Author:

“The Mandalorian” Review: Is It Worth Watching??

Posted on by

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Well it finally happened, the first live-action Star Wars TV series finally came out and Disney wasn’t kidding when they said they spared no expense. Released hot off the launch date of Disney’s streaming service “Disney+”, Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man and recent live-action remakes of “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King”, has created a truly unique Star Wars experience that is unlike any of the movies or animated TV series that has come before it. “The Mandalorian” is an expensive gamble as it is Disney’s first and spotlight centered original programming to spearhead the launch of Disney+ and with the TV series focusing on a completely new character with a movie-level budget, the show has a lot to live up to.

The story is set after the events of “Return of the Jedi” and before the events of “The Force Awakens” and follows a nameless bounty hunter wearing Boba-Fett styled armor (known as Mandalorian armor) and is known simply as the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal). He lives his life through the code of the hunt and takes whatever job he needs to and always gets it done, no matter who has to die in the process. As he continues to expand his armor’s completion, he comes across a mysterious package/client that changes his life forever…and has, unfortunately, put a target on both their backs no matter where they go in the galaxy.

I’ll admit, I was very curious when I first heard about this series and wondered just how radically different it would be from everything else Star Wars related, turns out it can be VERY different indeed. “The Mandalorian” plays out like a western film being set entirely within the realm and lore of the Star Wars universe. You see plenty of familiar alien faces like Jawas, droids, and Stormtroopers. But for the most part, who you see and who you follow is a great big mystery as he is never given a name, never reveals his face and only bits and pieces about his past become apparent. The first episode starts out pretty slow, it drags a lot, not much really is explained and it’s not until the very ending that things start to get genuinely interesting.

Like most westerns, “Mandalorian” is a slow burn; taking it’s time to build a sense of enigmatic mystery about this character and slowly but surely getting to know what kind of world he’s working into and how it ties into the Star Wars lore/universe. It definitely doesn’t grab you from the start but it does keep you invested once you reach the end of the first episode; then everything just keeps on getting better from there. One thing that sets this truly apart from other Star Wars shows is its visual quality and budget. This show barely feels that different than the big-budget movies, all the aliens, effects, weapons and ships look just as high quality as they do in the films.

The Mandalorian is an interesting character. Very little is understood about him and he shows/says even less than your typical main lead would…but it works for him. So far, he’s grown from a dime-a-dozen hunter-killer to a growing individual; experiencing genuine depth, development, and changes that continue to improve the quality of the characters as well as the writing. The show is only 3 episodes in at this current review’s completion time but already I can say after finishing the 3rd episode that this show has me 100% hooked and I cannot wait until next week when the next episode airs.

“The Mandalorian” is a unique experience, a unique TV show and a unique Star Wars product that has and will continue to keep people talking for days on end about where it’s going next and what more secrets will we learn. At this time, this writer is identical to the monstrous Sarlacc of Tatooine: forever hungry for more.

Image Source: Screenshot from Star Wars YouTube Channel

“Terminator: Dark Fate” Movie Review: Is It Worth Your Money??

Posted on by

Rating: 1/4 Stars

Much as people balk and groan at the thought of seeing sequels or new installments to decade-old franchises, I love seeing film series I grew up and adored coming back after so many years and continuing a story with a new take. However, many people seem to agree (myself included) that James Cameron’s epic sci-fi series “The Terminator” should have stopped pumping out future films a long, LONG time ago. Many believe “T2: Judgement Day” is the last true and respected Terminator sequel made and everything else sucked afterward (I strongly disagree on “T3: Rise of the Machines” however). Now Cameron is back to produce this latest (and hopefully last) ditch effort to revitalize the franchise with “Terminator: Dark Fate.”

20 years after Judgement delayed was stopped, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has lost her way and struggles to find a new path now that the world is finally free from the technological terror of Skynet…or is it? In Mexico City, a young girl named Dani (Natalia Reyes) is attacked by a twin pair of deadly terminator machines called Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) who seeks to kill her for something she will do in the future to aid humanity. A mysterious cyborg woman named Grace (Mackenzie Davis) also comes from the future to protect Dani. Now along with a still-spry Sarah Connor and an old T-800 unit (Arnold Schwarzenegger), they must all work together to stop a new dark future from coming and save humanity once again from the threat of machines.

If there ever was a movie franchise that perfectly embodied the “beating the dead horse” metaphor, it’s Terminator. After the last disastrous effort to restart the franchise with a new trilogy of films with “Terminator Genisys”, people were hopeful Cameron’s involvement along with classic stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger coming back would mean a return to the film’s quality roots which have been dead and dormant since “T2.” Turns out they were wrong, they were VERY wrong! Ignoring the events of every Terminator movie except the first two, “Dark Fate” is a lazy, weakly cobbled together hot mess that copies tropes, ideas, and clichés from every single previous Terminator movie (including the bad ones).

“Dark Fate” is essentially a poor man’s clean slate that tries to start a new storyline to keep expanding the lore by ripping off every movie that came before it; sacrificing all originality and creativity. The first 5 minutes of the movie is the most shocking and infuriating part of the entire film and if you’re anything like me, it’ll be impossible to really get into the rest of the movie after seeing it. This film doesn’t feel like a worthy successor to any of the previous Terminator movies; it feels more insulting than anything else. For example, Skynet is written out and a new software-based menace called Legion emerges as the new big bad, with Dani as the ‘new’ John Connor and Grace as the ‘new’ T-800 protector role.

The only things that work here are a few action sequences and (unsurprisingly), Hamilton and Arnold back as Sarah Connor and the T-800 unit. Their attitude, awkward chemistry and bad ass images really bring back that nostalgic thrill back to the good old days of quality Terminator movies. They slipped back into their roles seamlessly and have every bit of sharp wit, gravitas and intensity they’ve become immortalized for. Sadly, everyone else falls pitifully short. Dani is a sad substitute for John, having no personality, memorable lines or even much of an impressive future role to play in the new timeline. Mackenzie Davis’s Grace tries her best but suffers from weak writing and weak conceptualization (basically, she’s a knock off of Sam Worthington’s character from “Terminator Salvation”…and she needs insulin shots to survive).

Even the new Terminator robot, Rev-9, offers nothing new and just copies the same powers and abilities the T-000 had in “T2” and the powers of the TX from “T3.” Overall, “Dark Fate” has nothing going for it, even with Cameron, Hamilton, and Arnold all being attached to it. Everything this movie has to offer has been seen and done before and better in the previous Terminator films. The story and characters are insulting, weakly written and prove that the Terminator franchise needs to stay dead and buried and not come back until someone in the absurdly far future knows how to salvage this mess.

Image Source: Paramount Pictures YouTube Channel