and a gateway into what is sure to expand over the course of the next seven episodes in it’s eight episode inaugural season. It establishes character, tone (one that people have sorely jumped the gun on), setting, and primary players well enough, but the runtime needed about 15 more minutes to really get us to better understand some of the people our masked protagonist associates with.
Although the world building, creature design, and Nick Nolte’s surprisingly unforgettable performance is a great blend of CGI and practical, there is a lot left to be desired from its action and writing. Not that the writing was stale, but it felt overly safe and predictable from what we could have expected a bounty hunter focused show to do. It checks just about every box, and it left me wanting there to be something more beyond what we already knew we’d be getting. Quickdraw hipfire, blunt one-liners, bounty hunter jargon, trigger fingers, all of that is fine, but it felt so much like a shadow of Boba Fett that it made me feel like the only perception of a bounty hunter is the “quiet but deadly type” (insert fart jokes here). When we know that isn’t the case after what Dave Filoni’s animated Clone Wars and Rebels series showed us.
Speaking of Dave Filoni, it’s clear that this was his first big step into live-action storytelling. The action isn’t very good and isn’t very trusting of it’s director. Whether it’s tight and confined, the edits come far too often, and anything broader walks the line of incomprehensible geography due to once again, hiding a talent that just isn’t there (yet). It has its moments of genuine excitement, and lots of cool moments that surely get you excited for the possibilities of what may come when the action gets bigger and louder, but as of now, it plays it way too safe, untrusting, and lacking clarity.
Overall, this is a solid episode that has me curious as to how they’re going to explore this corner of the universe in live-action. It isn’t the “dark and gritty” tone everyone was expecting, and that’s fine, because at the core, it’s fundamentally, unequivocally Star Wars...for better or worse. It’s early, the pilot episodes are usually weaker, but for an usher into this story, it hits every beat it has to to hopefully revamp and reinvigorate in the ways we’re hoping it can.
I guess we’ll find out on Friday when Episode 2: Chapter 2 launches on November 15th, exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service.