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- What's the Power, Mandalorian: the first full meter of "Star Wars" in seven years became a hit, but not an event
What's the Power, Mandalorian: the first full meter of "Star Wars" in seven years became a hit, but not an event
The blockbuster "The Mandalorian and the Grog", which became a continuation of the series about the adventures of a fearless mercenary, has been released worldwide and will soon appear on Russian screens as part of a pre-screening service. The reaction to the film from all viewers is about the same: everything is done superbly, including the action, character system, plot twists, cameos and other elements. But something of the most important is still noticeably missing. Izvestia has seen the picture and explains the reason for this technique.
Why Star Wars is More than Just a Movie
I remember well when I was a little boy watching my first Star Wars movies in a Soviet cinema. Or rather, I didn't know it was "Star Wars": the poster simply said "The Empire Strikes back," and when "Star Wars" appeared on the screen, I decided I was in the wrong movie. I didn't know anything about the universe that George Lucas had invented, about the Jedi Knights, about Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine. But I was shocked by the giant walking tanks, the little green creature named Yoda, the lightsabers, the battles over the abyss. And when the black knight told the main character that he was his father and cut off his hand, it was a shock that I remembered for a long time afterwards, a little Soviet boy who did not even suspect that such things were possible in the cinema.
Everyone who watched the first Lucas trilogy has a similar story. It was always not just "another movie": "Star Wars" divided life into "before" and "after", became a revelation, almost a religion. And then we went back there more than once, to the "far, far galaxy." In video games, comics, books, we played Jedi on the street, imitating the sound of lightsabers, learned how to draw our favorite characters, it was a part of our childhood, and it stayed with us, apparently, forever.
That's why "The Mandalorian and the Grog" was released, the first full-length Star Wars film in seven years, and the main complaint about it, which can be seen in every first review: where is the feeling of revelation, magic, and unique experience that was from Lucas' films? And no one can answer, neither Disney, which bought Lucas's brainchild many years ago and made many mistakes worth billions of dollars, nor Lucas himself, who released another trilogy in the 21st century, but could not achieve the concentration of Power that was in the original. All this does not exclude the fact that "The Mandalorian and the Grog" is a wonderful action game of the highest quality, and this is exactly what we should talk about.
How did the new "Mandalorian" turn out?
First, we need to briefly explain who the Mandalorian and Grogu are in general. At the end of 2019, the online cinema Disney+ released the series "Mandalorian". It was set somewhere on the fringes of the galaxy shortly after the fall of the Empire, that is, after the finale of Return of the Jedi. The Mandalorians are a secret order of violent fanatics, bounty hunters, these armored warriors take the most dangerous and expensive orders, and then spend money on super armor and weapons. We followed the Mandalorian Dean Jarin, played by Pedro Pascal. The short episodes, just over 20 minutes each, were usually independent short stories, one episode per order, a mix of science fiction and Western. Djarin, a loner and a misanthrope, at some point had a tiny friend, "baby Yoda," as almost all fans call him, although the creators of the series at some point informed us that the creature's name was Grogu. Grogu is practically a mascot, an infant in development, but at the same time he is a carrier of the Force, perhaps the greatest Jedi in the future.
A shot from the TV series "The Mandalorian"
The series was so successful that Disney released not only two more seasons, but also a number of spin-offs. But most importantly, he decided to entrust the Mandalorian with the risk of bringing Star Wars back to cinemas after the failure of recent films. The decision is reasonable: nothing more successful in the universe of stars has appeared for many years. Pedro Pascal made his knight, naive, infantile, insecure, but invincible, a favorite for millions of viewers, including in Russia.
"The Mandalorian and the Grog" are in no way inferior to the series in terms of energy, the fears of those who feared that for more than two hours this couple would not be able to hold the attention of the audience were not justified. The showrunner of the series, Jon Favreau, has achieved the perfect combination of action, comedy, melodrama and fairy tales in full-meter format, because "Star Wars" is primarily a fairy tale, perhaps the main film tale of the twentieth century. The prologue lasts 11 minutes, followed by the opening credits, but this can only be understood if you look at your watch specifically, because Dean Jarin's next daring landing lasts like two minutes, including a showdown with former imperials and walking tanks. The number of events per minute is off the charts.
The entire main plot is a new mission that the Mandalorian receives from the New Republic. He needs to find a secretive former imperial officer who, with an army of dedicated fighters, creates a hotbed of tension in the galaxy. The Mandalorian will find out where to find him if he rescues Jabba the Hutt's son, the giant amorphous criminal king from the original trilogy, from slavery.
There is no need to retell the plot further. Not only because spoilers will spoil the fun, but also because there's not much else to talk about. This is a problem, and we will return to it below. But the fact that the mission lasts not twenty minutes, but two hours, does not tire either. Favreau added some important meetings and acquaintances here. It was as if Sigourney Weaver had jumped from a nearby cinema with an Avatar session into a movie, and now she works for the Republic. It's like Martin Scorsese burst in here from the Movie Studio series, although he only works with his voice here: he voiced a four-armed primate selling space hot dogs. In the Russian dubbing, you won't even realize that this is one of the best Easter eggs of the film.
A special gift is Jabba the Hutt's son. The race of these monsters has appeared in Star Wars more than once, but never in such a form. For many, it was this character who became the key character in the film. Okay, let there be a spoiler, there's nothing you can do about it: the younger Hutt became a gladiator in slavery, his giant carcass moves with the speed of an attacking cobra, he's a master of hand-to-hand combat and edged weapons, a rival even for a Mandalorian, not to mention the unfortunate victims of spectacular fights that his new master arranges for the Hutt. Speaking of victims: they're not just harmless. The bestiary of the Mandalorian will do credit to The Witcher, there are far more monsters in the film than one might expect, of different sizes, with different combat tactics, but all predatory and dangerous without exception.
At the same time, there is a lot of the "lamp-like" quiet irony characteristic of "Star Wars". The Mandalorian, as a single father, always gets into ridiculous situations, Grogu turns out to be either a sweet son or a generous savior of his older friend. We never know in advance in which register the next scene will be, and it always takes us by surprise. It's a movie where you never know what's going to happen next. This, of course, is captivating against the background of monotonous and predictable blockbusters that come out one after another, even from the largest studios.
But there is no magic. Rational explanations can be found. For example, the locality of the plot, yet one separate mission is good for a rush, but so—so for a full meter, which has been expected for so many years. The stakes are too low. In the original trilogy, the characters fought for their souls, choosing between Good and Evil, searching for their place in the endless expanses of space, while entire planets were destroyed around them, and the fate of the universe was decided. Literally everything depended on Luke Skywalker, he was the messiah, the savior. It was an action of epic proportions.
Jon Favreau didn't come up with any high stakes, his characters only risk their lives, and we understand perfectly well that everyone will stay alive and well, because this "chicken" still has to lay a lot of golden eggs for Disney. There are no John Williams musical themes that are associated with Star Wars. No matter how much we love Ludwig Goransson, Williams wrote majestic music, and Goransson is a composer of a different energy, more psychological, intelligent, intelligent, but without scale. Favreau did not integrate the Jedi and Sith into the plot, only Grog has the power here, and this also works against the film. It makes him more human, more intimate, but it takes away the mystical aura. And most importantly, we won't learn anything new about the big Star Wars themes here, and the younger Hutt can't make up for that shortcoming.
Therefore, "The Mandalorian and the Grog" will not change anyone's life. Perhaps if he has a good box office, and his viewership rating is still high, he will be the beginning of the revival of the full-length Star Wars series, but it is clear that Jarin and little Yoda are more comfortable with the streaming series. It's their little world, their little house, where it's so nice to visit and escape from stress. But we will continue to expect something more from Star Wars on the big screen.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
