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Reviews
Ahsoka: Part Six: Far, Far Away (2023)
Slow boil finally gets somewhere
After an eternal 6 episodes of building up, we FINALLY get to meet the live action Thrawn. He's definitely the menace that the books and other shows have already played out and it's a good move to go with the continuity of Lars Mikkelsen. He's perfect.
Further, what they could/should have been doing more of in the build up is developing and showing Baylen, who is a very layered and great character played expertly by (late, great) Ray Stevenson, who does everything he can with the limited screen time he's had because he is far more than the mercenary he's portrayed to be (why they deferred so much to Morgan Elsbeth - who is very un-interesting, one-dimensional, and has nowhere near the presence - is a real shame. Am I the only one who wonders why Baylen hasn't crushed her by now?).
It's great to see Ezra found (but Sabine's acting takes a major step back here as she can't carry off the drama and is really week in scenes with Thrawn and Baylen), yet again we've seen the trap of two episodes left to cram in a LOT of loose ends to tie up. That is a real shame as the pacing so far for where we've come to seems to several for at least 10 episodes. And the unfortunate best part of this episode? That Ahsoka was hardly in it! She has been a supreme bummer. Looks great but is so dull and unappealing.
More Ray Stevenson (his apprentice is good too), more Thrawn, and less Morgan and Ahsoka (unless you inject more of her rogue nature into her). I have hope.
Andor: Narkina 5 (2022)
Another Excellent Episode in a Carefully Building Series
No spoilers.....This is a very character driven episode, as we find out more about Andor's path to his eventual place in the rebellion, but it is rich with character development in that more than a few that we've already been introduced to in Rogue One show up, as well as some new additions that look to be driving this series in interesting directions. Action packed this series so far hasn't been. Revealing of the main and supporting characters as those with more than one dimension? Highly successful. It is rich with characterisation. Perhaps overly so (has that ever been said about anything Star Wars?!), but it seems to this reviewer that Gilroy and company are building a layered foundation that they are going to hopefully deploy as skillfully as they've built it in having them execute for a common purpose, and for those who've stuck with this series, this detail has built trust. A kid's show it is not, but good. Let those of us who were kids in the original trilogy nerd out for once and the rest can feast on Obi-Wan Kenobi and the prequels.
The protagonists are great so far and especially Luna, Skarsgård, and O'Reilly as Andor, Luthen, and Mon Mothma. The imperial characters, almost as good, but they are revealing that even in the middle ranks of the Empire, they are devious, cunning, and up to no damn good, and I suspect we have definitely not seen all of them yet.
A deeply rewarding detailed show so far.
No Time to Die (2021)
Ironic Title for a Shocking Movie
After waiting for an eternity with great excitement, what is delivered is an over long, misguidedly focused film that centers on a manufactured, paper thin relationship that was hardly developed from the last one and is still far inferior to his true love from Casino Royale. But they more than double down, unfortunately.
It all starts with the classic gun barrel sequence being super imposed over the Universal logo and when Bond shoots, no red, so he misses? Unfortunate foreshadowing of the movie right from the jump.
Craig does a fine job with the schlock he's given to work with. And even though this reviewer doesn't buy his relationship, at all, Lea Seydoux is a good actress, but hers is not a Bond character worth such painful investment. That's why Eva Green literally still haunts him, and us all.
The producers and director have chosen to go nuclear on the classic Bond (and classic Bond characters) and really alienate longtime fans who have stuck with the franchise through thick and very thin (looking at you, Die Another Day).
That comment doesn't mean give us the same formula but for god sakes the overt focus on being so correct (too much new 007, who is a bigger jerk than our beloved James usually is, and comes off poorly and Q?) coupled with no fun.
Bond is supposed to be escapism and we're asked to swallow this personal journey. It worked in OHMSS and Casino Royale - both superior singular movies. But we're now five movies in and this really sucks the life out of what could have been a decent bow out. And that same hideous Louis Armstrong song from OHMSS is here, as is Billie Eilish channeling Sam Smith.
And something that should never be, but has been forgotten....this is supposed to be a JAMES BOND movie and NOT a Daniel Craig movie. An actor is never bigger than the character, even Sean Connery, but the main producers have criminally elevated Craig to that status.
The only good characters in this movie are barely in it (NOTE: maybe it's time to ditch the very forced "love of your life " romantic thread from 2 movies when the new girl, who is in it for 10 minutes - and is an awesome badass - has more chemistry with Bond. They really could have had something there). Ana de Armas maximizes her time and plays her character to the hilt. She absolutely kills it. Sexy, smart, fun, capable, and not following the man. That's some good woke writing. Kudos to Fiennes, Whishaw, Campbell, and Kinnear, but no time for them really either. Jeffrey Wright, always awesome, and finally the perfect consistent Felix Leiter that the series never figured out before, is given some particularly horrible treatment. I won't reveal it.
The villain, this time out played by Rami Malek, has no real development or screen time, which forces a good actor to glare and preen almost as much as Freddie Mercury. Oh, and his name is Lyutsifer, get it? Scared yet? His henchman has a bionic spy eye and the doctor is an idiot that would be killed immediately in any other sane Bond pic. Billy Magnusson, Game Night guy? Once again, Christoph Walz is criminally used and confused as Blofeld.
This is all topped off by an absolutely unforgivable ending and production and direction choice that literally could kill the franchise. Again I won't reveal it, but No Time to Die? Really?
Another reboot is needed, unfortunately, with the ones who badly need the reboot being the executive producers. They did it well once with Casino Royale, but this entry leaves you firmly believing that Broccoli and Wilson are totally played out. Fleming and Cubby Broccoli would be absolutely appalled at what this franchise has been turned into. Not fun (Cubby's rule #1), unexciting, lazy nods to their glorious past, and writers who just mail it in or are recruited to stay with the Un-Bondian times. It's unfortunate when the part of the production left with any integrity is the original director who actually refused to do it. We now understand why. There was a good movie in here somewhere, but the producers have trampled on Bond. History is unlikely to be kind to this movie, or them.