Andor Review Episode 1-4: Best Star Wars Series Since The Mandalorian on Disney+
Stars: Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Alex Ferns
Directors: Toby Haynes, Benjamin Caron
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Andor is exactly what we expected and hoped for: a series that, at least in the four episodes that we were able to preview, gave us extremely different sensations not only compared to The Mandalorian, but also to Rogue One of which it is a spin-off and to the entire Star Wars franchise. Mind you, we are not suddenly in the presence of a revolution. Andor, which will debut on Disney+ on September 21, certainly does not want to rewrite from the ground up what Star Wars is or should be, but he manages to give it a darker, more violent, more mature and complex interpretation – but always within the limits of the saga.
It’s as if Lucas’ ideas allowed some room for maneuver and Tony Gilroy, creator and lead writer of the series, had used every inch of it. And we can’t at least partially be enthusiastic about it, because we haven’t seen much courage for years. Certainly, this is not a product for everyone, as some critical issues can be quite annoying, but the conceptual strength and coherence with which Andor is pursuing his intentions remains a marvel. This review, or rather, these first impressions are based on watching the first 3 episodes of the Star Wars Andor TV series. The show is a prequel to the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and – as the title of the series itself suggests – tells the story of the character Cassian Andor, who is still played by Diego Luna.
Andor Review: The Story
The plot especially in the first 3 episodes, turns out to be quite simple and linear: Cassian (Diego Luna), in a desperate attempt to track down his missing sister, is hunted by two imperial agents and cannot help but kill them. Back on the planet Ferrix, where he resides with his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), he is aware that he has left some tangible trace behind him and that he must disappear before they come looking for him to hang him. And this is how he will come into contact with the nascent Rebellion, choosing to try to fight the Empire even though he is still convinced of the futility of such an effort.
Curiously, one of the first aspects we want to focus on is something that has been missing from Star Wars for perhaps too long, since Luke, Leia and Han ran into the Ewoks or Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon met the underwater Gungan people on Naboo: the taste for exploration, discovery, knowing how to paint different, peculiar civilizations and cultures, Andor in this is simply monumental, he manages to immerse the viewer in always credible scenarios. Ferrix or Kenari, where the flashbacks of a young Cassian are set, not just locations with a different color palette where events necessary for the plot take place (and yes, Episode 9, we’re referring to you), but they are also living places, real and buttons.
Andor Review and Analysis
Now, it is clear that there is also a price to pay for all that wonder and, as of now, Andor’s most problematic flaw is pace. The new Star Wars series has a very slow and staid pace, which in some ways is inevitable for the kind of story he intends to tell. On the other hand, particularly in the entire second episode, sometimes very little happens and you could adjust a little something in terms of timing, perhaps anticipating a certain arrival or some dialogue even just to give greater consistency to the individual chapters. At the same time, Andor earns much more from this plant, at least in our opinion: there is a real dramatic climax towards the inevitable clash with the Imperials; the viewer has a greater emotional involvement because at risk there are characters he has learned to know and not introduced 10 minutes before.
In addition, the meeting between Luthen (played by an amazing Stellan Skarsgard) and Cassian is goosebumps, complete with an action sequence in an abandoned factory well shot and very creative in the development. In short, the first three episodes of Andor sow a precious harvest, from which the fourth begins to benefit because it is there that the series opens totally with espionage, sabotage and an anxious political situation – a much more complex and stratified whole than the average Star Wars product excluding novels. The potential is there and if it is exploited to the maximum we could find ourselves in front of an unexpected gem.
The series is to be identified as a dramatic spy/thriller, in the first four episodes the tension is very high and there are no jokes of any kind. Andor creator Tony Gilroy said the thriller is the perfect genre to carry on the story of Cassian Andor because it delves deeply into the psyche and behaviors of the characters who, of course, are “neither white nor black “: they have facets and particularities and they are all different from each other. From the very first minutes, thanks also to the magnificent music, photography, design and stylistic choices, you understand the tone of the show, which makes everything real and far from the concept of science fiction with which a franchise like Star Wars is normally associated. In Andor you fight for your life and conspire for something higher like freedom:
Another aspect clear from the start is that being Andor a prequel to Rogue One it is clear that there is a point at the end, in the history of Cassian. This then focuses the attention on the journey of the main character, making sure that the development of the episodes does not have to be somehow focused on what is going to happen but on what is happening in the present Andor. There is therefore the Lucas film show careful writing of the characters, their dialogues and above all their actions. Also, for this reason, almost all the characters of Andor often have unexpected implications. In short, those who start well are half done and it seems that Andor is on the right path to being one of the best Star Wars TV series along with The Mandalorian.
It is still early to give an actual judgment of Andor, however it seems to have taken the right path from the start. Not everything is perfect, that’s for sure, and we found some choices too obvious, but the continuation of the narrative solves for the best what used to make us turn up our noses. Disney+ will release the first three episodes together which, as we said, should be understood as a single one. The choice of assembly at the end of each one leaves something to be desired as if they were suddenly closed. A problem that we later did not encounter in the fourth, more focused, more convincing.
Natural photography and the use of sipped CGI make Andor a real product; Disney + seems to want to forgive the Power Ranger scooters from The Book of Boba Fett. To this aspect is added a never forced acting, never over the top, well balanced and full of pathos. Diego Luna is one with Cassian, we can’t distinguish the actor from the character. The protagonist embodies the frustration, resentment and anger toward an absent galaxy, his speech that reminded us of the famous phrase of the Cold in Romanzo Criminale – The series. Although with different implications – in the Sky series based on the novel by Giancarlo De Cataldo there was talk of real criminals – that human resentment towards an absent state is also found in Star Wars.
It was since the days of the first season of The Mandalorian that the Disney management had not brought home a success. The last two films of the sequel trilogy did not go to the graces of the fans, let alone Boba Fett and Kenobi. Just like the current production level of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which dropped dramatically after Avengers: Endgame, the Star Wars universe also suffered an inevitable setback, resulting from the excessive proliferation of content. Too much, as we know, is good, and the visual quality as well as the narrative are affected. Keeping together the threads of an expanded and complicated universe like that of Star Wars shouldn’t be easy, but one wonders how far one can go to take advantage of a franchise.
Andor seems to make up for these shortcomings, at least in part. But as always, the one with the fans is a relationship based on trust, on the hope that something better can come out of the magician’s hat. In this sense, the series will be able to reconnect a relationship that has been cracked for some time now, especially with the long-standing fandom, now much more attentive to the script than to mere spectacle. Andor is an adult series, in the strict sense of a product designed for a certain target. We move away from Marvel humor and approach the tragedy, the transience of the human being and his redemption of him.
Andor Review: The Last Words
Right from the trailers, Andor was expecting a more mature, darker, more violent series that could still show us the Rebellion, but also new sides of the Empire and its daily evil, so to speak. And, from the first 4 episodes that we were able to preview, that’s exactly what we got. Andor is a show that does not want to joke, does not want to show us situations full of hope, and generally does not want to skimp on any aspect – always within the limits of Star Wars, which are exploited to the maximum. Guided by the charisma of her protagonist and the extraordinary Luthen of Stellan Skarsgard, already in the first episodes she manages to pack sensational and incredibly creative moments, first and foremost precisely the meeting between the two, from goosebumps. It is at the same time a very slow and staid product in its rhythms, in some circumstances – especially in the second episode – a little too much, but it is built around that and uses the “dead moments” to create excellent, believable settings, pulsating life and peculiar habits, something that Star Wars hasn’t done for too long time. In short, we have just seen a mere introduction to Andor and the potential is all there.
