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STAR WARS ANDOR REVIEW By Celine Wang
Are you reading reviews from critics that are officially blessed and baptized by Disney?
“Could a second (and final) season of Andor live up to the level and intensity of storytelling already set … largely, no, the answer is.” Global and Mail, Barry Hertz
“With Season 2, Andor cements itself as the gold standard of what modern Star Wars can be.” Variety Magazine, Alison Herman
“(Andor) goes for highbrow political intrigue in a way that is complementary to the space-opera fun of Star Wars … gives a long-cherished galaxy a respectful weight; Andor takes this all very seriously.” Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
Our editorial offices contacted the official media relations team from Disney a few days ago after finding out most “certified” or “approved” reviewers were given the entire second season to view before the premiere date, but since we are not approved as @ss-kissers to their programming, we don’t get as much as a “f-ck off” from them. Oh well, our loss obviously!
The premise is so flawed, it is only suitable for entry-level inexperienced fantasy lovers moviegoers.
If you are just getting wind of Andor this month, the highly praised series from Disney and Lucasfilm, you are likely to find the entire show intriguing and a new twist on the main film franchise that has been stuck in “reheat and serve” mode for decades, offering us variations on the original 1977 Star Wars, rebels fighting a new and bigger Death Star only to get another one. Yawwwn.
Even the supposedly new dynamic trilogy, with Daisy Ridley as Rey Palpatine, introduced as a “nobody” with incredible Jedi powers, ended being a rehash of one or more of the original six movies. Supposedly, originality was sorely lacking at Lucasfilm when Disney acquired the rights and Lucasfilm Ltd. from George Lucas, and except for The Force Awakens which broke a record of theater attendance crossing the One Billion dollars mark for the first time ever, the entire new trilogy has nose-dived very quickly.
Most movie critics, like me, attribute the initial mega win for Disney as being powered-up by moviegoers’ hunger for a fresh, original start for Star Wars, and packed theaters in droves expecting a miracle, only to be disappointed. There were, admittedly a new generation of younger fans and customers that Disney acquired with the new female-led Jedi-to-be, (actually presently the only known living almost-a-Jedi) at this point in the Star Wars saga.
Mother Nature Takes Her Toll on Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ Mission[Read Further Down]
Through multiple, streaming only, Disney + mini-series, Lucasfilm attempted to redraw the boundaries of the Star Wars universe, giving us The Mandalorian, The Book of Bobba Fett, The Acolyte, Skeleton Crew, and Ashoka (another once-a-Jedi now-retired female heroine), most of which were lackluster in terms of audience reception.
Only The Mandalorian was a big hit at first, because the protagonist was not only a tough male bounty hunter, but also because it harked back to “The Frontier”, being at the outer edge of The Empire and away from their control gave the writers of The Mandalorian much leeway without being encumbered by previous established storylines in the SW films, comic books, video games and animation series.
Believe it or not, some if not many “Star Wars critics” often cite events in the animation series of Star Wars, like The Bad Batch and The Clone Wars, as if they were canon (premise that cannot be altered at whim and producers have to abide by to preserve continuity, plausibility and consistency for viewers). Basically anything to embellish or apologize for bad box office became game with movie “critics” and anything to justify investors and financial markets’ continued support.
In the world of Science Fiction, Star Trek is mostly credited with the idea of story “canon” as a force for higher quality in creating entertainment within a sci-fi series, even though the concept of “canon” existed long ago with shows like Leave It to Beaver, The Big Valley, Eight is Enough, Magnum P.I. and Hill Street Blues.
Sadly, all new sci-fi viewers will discover that most any of the concepts hyped-up by authors of tripe and so-called reviews are not an original invention in the world of entertainment, especially not “canon” and most production teams were still able to conjure up seasons of fresh entertainment for viewers worldwide.
Despite all the noise online, Disney was unflinching, perhaps behind-the-scenes numbers were more than satisfactory in meeting their targets. Movie critics do not attend their boardroom meetings. In fact, the newest rumors are that Disney is about to launch another Star Wars series/trilogy with Daisy Ridley headlining the cast as the now de facto Jedi leader that Luke once was.
Getting back to Andor, it was delightful to watch an older Diego Luna show more maturity and better acting on camera than in his previous (younger) turn at Cassian in Rogue One (2016). It is very odd for viewers to watch him in this role more than a decade later when it is supposed to have happened before the Rogue One timeline, but to me at least he now fits the character like a glove.
Out of most of the new offerings from Disney/Lucasfilm after Lucas sold it off, after The Mandalorian, Andor holds the most promise as an entertaining Star Wars vehicle.
Again, the lead is a strong male character, Andor Cassian, portrayed by actor Diego Luna, one of the earliest rebels to join in founding the Rebel Alliance, a character never mentioned once in the original six films from George Lucas.
Not until Disney produced Star Wars Rogue One, and the leading female heroine in Rogue One needed a second male banana to enhance and engage male Star Wars fans into movie theaters.
Would Disney and Hollywood Be Exploiting Marginal Subcultures in The First World as Pre-Dominant Family Values? Fast and Furious Revolutionary vs Mature and Evolutionary?
Both of my editors have lamented years ago that Disney had embarked on suicide by shifting the focus of the lead heroes in the Star Wars universe away from male characters into female characters. This was not just Disney, it was Hollywood being “original” and embellishing the world of LGBTQ to the general public.
My editors gripped, and this was years ago, that in science fiction and in action movies, most of the audience is male, most are single, teenagers and up to thirty something and these moviegoers are big on violent, battle-driven, conflict-laden video games, with testosterone-charged action setups. To go about doing gender flipping is tantamount to killing your core audience base.
“Andor Season 2 Episodes 1-3 Recap And Review: Mommy Issues” Forbes, Erik Kain
But Hollywood was not to be dissuaded, instead they punched ahead with more than a decade of gender politics and socio-political programming to audiences that had become way too savvy from previous iterations, from parents, from video rentals and streaming of previous movie productions and tons of chatting online with peers and older generations of online surfers.
Whether Hollywood knew this and ignored it, no major spokesperson from any studio admitted to it. And at least within the Star Wars universe, you can see the results quite clearly.
Only The Mandalorian and Andor have strong audience receptions, all other efforts including the Daisy Ridley cinematic franchise were met with tepid response, disapproving grunts and outright online campaigning by viewers demanding the ouster of Kathleen Kennedy (current Lucasfilm senior executive) and complete cancellation and re-boot of the Rey Star Wars franchise.
Unfortunately, the three episodes of Andor Season 2 left a vastly different impression from Season 1 … the vast majority of these episodes meander, languish in tedium and sub story arcs about wedding preparations … endless pointless chatter between gang members bickering … and a Rebel Moon copycat arc.
To believe that today’s world affairs are the result of one president in office is a testament to the lack of education and misinformation purveyed mostly by pop culture media.
Note: Well that was only the first part of our editorial revue of Andor and Season 2, there are many more problems and wrinkles to point out in the complete edition of this review and a few more exclusive artwork posters themed in the Star Wars style much bigger than what is displayed here and downloadable for personal enjoyment, but you need a silver or gold membership. Ask us using the contact form if you have any questions or require assistance in signing up. Standard memberships are always free of cost and you can post any comments you like on Andor, Star Wars, science-fiction or Hollywood trends. Everyone is welcome!
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