The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) is hunting down high-value targets for the New Republic following the Empire’s collapse, with his trusty apprentice, Grogu. Their latest mission requires them to work with the Hutt Twins, the successors to crime lord Jabba the Hutt. 

The task set for them by the Hutt Twins is to rescue their nephew, Rotta (Jeremy Allen White), and return him home. But of course, nothing is as it seems with the Hutts. What follows is a rip-roaring adventure that only slows down and takes a breather to set up an action-packed finale. 

The Mandalorian and Grogu is a film that can have many reviews. So let’s try three, shall we? 

The good. 

Co-writers Jon Favreau (who also directs), Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor know what makes a Star Wars show/film look good and have experience staging effective action sequences. The look and feel is strongly inspired by the Western genre, and The Mandalorian is effectively Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name. Add to that, the fact that he turns into John Wick as he effortlessly glides through minion after minion, and you have an enigmatic action hero. He even has a code of honour to follow. 

The action is effective and features a breadth of sequences, including chases, hand-to-hand combat, and spaceship dogfights. 

They also include lots of fun and silly stuff because this is a kids’ franchise after all. Along with nerd call-outs for those deep into the lore. Grogu and his pals, the Anzelians, are essentially the Ewoks here. The greatest living director in the world, Martin Scorsese, gets to play a food cart operator, and a womp rat gets hit with a bullseye laser shot at one point. 

So far, so fun. 

The bad. 

The Mandalorian is famously an episodic show on the Disney Channel that so far has spanned three series and twenty-four episodes. There is absolutely nothing here that you will not already have seen there. 

No existing character shows any growth or change in world view. Whilst no newly introduced character plays anything more interesting than simply existing to progress the story. 

Sigourney Weaver’s role here is to by the non-player-character in a video game who hands out the missions, whom you return to when you are complete. 

The villains of the piece do exactly what you expect of them and are merely made to look cool whilst doing it. 

And there is no set piece or action sequence that anyone will be thinking about or talking about for days on end. In fact, it’s all just so, “meh”. 

And the indifferent. 

Whilst I cannot in good conscience complete my Sergio Leone, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly reference entirely I think it is worth discussing two things here. 

Why is this a film and not a TV show? And is this what Star Wars fans deserve? 

In no good conscience can I say that this film deserves to be a film. There is nothing here that could not be achieved via a three-part episode or a straight to streaming film. But do you know what? I actually do not care. My preference is films over tv shows and cinema over tv. So frankly, I prefer this release format to it just being released into the streaming void. 

As for Star Wars fans, this is an interesting situation. Who true Star Wars fans are is really up for debate, but in terms of the loudest voices on the internet shooting down every single film and tv show that dared to try something different with the franchise this is exactly what will happen. A completely safe film, that takes no risks and offers nothing new, wrapped in a polished and great looking action adventure. 

I actually really enjoyed my time in the cinema watching this Saturday morning adventure show. I just cannot actually tell you with a straight face that it is anything more than a quintessential three-star film. If you have seen the Mandalorian TV show then you should know what to expect. A feature length episode that you get to enjoy in one of the great places in the world – a cinema.