The Mandalorian and Grogu (Jon Favreau, 2026)

Now working for the New Republic, The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder) is given a new mission: the Hutts have information on a rogue Imperial. In exchange for retrieving Jabba’s son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White), they will reveal his identity. 

I was going to base this review around a gag, but this movie is not worth extending the bit.

The premise was I love Ludwig Goransson’s new album, but hate the two hour (plus) music video that comes with it. 

I missed this movie in theatres. I don’t care about Star Wars and the reviews put me off.

However.

I just finished the second season of Andor and it made me excited. So excited I wanted to check out more nu-Wars.

Oh boy. 

This movie is barely a movie. I would call it a couple of TV episodes stitched together, but I don’t think there is enough here to even qualify for that format.

I have never seen the show. And after this movie, I do not want to.

The Mandalorian does not change.

There is no personal story, nothing to change or affect the relationship between our heroes.

The mission they are on has no stakes whatsoever: 

They have to find a guy; it turns out the contact Mandalorian has made is the guy he is looking for. 

He captures him and returns to the New Republic.

And then the movie goes another direction - Mandalorian loses his helmet and almost dies - but none of it matters.

There is a chunk of the movie where Grogu is on his own, and having to fend off himself - it might be the most effective chunk of the movie, but it does not lead to any change  in their dynamic. 

Jeremy Allen White brings absolutely nothing to the role of Jabba’s son, Rotta.

Despite some decent material (he has been abandoned by his family, enslaved by a gangster), the character gets almost nothing to do. 

He rejects the Mandalorian’s offer of escape because he has found self-worth as a gladiatorial fighter for the cheering public.

There is some potential here for real conflict. 

When the gangster betrays him and pits him in a match against the Mandalorian and other creatures, the audience starts chanting for his death.

The film cannot even do the basic thing of cutting to a close up of Jabba Jr reacting to this, or have him spend the rest of the movie trying to find his self worth without validation (or something).

He just becomes another sidekick.

If this movie is supposed to get people into Star Wars, it fails. If it wants to get new people interested in the TV show it fails.

The movie it reminded me the most of was Supergirl in its failure to set up its characters, or give them any dramatic meat. 

Drama is about conflict and obstacles - both these movies fail to that. 

For would-be crowdpleasers, based around good versus evil, you would think they could manage to come up with something solid. Maybe generic and not pushing the envelope, but what I found so dispiriting is just the lack of effort. 

Here’s hoping Hollywood learns some lessons from their failure, but I will not hold my breath.

Related

The Force Awakens 

Rogue One

The Last Jedi 

Solo 

The Rise of Skywalker

If you enjoy something I wrote, and want to support my writing, here’s a link for tips!  

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)

Seeking a way out of Mexico and to riches, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt) join forces with veteran prospector Howard (Walter Huston) to go prospecting.

Finding a new deposit of gold proves relatively easy - getting their new fortune out is another story.

Not only is there the threat of rival prospectors and bandits, but the characters’ own most base desires…

Easily one of the best Bogart movies I have seen, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a must see.

It took me decades to finally watch it, and I wish I had seen it sooner. 

I did try watching it at home a few years ago, but  stopped - something told me it needed to be seen on the big screen.

And it was worth the wait!

A great movie about greed - hell, you could make a good case the film is a metaphor for capitalism - Treasure sees Bogart at his most craven. It is not the darkest Bogart performance (In A Lonely Place has that spot), but it was one of his most compelling scumbags.

Dobbs is a classic example of against-type casting.

By this point in his career, Bogart’s persona was firmly established: the tough guy, the cynic, the smartest guy in the room.

What is key is that beneath the toughness is a sensitivity, and part of the character's journeys (Maltese Falcon, Casablanca) is that he reaches the right decision - whether that is to let his lover go, or to arrest the beautiful woman who killed his business partner. 

Dobbs is not the smartest guy in the room - he just thinks he is. Instead of his usual coolheaded persona, Bogart leans into Dobb’s impulsiveness. 

He is excited by the experience of violence but in the one real tussle, he gets beaten to a pulp - he wins because he has a compatriot, not because of his toughness or skill.

Dobbs is ultimately brought down by his selfishness - in betraying his companions, he is forced to face the world on his own, and his fate is an inevitable consequence.

The theme is stated up the top, but the movie embodies it with such humanity and lack of varnish.

The film is also not burdened with darkness.

Walter Huston, the writer-director’s father, is fantastic as the veteran prospector - he has been dealt so many bad hands he can guess how this latest round is going to play out, but he is not burdened with fear or guilt.

As Curtin, Dobbs’ more equitable sidekick, Tim Holt is solid. His relative anonymity compared with his co-stars is a bonus to their collective dynamic - you never quite sure which way he is going to go. 

 

This is important because the film’s theme is centred around the biggest star.

While Dobbs is clearly swayed by the promise of fortune, he is not alone - and the constantly evolving dynamics between the characters provide a simmering tension than never abets.

The film is so well-structured and unmannered. 

The first section of the film, set in a town, sets out the characters:

We get a brief sojourn where Dobbs and Curtin work in an oil field before getting cheated out of their money. The pair end up fighting and beating the con artist in a fantastically scrappy fight. Significantly, they only take what they are owed and leave the rest of the man’s money.

The second act is based around finding the gold, and once it is found, holding onto it.

Like John Huston’s later The African Queen, part of the film was shot on location and benefits from the sense of verrisimilitude.

  

The film also features a number of Latinx actors, and a lot of the dialogue is in Spanish without subtitles - the Anglo viewer is as lost as Dobbs and Curtin, who have to hang on Howard for translation.

When their mentor breaks away on his own journey, this is the final unmooring for the pair we started out with. Howard’s departure is the loss of a balancing force, and when Dobbs’ paranoia returns, there is no one to stand in his way.

The third act is a slow descent into madness, ending with Dobbs’ death at the hands of some local bandits. Ironically, the hard-won gold is tossed away by the bandits who have no idea what the bags are filled with (another sad, bitter touch is the bandits’ brief, childish tussle over Dobbs’ shoes). 

A great, fun adventure movie, and a fantastic showcase for Bogart and Walter Huston.

Related 

High Sierra (1941)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Across The Pacific (1942)

Casablanca (1942)

Sahara (1943)

To Have and Have Not (1944) 

The Big Sleep (1946)

The Two Mrs Carrolls (1947)

Dark Passage (1947)

Tokyo Joe (1949) 

Sirocco (1951) 

The African Queen (1952)

Beat the Devil (1953)

Sabrina (1954)

If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond, The James Bond Cocktail Hour. 

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you enjoy something I wrote, and want to support my writing, here’s a link for tips!

Bondificating: No Time To…

Later this year I want to do something Craig-era related to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Casino Royale. I have written and spoken so much about that movie that I do not know if I can add anything more.

The Craig-era movies were recently added back onto Netflix and I found myself circling back to No Time To Die.

I had not watched this movie in the theatres so I decided to run a little experiment. I had no intention of sitting through the whole thing. Instead I wanted to test a theory I had:

That there is a fully functional Bond movie within No Time To Die - you just have to know when to check out.

I want to be clear - as regards the ending of Bond 25, I do not care that Bond died. I do not think it is a betrayal as an idea, but a failure to execute an idea.

I always felt that the chunk of the movie from the opening until Bond leaves Cuba was more functional and frankly enjoyable than the rest of the film.

Through this lens, I was shocked at how well it worked.

It is not perfect, but as ‘Bond gets his groove back’, No Time To Die Part One is great.

The flashback to Madeline’s childhood is a well-directed, atmospheric little chiller. It helps that the film grounds us in the child’s POV (it also shields the viewer from hearing Rami Malek state his full name).

Even the early interactions between Bond and Madeline feel more elegiac.

The first set-piece is a great throwing-down of the gauntlet.

The segue into the titles, as the familiar dots cross the screen and Cubby Broccoli’s name appeared onscreen, I was overwhelmed by the finality of it all.

This feels like the last Eon movie.

I have no idea if the producers truly meant this to be the end, but it feels like it.

Every scene feels so energised, but it is the electricity of a closing act, the final play of the game.

The transition from Daniel Kleinman’s titles to the London skyline remains breathtaking - even my brother pointed it out.

I remember disliking David Dancik on my initial viewings, but he is so much fun as the clumsy evil scientist (“I like animals!”).

He adds an offkilter take on the comic evil sidekick.

Billy Magnussen is also fun as the superficially charming Logan Ash.

Lashana Lynch is a great addition to the franchise - in this chunk of the movie, she acts as a fine foil for Bond.

She becomes less interesting the longer the movie goes on, but that is a conversation for another day.

The climax of this abridged cut is the high-point of the film: 

Ana De Armas’s Paloma is great as Bond’s plucky non-romantic mission partner. If you take this section of the film as it’s own story, her appearance can be seen as a counterbalance to the distrust and heartbreak of his romance with Madeline.

Bond’s infiltration of Blofeld’s birthday party also takes the film back to the weirdness the franchise has more or less ignored since Craig’s predecessor - the bizarre touch of Blofeld viewing the show through a detached cybernetic eye on a platter carried by a waiter adds to light, slightly macabre tone. We even get one final cameo from producer Michael G. Wilson.

This was the last sequence shot and it feels like it has been worked on the most. There is an energy and sense of ease to the scene, like the team rallying for one last goal.

Bond succeeds in his mission and flies away, mojo restored.

It is tight, inventive and fun - it is also the last point where main villain Safin’s motivation makes sense (or anyone else’s).

One day I will watch No Time To Die in toto, but I do not think it will get better than this.

Craig’s first and last movies have the feel of different segments pieced together: Casino has the action-packed first act, the low-key gambling drama of the middle, and the tragic romantic thriller at the end.

No Time To Die has a similar sense of disjunction, except the through-line is muddled, and the romance the film wants us to hang the story on lacks chemistry between the actors.

For now, I’ll leave the review on a high note - Bond flying off into the sunset, seemingly at peace.