Review: The Mandalorian and Grogu

You don't have to be a box office expert to know that the only movies people are currently leaving their homes to see are the movies that offer them something they can't get at home. Which is not great news for The Mandalorian and Grogu, a movie that's literally just an extended episode of a television series that already looks like a halfway decent movie.

The flip side, of course, is that it's the return of the Star Wars franchise to the big screen after seven or so years of struggle on television. And it really does feel like Star Wars, in that it's a fairly episodic string of adventures featuring loads of creatures and decent action tied together by an overarching plot that leads to a big "good versus evil" climax. There's even X-Wing fighters!

So while it's hardly a must see (though it does look good in IMAX if that's an option), it is a fun time at the movies. There's no real backstory required either if you're coming in cold: Mando (the voice and sometimes body of Pedro Pascal) and baby yoda Grogu are badasses for hire who are currently working with the now-victorious rebels (this is set after Return of the Jedi) cleaning up the galaxy by bringing in Imperial holdouts.

After a solid all-action opening that establishes their kick-arse credentials, they're given a mission by their boss and paymaster Ward (Sigourney Weaver) that's a little more complicated than most. To track down an extra evil former Imperial officer (important point: nobody knows what he looks like), they have to get his location from a pair of Hutts (as in Jabba the Hutt) who will only help out if their nephew Rotta is rescued and brought back to them.

So our heroes have to head off to a very cyberpunk-ish city on a small moon, where crime rules the streets and the Hutt they're looking for is being held by a local crime boss who runs a death sport operation. After some entertaining information gathering involving a bar fight and an offer Mando can refuse, they find Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White). Twist number one: he's fighting of his own free will (and getting swole doing it) as a way to renounce his family's criminal heritage - he's the son of Jabba, and his relatives want him dead to claim the family business.

Things only get more complicated from there, mostly in ways that involve fighting monsters, stormtroopers, and droids. There's nothing here that's truly stand-out - the action is good and well thought out but not amazing, while the story keeps the pace up and the stakes relatively low - but it does all flow together well to create a satisfying, if never outstanding, whole.

Pascal does some great voice acting here, and his affection for Grogu really comes through. Grogu is a puppet most of the time, but a cute one (and the way most of his Force-jumping scenes are clearly just someone throwing a doll around is fun). Considering they're a guy in an expressionless helmet and a muppet with maybe three expressions, they're a great team to watch. 

It's very much a kid-friendly space western, which is what 85% of all Star Wars movies and series should be. As far as human drama goes, for long stretches of this film there aren't even human faces on the screen. It's in no way essential viewing: it feels like exactly the kind of film parents take their half interested kids to, and then spend the next week explaining that no, they're not going to go see it again. 

A long time ago, the Star Wars brand was strong enough to sell pretty much anything. Now it has to earn an audience just like everyone else. This feels like a back-to-basics acknowledgement of that reality. But in a world where you can get this kind of thing at home, a trip to the cinema might as well be a galaxy far, far away.

- Anthony Morris 

 

Review: Finding Emily

It's a tale as old as time: a young man, convinced that a woman he hardly knows and can't currently contact, is the love of his life. Another young woman aids him in his quest for her own reasons; long before the man realises it, everyone else can see that his real love is standing right beside him.

Finding Emily does a lot with this premise, not all of it successful. A big part of the story is that the quest goes viral, which raises a lot of questions that the film doesn't exactly ignore, but that don't quite fit the breezy vibe the story is going for. You need an angle if your rom-com idea is going to cut through, but sometimes sticking to the basics is your best move.

Those basics being: Owen (Spike Fearn) works at a Manchester university as a sound technician. Don't worry, he's student-aged, and as he's in a non-teaching role he's able to date students... if any of them were interested.

One night at the noisy club where his job is mostly to keep the music under the legal limit, he meets a girl and they hit it off. One problem: when she gives him her number, she leaves a digit out. Owen is sure it's a legitimate mistake and not an attempt to fob him off, and so begins his quest.

With only a name to go on, his first fumbling attempts lead him to Emily (Angourie Rice), a psych student who really, really needs a hook to hang her final project on. Her thesis is that love is basically rubbish; Owen's clearly doomed flailings seem the perfect example - now all she has to do is keep him searching. Fingers crossed he doesn't find out the whole basis for their friendship was built on a lie!

Things rapidly escalate when an attempt to use the university's mailing list to hit up every Emily exposes his scheme to all of them (pro tip; BCC is your friend), turning his quest into an online trending topic. It's a case of two steps forward, one step back as the public struggles to decide whether he's a creep or a nice guy looking for love; turns out being good on the guitar still counts for a lot in today's romance economy.

There's a lot going on here, maybe a little too much. There's a large cast of characters, some of which don't earn their keep; Owen's backstory includes a dead mother and a brother looking to sell the family home out from under him; Emily has a years-long doomed obsession with a guy clearly not that interested in her. His being an online sensation adds a few jokes but doesn't seem essential, though it is tied in to Emily spurring him on.

The real problem with the overly cluttered storyline is that the relationship between Owen and Emily is a good enough reason to keep watching in and of itself - so much so that the other hijinx eventually start to feel like a distraction. Fearn is consistently likable as an aimless drifter seeking salvation in love (while also not wanting to be creepy about it), while Rice is even better as the often-flustered Emily, who is rapidly in over her head in a number of ways.

Finding Emily has other strengths - the jokes are pretty good for starters - but the central relationship is both endearingly earnest and sweetly authentic, and the scenes where they're just spending time together are easily the strongest. The world around them might be chaotic, but what they have between them is real; they're a fun couple and it's hard not to want them to make it work.

Which, when you boil it down, is all you want from a film like this.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: Mortal Kombat II

A rare Hollywood sequel that delivers on what the first film set up, Mortal Kombat II is packed with, well, combat of the mortal variety. It's a film where someone delivers a heart-rending monologue to a fallen adversary while the massive circular saw blade they were power-slammed onto is still spinning through their torso, spraying blood everywhere. So the real question is: why isn't this more awesome?

The first film ran right up to the edge of the promised tournament for the fate of "Earth Realm" then stopped. So we start with a bit of backstory here: after her father failed to defeat the evil Shao Khan (Martyn Ford), dooming her realm to his brutal leadership, Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) has become one of the tyrant's most potent weapons. Together with her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), she's at the forefront of his latest battle - conquering Earth.

Meanwhile,  for reasons best known to the gods, Earth's final champion has been chosen: washed up 90s action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Despite the best efforts of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and the rest, he refuses the call. But the gods care not for his desires.

Both of these storylines are a solid basis for a film. Unfortunately, they're surrounded by lore, surplus characters, a story that probably has too much going on - Shao Khan is also after an amulet that will make him immortal, and therefore impossible to defeat in combat - and a bunch of other characters coming back from the dead. Though as one of them is Kano (Josh Lawson), easily the comedy highlight of this and the previous film, the loss of dramatic stakes is probably worth it.

Returning director Simon McQuoid does a solid job with the fights, of which there are many, and the often insanely gory finishing moves are much appreciated. Urban does his best to milk the comedy from his blowhard character, though his Cage works best when he's actually trying to do the right thing. Kitana's story is where the real drama lies; a tighter focus on the two leads might have sidelined some of the fan favourite fighters, but would have made for a stronger film.

There's one brief flashback to explain a side character's backstory, but if you don't have strong memories of where the previous film ended you're largely on your own. It's not a big problem, even when towards the end a conflict that seemed pretty much definitively concluded in the first film is dug up because the characters involved are cool and it's cool to have them fight again. Mortal Kombat II: cool fights are cool.

If only they could figure out a way to have the very first second of the film be the cry of "Mortal Kombat!!!" from Techno Syndrome like the first 90s one did. 

- Anthony Morris