In the prequel series they often overwhelmed McGregor’s performance, but here, he wears them lightly, letting some of his natural charisma seep through. In the almost 20 years since he last played Obi-Wan, McGregor has also found a way to navigate his biggest flaw trying to act naturally while wearing the full weight of all Alec Guinness’s mannerisms. Inevitably the mysticism will return later but, for now, it’s genuinely thrilling to see this weird hybrid part-Jedi, part-Jack Bauer in action. Ewan McGregor spends a lot of these first two episodes punching aliens, and elbowing them in the face, and performing WWE-style clotheslines on their necks. Obi-Wan has spent 10 years ignoring his Jedi powers, and as a result all his fight scenes have a smash-mouth tangibility to them. Kenobi is on the lam, hunted by a combination of hired mercenaries and Vader’s forces, while trying to protect a young Princess Leia in the process.Īnd when the show leans most heavily into this premise, it works marvellously. Two episodes of six were released today, so we’re already a third of the way through the entire series, and so far the series seems to be a kind of intergalactic John Wick. The series actually starts to justify its own existence. However, once Obi-Wan Kenobi starts to build up a bit of momentum, a miraculous thing happens. Especially in the opening episode, scenes drag on for much longer than they need to, bogging themselves down in exposition that could have been chewed through far more elegantly. But once The Mandalorian surged out of nowhere, reversing what looked like terminal theatrical decline, the project jumped rails and ended up on TV instead. The story goes that this series started life as a film. Consider this Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Startlingly Unnecessary Years. Post-Lucas Star Wars exists almost exclusively to bulk out thin gruel, joining various dots that didn’t need to be joined, for the delight of a quickly ageing fanbase. It is entirely possible that we could have all got through our days perfectly decently without seeing this chapter of his life.īut such is the way of super-franchises. He hacks up meat by day, squabbles with Jawa in the evening, and at night he dreams exclusively in flashbacks from Episodes I-III. As such, the Obi-Wan we meet here doesn’t have an awful lot to do.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |