STAR WARS BLOCKBUSTER

BLOCKBUSTER JUST ONE ACTION ADVENTURE SEQUENCE AFTER ANOTHER

by PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Imagine an intergalactic bounty hunter with an apprentice linked to an iconic Star Wars character and you get way ahead of the action adventure science fiction blockbuster.

The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), released by Lucas Films and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, is the feature film spin off from the television series, The Mandalorian (2019-2023).

Director Jon Favreau puts together one action sequence after another, usually in a varied context, that makes the moon and planet hopping a lot more seamless than previous attempts.

Favreau makes the story clear before the characters begin intergalactic light speed for jumping galactic planetary systems.

Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, as Din Djarin, gets contract work with the New Republic.

That bad old Empire of the Star Wars franchise has finally fragmented, while the surviving Imperial Warlords, trying to make profits in the chaos, are being hunted.

Din Djarin creates an existence out of hunting the bad boys for bounty. And on the side, the New Republic tempts him into contract work with a fully restored spaceship seemingly as coveted a spaceship as Han Solo’s Falcon.

Sigourney Weaver has a few scenes as the New Republic’s Colonel Ward who does the contracting out. Weaver gets an obvious thrill from being cast in a scene flying a Starfighter.

The New Republic ultimately gets caught up in a double blind with the Hutt’s asking for help while passing on intel to a third party.

This intelligence triangle leads to a black op of finding and freeing Rotta the Hutt, played by Jeremy Allen White, and then cleaning up the mess left behind. Although unrecognizable, White creates Rotta as a kind of runaway child who needs help, but who refuses to realize the true peril of his situation.

Early on in the search for the package, Din Djarin seeks out intel from an Ardennian shopkeeper selling protein sandwiches. Hugo has all the facial features and hand gestures (all four of them) of an Italian American by the name of Martin Scorsese. The famous American director does the voice of a character only begrudgingly helping out the Mandalorian with a bit of intel too obvious to ignore.

Once the mission is fully disclosed, the director, with the Disney merchandising department behind him, no doubt, layers in that cute factor to sell miniatures of the very tiny Grogu.

Grogu reveals his developing powers and begins to take more advanced steps in helping the Mandalorian complete the mission.

Ludwig Goransson composes a compelling score for the film that changes with each action adventure scene sequence.

And David Klein creates an intriguing atmosphere with cinematographic magic.

Other noteworthy elements include the creation of characters, such as Grogu, with a mix of animatronics, puppetry and visual effects. The illusion has not quite been perfected, but the work-so-far is impressive nonetheless.

The Hutts are descendants of deceased crime lord, Jabba the Hutt, from Episode IV, V, and VI of the original Star Wars franchise films. The presence of the Hutts, in the context of the Empire having collapsed, signals that the film takes place after the first Star Wars 6 films, but then also not so far into the future.

The film continues that tone and pace of the television series, and may just be that early summer blockbuster that tumbles through the weekends taking small shares away from the newcomers being released in theatres.

Mandalorian and Grogu is currently only in theatres, and well worth the watch on the big silver screen, especially with the big screen movie sound.