Acbagel said:
for me reviewing my own series, I would rate it:4, 1, 3, 5, 2, 6
I would have to say, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3, 1.
Okay so I just got back from the new movie. I saw it in 4dx which improved the experience. My wife and I agreed we would have been a lot more bored at certain parts without it. So I’m gonna give my thoughts on it being integrated into TWoM, but also just use this opportunity to review it.
First thing I need to point out:
I’ve been experimenting replacing Disney’s “Star Wars heads” intro with just the classic “A long time ago”. But for Mandalorian, and for yor first movie covering season 1, I wanted a couple lines of prologue in the blue text, similar to what Solo did, just to set up the story of the greater series and add a little hype. Was fun to make:
Did anyone who watched my little intro notice this? I made this a month ago, well before I saw anything besides trailers. The new movie follows the format EXACTLY. Same music, fades in top half of the text, fades in bottom half. The Han Solo movie did blue text too, but it was centered and slowly zoomed in. This Mando movie literally used the exact same format I did to a tee, the only difference being they made the text tan instead of blue (and no long time ago at the start). Guess I was pretty on the pulse with this one.
As for the movie. It is essentially what everyone has said. I was surprisingly less bored than I expected (perhaps due to the 4dx as mentioned). I did not think it was bad. I felt extremely neutral. So, just in order that I can remember:
- Opening text, I obviously liked as mentioned above.
- Opening credits do not belong in Star Wars. This was the final straw that made Lucas leave the Director’s Guild of America. Every movie had opening credits, they wanted him to have it in Star Wars. He knew it wasn’t right. He left the guild so he could keep his film true. Opening credits don’t belong in Star Wars. I liked the opening sequence and music otherwise, just take out the credits.
- Rotta and the Hutts should not speak Basic, 100% agree with everyone else here on this. As well, they didn’t even try to give Rotta a hutt accent, he just sounded like some dude. Surprisingly my wife disliked this even MORE than I did.
- I liked the little mechanic guys. The way they talked was funny and I thought they were comedic relief done right in Star Wars.
- Definitely felt disjointed dealing with the Hutts and not even mentioning Boba Fett. Honestly were it truly integrated into the story, Boba should have been involved on some level. They made a lot of bad sacrifices trying to untie this from anything that might confuse someone who doesn’t even watch the series.
- I thought most of the action scenes were fun.
- I thought it was silly that after the major villains were dispatched at the end, the fighting kept going? I sort of get it, but wouldn’t our new friend now be in charge? I thought that would have been good development for him, he didn’t want the throne but then he takes the mantle. I was 100% expecting him to yell “Stop!” and the droids to listen.
Okay, everything else is dealing with more major spoilers and Bagel’s ideas on integrating into TWoM (I’m sorry I could not figure out how to put this under one single spoiler bracket, so I have it here under several brackets):
When I first read Bagel’s idea of killing Din, I thought "Is this going to be shoehorned in, like a little moment we thought he might die and then Bagel just doesn’t bring him back? But, no… this was a BIG moment, and there was a ton of useable footage that, after watching, I totally agree… the best way to salvage this story is to make it about Din dying.
IMO, I would probably even change more of his dialogue earlier in the movie, in order to make the weight of the story heavier, and a tiny bit of foreshadowing.
Now, as far as how the edit would play out, this is where it gets more complicated, and I’m sure you probably have some ideas, but I think there’s a few key questions on how to handle it, and I’ll give my opinion as well:
- Do you have him simply die at the point where he collapses, and we assume Grogu did get on the ship and leave?
- Does Grogu do what he did in the movie, come back to find Din, but this time unable to help him.
- What happens with the death of the Hutts sequence and Rotta after? Do we skip it?
- Do you integrate the death of the Hutts BEFORE he falls in the jungle?
To me, I think a combo of 2 and 4 are the clear answer. However 2 definitely has the highest priority. I think it could be easy to have Grogu just leaving on the little ship. But, if he does that, we get no real goodbye. I think Grogu as a character, will need that closure. And I think those clips of him covering up Din, and the one of him sleeping in his arms are amazing. But put those in the context of Din being dead, and that being Grogu “burying” him, and snuggling with him one last time (like Simba in lion king), and wow… people will be bawling watching your edit. That clip of him snuggling up, just in the movie as it is, made my wife tear up.
Going onto point 4, if it could somehow be made to work where Din fights the beast, then Din and Grogu fly back, kill the Hutts, jump off the side, THEN Din dies in the jungle… I think that would be best. Simply because, Rotta being as important as the movie made him, whether that was a good move or not, needs resolution, and also, the twins, who have been important in the crime storylines, not ever showing up again needs a resolution. I was expecting, assuming we’d be lucky enough to get one more season of Boba Fett under Dave, for them and Boba to have a war. Obviously not going to happen now.
Anyway… I think this has GREAT potential to be a heart wrenching ending for Din. I completely see where you were coming from. In fact, Favreau had so much footage in there, I can’t help but wonder if he wasn’t experimenting with the idea while filming the movie.
I’ll add one extra note, that when I told my wife this idea, she pushed back and said it would be too emotional and she wouldn’t be able to take it as a new mom… but lmao it is STILL the best idea and I think you should do it.