We have reached a tipping point, where we can have the blockbuster, just be another movie…

The Mandalorian and Grogu is a perfectly acceptable large scale science fiction action movie that will fit right in to the summer popcorn driven season.  However the realities and the lore of the Star Wars franchise having been boiled down into something fairly standard are now more real than ever.

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu.

Thankfully this film manages to succeed because it doesn’t rely on any show or series mythology and just crafts a well-made space yarn with good action set pieces and characters we can get behind.

In a fairly unassuming way, Jon Favreau morphed himself into one of the safest and there by one of the most bankable filmmakers in Hollywood.  Not because he’s a genre defying auteur who’s pushing boundaries with ground breaking cinema, but because he can stage action and keep a story moving about as efficiently as humanly possible.  It’s hard to believe the guy from Swingers has carved himself a niche as one of Hollywood’s go to blockbuster directors, but there it is.

He’s not reinventing the wheel, but with his can of cinematic WD-40 he simply does nothing wrong as we get roped up into the proceedings.

It’s hard to say this without being overtly disrespectful, but the ensemble is….fine and they understand the job in front of them.  Pedro Pascal is perfectly affable as our stoic hero and especially with his little green side kick Grogu along for the action.  Not a ton of range is required but it’s a nice arc to see a guy who’s spent his entire life as a nomad finally accept that he’s found himself a family.  Sigourney Weaver gets to come along for the ride to make the occasional sarcastic remark as a New Republic commander and Jeremy Allen White as Rodda The Hut (son of Jabba) get to flex some character muscles alongside some out of left field voice acting work from Martin Scorsese but there really isn’t any moment here that stands out for its actual, you know….acting.

Ultimately, The Mandalorian and Grogu is blockbuster movie….but without the “event” part.  There’s nothing wrong with it as it is a well-made piece of popcorn cinema.  However any kind of lore, specialness or magic previously associated with the franchise is basically over.  This is an effective big screen adaption of a TV show….and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as that’s all you want.