About a month ago, the official Star Wars YouTube channel released the trailer for the much-anticipated “The Mandalorian and Grogu” movie. It’s been two years since the Season 3 finale of Mando’s show, but now fans get a glimpse into what this dynamic duo has been up to since the defeat of Moff Gideon. And after watching said shenanigans unfold on many screens, fans are very excited but also cautiously optimistic.
TrailerSummary
However, before we dive deeper into the pros and cons of this trailer, we need to understand what’s going on. The video opens with Mando flying a newly restored Razor Crest over a beautiful beach, then cuts to the pair spying on a squadron of Stormtroopers. Later, they meet up with a woman who clearly works for the New Republic (and also doesn’t like sharing her food with little green alien babies). After this, it’s a huge montage of action sequences, from Mando causing bar fights to Grogu swimming, and the glorious return of Zeb as he leaps off a wall to wail on a Stormtrooper. But one of the most surprising moments comes in the form of Rotta the Hutt returning after nearly a couple of decades since his Clone Wars debut, standing in an arena and hyping up the crowd. By the end of the trailer, we see Mando blowing up a couple of AT-ATs on a snowy mountain ridge. And as a final comedic moment, we also see Grogu shooting a one-eyed bat creature with the practice shooter he had in Season 3, and an Anzellan droidsmith accompanying Grogu compliments the foundling’s accuracy.
Pros and Cons
Overall, this trailer does a good job of hooking us into the premise without revealing too much about the plot. For example, I love how the characters barely spoke throughout this video, as it evokes a sense of mystery. While frustrating at first (more on that later), it forces the audience to closely observe everyone and everything, combing the frames for context clues and putting the puzzle together inside their heads. In this case, Mando and Grogu are clearly going up against Imperial remnants once again. However, if they’re meeting with a previously unseen New Republic officer, then it could mean matters are worse or deeper than we’re led to believe. Either way, the woman must have put them on an assignment where Dinn may have to use “aggressive negotiations” to get information at a bar, or Grogu sneaking around in the sewers to sneak around Imps. However, it’s currently unclear where Zeb and Rotta fit into all of this, and especially why now, after so many years. Regardless, this is another one of the trailer’s greatest strengths: the sense of mystery. We want to know how, when, and where Mando meets up with Zeb. We want to know why Mando is in an arena headed by the son of one of the most infamous gangsters in the galaxy. These characters have never met before, and we don’t even get a hint of how their stories come together, and yet they still do anyway. But that’s what makes it such a good advertisement: it makes us want to know more, which means we’ll want to spend money and buy tickets so we can learn more. But if none of that is enough, then I would also like to point out the amazing music score. At first, the music starts slow and ominous as the new Razor Crest soars above the beach. Then it pauses ever so briefly before the music crescendos with some woodwinds, and then repeats the pattern until the scene with the NR officer. Then we get a slow but heavy beat, mixed with Mando’s iconic tribal notes, evoking a sense of eerie mystery. But after the arena scene, the music puts more pep in their step with a faster tempo, higher notes, and primarily trumpet music from the end credits scenes of Mando episodes. This then evokes a sense of adventure and excitement, bringing back the wonder and joy we always got from watching any Star Wars project.
However, for all this trailer’s greatest strengths, it still has one extremely glaring weakness: it just doesn’t feel like a movie trailer. To further explain my point, consider past trailers for past Star Wars projects we’ve gotten over the years. In Rogue One’s case, we had it all: the dramatic music, the extremely high stakes (the Death Star, K-2SO’s predictions of failure), and just as intense fight sequences to resemble moments of war. As for Solo, we’re already hooked because everyone loves a good origin story, which makes moments like teasing the Millennium Falcon and young Lando all the more intriguing. Plus, while the stakes aren’t as high as Rogue One, they ultimately boil down to Han Solo becoming Han Solo, and the intense action sequences accompany that future struggle. But when it comes to this new trailer for “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” none of these elements are present. It’s clear that Mando is gonna have to fight the Imperial remnants again, but nothing in that trailer really explains why. After all, the plot has already been used countlessly throughout three seasons of his show thanks to Moff Gideon’s relentless pursuit of the child and Mando’s people. Without showing or even briefly explaining what makes this fight so significant, it just sounds like yet another run-of-the-mill battle with the Empire. In addition, the trailer also includes a lot of random elements with (again) no explanation about why they even matter. I mean, we get the return of the Razor Crest even though the previous model was blown up, so where and how did Mando get another one? Also, why was Grogu sneaking around with an Anzellan in the sewers? And what was Mando doing in a Hutt fighting pit, and how is this relevant to the fight with the Empire? The worst part is that there’s only like two lines of dialogue throughout this whole trailer, and neither of them gives us at least the smallest hint about what’s going on or what the stakes are. While this does evoke a sense of mystery and intrigue in viewers, it’s very frustrating and confusing because we have no idea what’s going on. Instead of an awesome movie trailer, all of these random shots make it look like we’re just watching a trailer for another season of “The Mandalorian” and his many adventures through episodes. We don’t even get lines that show the characters’ personalities, unless you want to count Mando’s somewhat humorous line of “impressive” or the Anzellan’s “good shot, baby.” I’m not saying they should’ve had paragraphs of lines, but I believe we deserved more than just four words of collective dialogue. At least with Solo, we got to see enough of Han’s personality in lines like “since when do you know how to fly” or “yeah, well, what do you know?” It’s the little details like those that satisfy viewers just enough without giving away too much.
Hopes and Concerns
Despite the cons listed, I still have hope that this movie will be more than what this trailer makes it seem. After all, “The Mandalorian” is one of my favorite Star Wars projects ever, and the feeling is (to put it lightly) mutual among many fans. And even though many people don’t like the third season, I still found it very enjoyable (although I do agree with their opinions to a degree). Nevertheless, Mando’s overall story is one of the most captivating stories in the franchise, largely thanks to the writing/acting as well as the deep dives into the lore of the Mandalorians and the Force. With this in mind, I have faith that they’ll do Mando’s story, and especially his character, justice. The biggest way they can do that is if they make this fight with the Imperial remnants culminate into something crucial for the overall narrative. This doesn’t necessarily mean they have to defeat the Empire once and for all, but perhaps it could play into the jaw-dropping cliffhanger from the Ahsoka TV series, where Grand Admiral Thrawn returns while our heroines remain stranded in another galaxy. Maybe the NR lady will tell Mando and Grogu that there are rumors of his return, and then give them an assignment to find out if they’re true or to kill him. I feel like this would be a great way to tie in the two shows and the narrative of the Empire’s threat, and ultimately build up to the rise of the First Order as we see them in “The Force Awakens.” Or, if nothing else, maybe Mando and Grogu will go after a specific member of the Shadow Council. This theory was suggested by the YouTube channel, Star Wars Explained, and I believe it’s a plausible one. For example, if Mando went after Brendol Hux and ultimately killed him, this could lead to the rise of his son, Armitage Hux, taking his father’s position and gaining power. Or this could also fill him with resolve to abolish chaos and establish order like his father tried to, and avenge his father in the process. If Mando should go after Captain Pellaeon, though, this would be a major blow to the Council because he is Thrawn’s representative and biggest supporter. Taking out a guy who has been able to keep a council full of scared and disgruntled wanted criminals together for so long, and especially while convincing them of Thrawn’s relevance despite his long absence, will lead to further divide and maybe even the collapse of the whole council. No matter which approach they take, I just hope they make this story relevant. I want to care about why Mando is picking yet another fight with the Empire, and why he’s trapped in a gladiatorial pit.
Yet, in spite of how much I want to cling to the hopes I just stated, I can’t ignore the amount of skepticism I feel for the future of this film. The YouTube channel, The Stupendous Wave, pointed out that this was the first Star Wars film to be released in theaters for roughly SEVEN years! Think about that for a second: SEVEN years we’ve gone without a theater movie since “Rise of Skywalker.” And with such a poor reception of the film, and with such a long hiatus of SW films, you’d better make a good movie if you’re planning a comeback like this. However, given the lackluster response of fans after watching this trailer, things are already not looking good for Lucasfilm at the moment. It doesn’t help that, as previously mentioned, the trailer looks more like another season of Mando rather than Star Wars’ announcement for its grand return to theaters. Plus, while I personally love or at least appreciate most of the stuff that they’ve made on Disney+ over the years, most reception for these projects has been met with either “meh” or “ohhhhhh brother this [show] stinks!” For instance, people widely consider the Obi-Wan show as bad with poor writing and storytelling, with Ahsoka only being barely better. “The Book of Boba Fett” was also met with very negative reviews, especially with how they turned Boba from a stone-cold killer into a spineless nice guy, and how they sort of turned it into a Season 2.5 of “The Mandalorian.” Speaking of which, the icing on the melting cake is the backlash towards the third season of that show. I personally enjoyed it, but many other people did not. Whether it’s the pacing of the story, the writing and acting, or how they did the finale, the overall season is widely regarded as a step down from previous season. Star Wars as a whole already had a VERY shaky reputation after the failure of the sequel trilogy, but they way they left off with Mando puts them in dangerously precarious situation. This means Lucasfilm literally cannot afford to mess this up, especially when they’re making a movie about one of the most beloved shows in the whole franchise. However, I can’t ignore feeling like they’ll somehow find a way to completely blow their big chance at returning to the big screen. Nevertheless, we’ll have to wait for additional trailers and marketing to drop, and the film will have to be innocent until proven guilty. Either way, it’s Star Wars, so it’s guaranteed that loyal fans (including myself) will flock to theaters once it releases (if nothing else, everyone gets more of Grogu).
