The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 7: In the Name of Honour

 "I gave you my word. I'm with you until we both fall."

So the season has ended already. It's been a little uneven and experimental at times in recent episodes, yes, but that's no bad thing. And this is a true climax, the ending to a Western movie in which the sheriff and his gang have to do the right thing to protect the townsfolk from the baddies. It's all quite topical, really; I'm typing this as Putin and his fascist underlings murder their way to lebensraum in Ukraine, not an inch of which must be surrendered. May Zelenskyy be as successful as Fett.

This is at once a splendid selection of great-looking CGI set pieces and full of surprises, sort of. The suspense lies in which allies will arrive and the answer is, of course, all of them, from Baby Yoda to the entire population of Freetown. But there's good  haracter stuff, too, as former bounty hunter Boba finally learns what it is to be a hero, to be respected, to... ride a Rancor. And yes, the extraordinarily well done CGI Rancor, cleverly foreshadowed a few episodes aho with Boba saying he wanted to ride it, is the visual highlight, even more than those two ED-209's with force fields that turn up as end-of-level bosses.

But what really matters is when the Freetowners turn up, enraged by the murder of their sheriff and, of course, Grogu returning to his dad, Beskar armour clad, to help save the day by putting the Rancor to sleep and then, er, curling up to sleep next to it in an incredibly cute way.

This is a perfectly structured and awesome finale to a bravely experimental variation on The Mandalorian which develops Boba Fett while reminding us that Westerns are often metaphors for not appeasing fascists and shooting them instead, whatever John Wayne's dodgy politics.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger

 "Can we takre your helmets for a cleaning?"

Well, Boba Fett is in this one. A bit.

This is a most oddly structured series. There are seven episodes in total, with the next one being the finale. The first four are the meat of the series, buioding up to the finale... but the fifth and, now, sixth episodes suddenly move off to follow other characters entirely.

And it's a disjointed series of scenes that dance around the preparation for the strike against the arrogant Pyke Syndicate that is to come. We have extended scenes of the Mandalorian trying to visit Baby Yoda (Grogu) with a Luke Skywalker played jointly by Mark Hamill and some surely very expensive-looking CGI, returning him to 1983 vintage. We have lomg scenes of Luke training Baby Yoda that are enormous fun, We have Ahsoka Tano looking cool and spouting exposition. We have some rather cool insect droids building that structure we see in the recent film trilogy. And yet there's pathos- Mando is discouraged from seeing Baby Yoda as encouraging his attachments will supposedly harm his Jedi training. And, when Mando gives his gift of Beskar armour, cruel Luke makres him choose between that and the lightsabre, at such a tender age. The Jedi attitude to attachments is, without a doubt, wrong.

Then, on top of all this, we have Sheriff Cobo Vanth, armourless but with his trusty sharpshooter and hat, trying to protect his town from trouble, with the Pyke Syndicate lurking in the background. It seems uncertain whether he's going to be able to convince the peace loving townsfolk to fight for Fett at Mando's urging, but then the Syndicate send a sinister black-hatted alen, terrifying to look at, who shockingly shooyts not only the sheriff but also the deputy.

Meanwhile, there's Boba Fett and co aboiut to stike. What will Grogu choose? Is Vanth dead? Will Boba Fett be in the finale of his own show? This is all very oddly structured and disjointed. Yet it's oddly compelling.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm

 "You can only get so far without a tribe."

This time the focus is on the flashback as Boba, folloewing the detrruction of the Sand People tribe, resolves to get his ship back from Bib Fortuna and his underlings in the events prior to his and Fennec Shand's appearance in The Mandalorian. Yet this is crucial not only as backstory but also as deep character background, showing us how a bounty hunter came to settle down and become a "daimyo".

His first reconnaissance of Jabba's palace leads him to find a dying Fennec Shand, whose life he saves with cybernetic surgery. She agrees to assist him in order to pay off her debt of honour and they retrieve Boba's ship together, yet a genuine mutual regard grows between them- and when Mr Fett offers to employ her permanently he makes clear his respect and offers his "loyalty". It's fascinating to see the bond growing between them, and both interesting and fresh that there's no hint of sex or romance, just a friendship based on mutual respect. Boba is realising that the lonely life of a bounty hunter will not give him what he needs.

Returning to the present, we see Mr Fett undertaking the necessary diplomatic maneouvres in preparation for his attack on the Pyke Syndicate. Next episode will no doubt be action-packed, but I'm loving the diplomatic chess playing here. Yet again, this script may not focus on the most obviously crowd-pleasing areas, but this is top telly.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa

 "Take it from an ex-bounty hunter: don't work for scugholes."

This episode gives us a fascinating change of pace as it focuses on the realities of Boba Fett's new life as the boss of Jabba's former domain- he has to make complex, indeed political, decisions. The moisture farmers are having their water stolen by cool cyborg ne'er-do-wells, yet said cyborgs are left with no choice because of chronic unemployment and extortionate parties. The solution, as it often must be, is a messy compromise. Still, at least Mr Fett ends up with some cool cyborg underlings.

We get a nice bit of exposition from 808 too; Boba's position is not yet established as he only runs some of Jabba's old protection rackets and needs to expand his power- politics again. And it seems a bigger power, the Pyke syndicate, is muscling in, and charging protection money within Boba's sphere of influence. I'm rather enjoying this focus on Fett's responsibilities. Being a kingpin is za\a life of much admin.

Things get even more complex after a large set piece in which the twin Hutts' Wookie employee almost succeeds in assassinating Mr Fett (he would be dead if not for the cyborgs), only for the Hutts to apologise, give a Rancor monster as a geasture, and duly sod off so as not to offend the feared Pyle Syndicate. This serves to really big up these new baddies, although it will be a shame not to see the Hutts again. Still, saves on CGI, I suppodse.

We end with a touching scene of bonding with the Rancor (nice cameo from Danny Trejo as the Rancor keeper!) and a bit of a very Star Wars car chase, crammed with visual Easter Eggs, before Bobba determines to go after the Mayor, who is clearly linked with the syndicate.

Meanwhile, in flashback, Mr Fett finds the Sand People settlement raided and destroyed, vowing revenge.

This is the best episode yet, daring to focus on areas which may not appeal to everyone but doing so superbly.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tattoine

 "I am not a bounty hunter!"

Here we have another fascinating episode, yet again light on dialogue and heavy on well-directed and compelling montage sequences, in which the two contyrasting narratives play out. In the present, the esteemed Mr Fett and the redoubtable Fennec Shand, played by the ever-youthful kick-as Ming-Na Wen, 58, battle to seize full control of Jabba's former criminal empire on Tattoine, complete with loads of fun cameos from Return of the Jedi. Meanwhile, in the past, Boba continues to gradually earn the trust of his Tusken captors.

The first narrative is more straightforward, as Boba pursues the recalcitrant mayor only to discover that his true foe is "the twins", cousins of Jabba who are carried on a litter truly creaking in the middle, in a nice little bunch of scenes involving a nice bit of sleight of hand re the Rancor monster. But the meat of the episode is a fascinatingly cpurageous sequence where Boba earns the trust of his sand people captors by masterminding a raid on a train (shades of the Firefly episode Train Job, and a reminder that, like The Mandalorian, this is very much a Western) amnd adopts their customs, including an extraordinary druggy sequence where he swallows a lizard up his nostrils and things go well trippy. This is not your standard mainstream Disney Plus strreaming, and it's bleeding superb. And the mention of "spice" has to be a Dune reference.

Oh, and the train is being driven by a cool-looking droid. And it crawls off like a bloody spider when Boba chucks it out of the train. I have no idea where this is going, but I love it.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

 "Jabba ruled by fear. I intend to rule with respect."

This is, in the end, a programme in a very similar format to The Mandalorian, although it unexpectedly acts not as a direct sequel but the story of a side character, albeit a major character in the mythos. Jon Favreau is still showrunner; the directorial house style (helmed this time by Robert Rodriguez) is similar, as are the closing credits. Oh, and we're still very firmly within the Western genre.

Temuera Morrison is excellent, as is the ever stoic and ever ageless Ming-Na Wen, whose room wust surely contain a much older-looking portrait of herself. But even more excellent is the writing. On one level there's lots of fan service, perhaps, with Boba's refusal to torture those Gammorrean Guards who escaped the Rancor and hire them instead being a nicely observed character point: he's not a Hutt, he won't travel by litter and he's ruthless but not sadistic. Boba is a much  more expressive character than the Mandalorian, but equally fascinating.

Structurally, the episode is clever. We have two time zones, both of which reflect the Heinlein-evoking title. In one, a flashback, Boba escapes the Sarlacc just after the events of Return of the Jedi only to have his stuff nicked by Jawas and to have to endure harsh captivity by a tribe of Sand People.  The other, in the show's present, shows the beginnings of his attempt to gain full control of Jabba's empire. It's a first episode, with lots of necessary exposition to get out of the way, but so far it's utterly gripping. More please.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 16- The Rescue

 "You are not a Mandalorian."

"Never said I was."

SPOILERS ABOUND. You have been warned! 

This is the perfect finale, and would have been so even without the fanwank, which itself was nonetheless the cherry on the cake. 

The character of Dr Pershing is used, at the start, to up the ante by blatantly foreshadowing the entire platoon of droid Dark Troopers (whom we have seen before) that await our heroes as they plan their assault on Moff Gideon's "light" Imperial Star Destroyer. There's some nice character stuff as a baddie goads the good Marshal about being on the Death Star when the Grand Moff Tarkin destroyed Alderaan. This is the sort of little touch during an action-packed finale that shows real quality.

Bo-Katan and her sidekick are tagging along for the Darksabre- with a little light racism aimed at Boba Fett for being a clone along the way. But the assault goes to plan... until Mando unexpectedly comes across the Machiavellian Moff Gideon, in a superb performance from Giancarlo Esposito. He has three aces up his sleeve. He's got what he wanted out of Grogu; there are hordes of Dark Troopers about to attack against whom they have no hope; and, in defeating Gid and unwttingly claiming the Darksabre, he is forcing Bo-Katan to fight and kill him for it in order to regain the throne of Mandalore, because it's not the sabre that matters, it's the "story". I love this. Perfect plotting.

And then the mysterious Jedi arrives, slicing through the Dark Troopers with his green lightsabre, although interestingly only through screens within screens. This turns out to be highly appropriate when said figure turns out to be a CGI Luke Skywalker, with Mark Hamill's face rejuvenated by a cheaper version of the process used for Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel. The parting betwen Mando and little Grogu is heartbreaking, as he removes his helmet(!) and allows his baby to touch his face. He's a proper dad.

This is magnificent stuff, even before we get to the post-credits teaser for Boba Fett's forthcoming series, as he and the uber-cool Fennec Shand enter Jabba's old palace, kill Bib Fortuna (my first ever Kenner figure back in '83) ad take over.

This is simply superlative telly.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 15- The Believer

" I never saw your face..."

The penultimare episode... and it's a superbly taut and brilliantly made action thriller in which our heroes brave all sorts of dangers order to find out the location of Grogu next season. Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are now confirmed members of Mando's gang alongside Cara Dune- and our old friend Mayfeld is sprung in order to get inside the Imperial base. It's a nicely rich mix of people with some excellent characterisation on display.

The opening scene, with its CGI-enhanced depiction of a New Republic prison, is amazing. So is Boba Fett's ship Slave-1 (friends of mine had the Kenner toy of this when I was a nipper), which appears rather a lot though the magic of CGI. There's some awesome action with some pirates. There are tense scenes with a total bastard of an Imprerial officer.

But the episode focuses around a fascinating conversation between Mando and Mayfeld in which the later points out that Mando is happy to bend the rules about removing his helmet when something he cares about is at stake- over the course of two seasons we've seen the grizzled, taciturn bounty hunter turn into a devoted father. We see him first bend then break this rule, a rule that means a lot to him. For such an undemonstrative man this shows us that Mando cares a lot for this kid.

And so we see at the end, as Mando sends a threatening message to Moff Gideon. This is simply superb telly.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 14- The Tragedy

 "They're back. The empire. They're back."

It's all go in this very eventful episode: Grogu goes to do that magic Jedi thing on the planet Tython but, awkwardly, Mando is attacked at the worst possible moment by a not dead Fennec (the ageless Ming-Na Wen) and... a hooded Boba Fett. Who claims that Mando's Beskar is his armour. Oh dear.

All this is a side-show, of course, to the clever bit of misdirection with stormtroopers from a more than normally moustache-twirling Moff Gideon who, finally, manages to nab cute little Grogu, who now faces an immediate future as a "donor". Brr. And those "Dark Troopers" are cool.

Yet there's another big reveal going on- Mando's armour is indeed his, and Mando eventually accepts that: honour succeeds where battle failed. It's a nice touch, that the esteemed Mr Fett agrees to help return the child as a quid pro quo. We also get a nifty bit of subtle retconning: Jango Fett was a foundling. This is the Way.

The script from the dependable Favreau, the direction from the Hollywood guest helmer, the performances, the whole damn thing... it's excellent. I'm loving this.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 9- The Marshal

 “There's no such thing as an abandoned Sarlacc pit."

"There is if you eat the Sarlacc..."

I simply cannot emphasise simply how good this opening episode is to this second season of the greatest science fiction Western since Firefly. I's a masterful piece of telly, however much the role of the Krayt Dragon may owe to Dune.

And a Western this episode most assuredly is, as the framing of the opening shot, with Mando and Baby Yoda walking towards the camera shows us. As the season opener this episode is quite arc-heavy, and so we're teased, after a superbly effective opening sequence which entertains us wth lots of action while subtly dropping a lot of exposition, with rumours of of another Mandalorian on Tattooine, in the forgotten town of Mos Pelgo. The apparent Mandalorian we see- the Marshal- is of course a red herring, but how did that armour get into the possession of those Jawas from whom he bought it, and who is that mysterious watching figure at the end, played- very interestingly- by Temuera Morrison?

The Marshal is, of course, blatantly a sheriff straight from the tropes of the Western, and to drive the point home he's even played, rather well, by Timothy Olyphant, Seth from Deadwood- and the fact the Weequay barman is played by W. Earl Brown makes this almost a Deadwood mini-reunion.

The plot- the villagers and Tusken Raiders must make common cause and use cunning to slay a massive burrowing dragon (yeah, that bit owes slightly less to Westerns), gives us loads of entertainment while eminding us how much we like our protagonist, whose face is hidden but who shows himself yet again to have surprising depths as a character. And it's a rollicking tale that feels much shorter than it is. 

I love the genre playfulness, too; Mando and the Marshal are set to have a typical Western duel, holsters ready, in the saloon, when the ground begins to shake and the Western is interrupted by a trope from another genre. And there's some nice world building- as soon as the Empire is destroyed at the end of Return of the Jedi, the mining corporation moves in and enslaves everyone. It's Star Wars, but definitely a Western and not fairytale.

Welcome back, The Mandalorian.

Aquaman (2018)

”Show off... I could have just peed on it."

Unusually for a superhero movie, I'm going in blind. For once I know pretty much naff all about the superhero in question and his supporting cast. What I do know, though, is that DC Universe movies, to the extent that's still a thing, have been decidedly mixed. Fortunately, the gods be praised, this is a Wonder Woman and not a Justice League.

Some of the typical DC sins are found here as well, mind; CGI abounds and, certainly, it makes for a visually impressive and rather awesome set of scenes in Atlantis with Atlanteans riding sharks and giant turtles as beasts of burden, but we also get CGI countryside, de-wrinkled faces and all sorts of unnecessary nonsense.

I know nothing of DC’s Atlantis (I’m a Sub-Mariner kind of guy) but we get a real exploration of its history, fantastic though it seems- an ancient technological civilisation (are they Minoans? Is Atlantis in the Med? They seem a bit Greek to me, culturally) which sank because of hubris and where there are now various different kingdoms which are disunited and where, in spite of only a few thousand years presumably passing, people have evolved very differently- one kingdom is of met-people.

In spite of visually following the unfortunate DC house style, though, this film is warm and human, and solidly entertaining. It helps that Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is likeable- humble, bloke USA and fun-loving, a hero you could have a pint with. And the plot is a solid little quest narrative as Aquaman follows a series of tasks to retain a weapon which can be lifted only by the one true king and which shows his right to rule- no surprise he happens to be called Arthur. He also knows his early Roman history, which is a plus.

The cast is superb, too, although the appearance of Amber Heard leads to the same awkwardness as appearances by Johnny Depp- one of them is a domestic abuser, and we know not which. But it’s great to see the great Dolph Lundgren, Willem Dafoe, and even Nicole Kidman is actually pretty good. This is a good old-fashioned blockbuster, and fun with it.