SPEAKER_00 0:00

Tell me a single scene where your jaw dropped and you were like, oh my God.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Well, if you'd let me, you know, come right talk about it. Okay. Okay. We're let's just sit here with the silence folks on the over the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

You said you were gonna provide me.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

This is an audio podcast. You gotta you gotta get into the mic so people can hear you. I'm not gonna talk. You're gonna talk. No, you're sitting there making all these assumptions. I said I didn't hate the film, but you're you're you're taking that and you're making an assumption that I'm here to like highly recommend and say what's the greatest star with.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I'll tell you this. And I stepped back and said, okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

No, I didn't. That's not what I said. You're listening to the O Brother Podcast. Real Brothers, Real Talk. Welcome to the O Brother Podcast. I'm your host, Dan Smith. Alongside me as always, my brother from the same other, Mike Smith.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hey Dan, happy Memorial Day and happy Memorial Day to everyone out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, happy Memorial Day weekend. We're at the end of it here on actual Memorial Day. We're recording this. We well, I saw the Mandalorian and Grogu opening night on the 22nd. You just saw it last night, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

In a matter of hours.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah, you saw it last night. Yeah. So it uh yeah, came out May 22nd, 2026. Now we've been talking about this for the last like seven months because we did three different episodes reacting to the different trailers that had come out. Wow. And yeah, we did three of them. The most recent was like just a month ago when the final trailer had dropped. And uh, but you know, it I went back and looked and and took a listen to the first looks, and there were some interesting things, you know, you kind of forget, you know, some of the predictions you make or just comments you make or whatever. Um in this case it was interesting because uh we it was a few things. One one, I predicted, and it's just been out for the weekend, so let you know I don't jump ahead, but I predicted it was gonna destroy the box office, is what I said. And I think I meant opening weekend pretty much by the time that you know, and and today isn't quite in the bag, you know, there's still some showings, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

They're estimating 163, that's pretty close.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, 165 is actually if you look at box office mojo. But, anyways, uh so that was one thing. We both said we were gonna see it in IMAX. I don't think either of us did. Right. Okay. And then I there was, you know, we were speculating on the physical acting of Pedro Pascal and whether or not we would get any of that, because as the seasons of The Mandalorian progressed, he became less and less featured in the in the suit, if you will. And, you know, one, of course, everybody who watched the series and is a Star Wars fan knows that there were stories of him getting sort of uncomfortable with the armor and all of that over time. And they made some modifications to that and so forth, but he also became very busy. You know, he's in every other movie there there is, and so um, and and you don't really need him except for you know, maybe a few scenes here and there where he's helmetless.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And if you go to IMDB and look at the cast, it's him, and right beside him is the guy, you know, it says playing Mandalorian.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I wanted to make a point about that. So, spoiler alert, you know, if you haven't seen the film yet, I would see the film and then catch this episode of the O'Brother Podcast. Oh. What? Oh.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

I I didn't know you were gonna spoil stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Oh, brother. How are we gonna do an episode on the most anticipated movie? Probably at least one of the top, if not the most anticipated film of the year, or the summer certainly, and not get into it. Like we got how are we gonna skirt around and like that? But doing the spoiler-free stuff, like then we just have a conversation about some people want to wait. So watch the film and then come back and check out this episode. Easy as that. People do it every single day. So, because I, you know, I'm I'm not gonna be careful about what I'm saying necessarily, but um, and to the point that we were just making about Dinjarin or Pedro Pascal, we do see him in this film a little bit. Insert sound of crickets here, folks.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I'm waiting to get your take.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Low energy mice here on the Mandalorian and Grogu, folks. I uh my energy is just fine. It's really not, uh quite frankly. But that's so for those that are still listening. Um, where would you like to start? I'll let you start.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

I'll start with Star Wars has no what's the word I'm looking for?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Here comes it. It's not low energy, Mike. It's controversial Mike on the Yo Brother Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Star Wars should be nowhere near the title of this film. This is nothing to do with Star Wars.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, it isn't. It's actually not on the title.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

If you look it up on IMDb, what does it say? Star Wars Mandalorian Grogu. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Dan's double checking me, and I'm always right when he does that. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu. Yeah. Well, uh, okay. Anyways, go ahead and make your point about how this isn't.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

My point is this has little to do with Star Wars, other than the chess game and A New Hope. There's nothing here related to Star Wars. This is barely a Mandalorian film. For those who have watched The Mandalorian for three seasons, right? What do you think of when you watch The Mandalorian? Think back to when we we first watched The Mandalorian. What do you think of first? Wow. Baby Yoda. And then I don't know where Grogu came from, but it was like, is this a young version of Yoda? Yoda, it's not Yoda.

unknown 6:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

It's got nothing to do with Yoda other than the species. Okay, but that reveal was huge.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Of course it was. The second reveal was Luke, so we know we're in the Star Wars timeline. Right? That was a huge, like jaw-dropping moment when all of a sudden you saw young Luke Skywalker take out Holly's, you know, Imperial Guards or whatever. This had none of that.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

This wasn't good accidentally.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Mike pulling out an old bit. Go back about uh two seasons of the Yo Brother podcast.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I I'm if you liked this, I'll be stunned.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

I didn't hate it.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I didn't hate it. I I think Last Jedi, I'd rather watch.

unknown 7:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

In fact, if it wasn't for the show. You're just pulling the contrarian take.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

No, if it wasn't for the show, I would have walked out.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah. See, this is the problem, is people can't just go and enjoy the film for what it is, right? It wasn't purporting to be a continuation of the Skywalker saga or like any of those things. This is this is a Mandalorian and Grogu story. This is what you're getting. That's exactly what you're getting.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

But why not include someone from the Mandalorian universe? There's nobody in it.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Okay, so let's talk about that a little bit. So, and I'll I'll I'll give you, well, when you say the Mandalorian universe, who what are some of the characters that you'd want to see?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I think of the woman that fixes his ship. Right. They had these little cute things fixing his ship. Obviously, called weathers.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Hold on, hold on. The Enzelens that you're referring to. Okay. I didn't even know what they were called. The Babu Fricks. Well, it's because you're ignorant to the Star Wars lore. But, anyways, the Enzelens. Okay, well, I'm going to get there. I'm going to get there. This was intentionally written for someone like that. So we'll talk about that, right? But the Enzelens, you just mentioned, they were in the last season of The Mandalorian. They're in this film. Okay. And the last season. Carl Weather's passed away. So he couldn't be in it without that. Without a recasting, brief car isn't going to be in it. Where's Giancarlo? Okay, you see, you you got Zeb, Zeb Aurelius, who was in Mandalorian. You've got, you know, the couple of the X-Wing people, you know, they're in it. Again, they're ancillary characters, but that's still that's still tying you to the series.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

So disconnected from the universe. No, it wasn't. Both Star Wars and Mandalorian. No, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

No, you're delusional. I'm not delusional. You've got to think about where this is set in the timeline, first of all. What do you want to see? You want to see, you know, Darth Vader show up for crying out loud? Like is that. Tell me this, Dan.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Tell me this. I just mentioned two moments. There's more. Tell me a single scene where your jaw dropped and you were like, oh my God.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Well, if you'd let me, you know, kind of talk about it. Okay. Okay. We're let's just sit here with the silence folks on the over the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Let's say you said you were going to provide me.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

This is an audio podcast. You got it, you got to get into the mic so people can hear you. I'm not going to talk. You're going to talk. No, you're sitting there making all these assumptions. I said I didn't hate the film, but you're you're you're taking that and you're making an assumption that I'm here to like highly recommend and say it was the greatest Star Wars.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

I'll tell you this. And I stepped back and said, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

You said tell me your jaw didn't drop. I said, well, if you let me finish, okay, I'll get my point out. Okay. Which is the to me, there weren't any jaw dropping moments. Okay. This is not like, oh my God, this is the greatest Star Wars film I've ever seen. No, it's not that. But I also didn't hate it. I I enjoyed the film. I I thought I liked the film. And I'm not going to make any apologies for that.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

As nor should anyone else who likes it. Nor should you. No. And it's not my job to like or hate the film. It's my job to give you my opinion. And like, connect the dots to Star Wars. Connect the dots to Mandalorian. They're not there. And I know that because you told me about an interview you watched with um Favravo, the director. That said, you know, we're making a movie for people who might not know anything about it. You can come in cold. Yes. But that's not the audience. I've been waiting eight years for a Star Wars movie.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Seven years.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

And this is what I got.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah. Yeah. Well. And to that, it's not horrible. I was bored. I was thoroughly bored. Okay. And that's unfortunate for you because you obviously went in with some unrealistic expectations about what the world was.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I went in excited. This is one of the films we had a discussion, and we it was recorded that I said, I was naming off, you know, we had just gone through the Academy Awards, and I was like, what's to look forward to? And this was the first one I think I mentioned. So what about all Star Wars film?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

What about all of the things that you said on all of the first looks in Favreau We Trust? And you all of the images in the scenes that you saw in the trailers were in the first five minutes of the film. Okay. Did you did you enjoy that?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I I enjoyed the at battle. Okay. And then after that, my enjoyment just disappeared.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

So there was there were parts of the film that you liked? A minute, maybe. Two minutes of screen time. A minute, two minutes. Okay. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Well, it's I ironically, that was one of my least favorite sequences in the film was the ads, because it didn't it looked better to me on the small screen in the trailer than it played on the big screen. It just it I didn't like the the CGI effects that they used. It was or you know, it was just it just didn't, I don't know, it didn't look right. It wasn't as and again to your point, like we got everything we saw in those trailers. We that was the first 10 minutes of the film, first five, ten minutes of the film.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

John Favreau did the right thing by keeping it just to the first. You know, that's the rule of trailers. You know, we complained about Mission Impossible because it gave away a huge scene that didn't come till the end of the film, and it took us out of the movie because we were waiting for that scene.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Well, you know, so so for those that that know or don't know, right? Like the fourth season of Mandalorian was already in the bag. It was already written.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Right. And then you've got the strikes happen and all these things happen, and and you know, they go and they look and they see what they have because they're approached by, I think, Kathleen Kennedy, say, Hey, can we get a film here? You know, it's been a while, let's pivot and see if we can get a film out. They can't, based on what they've got written for that, so they have to start over. Right. Right. And part of that approach, as I said, and you commented on, was Favreau at least wanting maybe not wanting it to be tied so heavily to the insider perspective, right? That you got to know everything about the universe, that you could come in, maybe never having seen a Star Wars film before. Now, you don't have to like that approach, but that's that's how we approached it. And I think in that respect, it probably serves its its purpose. But to your point at the beginning, as a hardcore diehard Star Wars fan, yeah. You're much more than you maybe you're maybe not going to be as satisfied as you hoped you might be. Perhaps. Perhaps. And I don't think there'll be I think there'll be plenty of people that'll be sour about it. The critics are certainly mixed and mostly sour about it. The audience is pretty solid, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

It's it's it's and I know what you just said about Favreau starting from the ground up. But as I was watching this, I couldn't help but think, yeah, I could see that being an episode, that being an episode. I could see them on doing this for the small screen.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah, it might have been better. It does play out like a long episode of The Mandalorian. It does, it does. But there were a lot of things about it I love. Like, you know, the the most obvious is I don't care what you say, but the star of the show is Grogu. Like, that's the star of the show. Anytime Grogu shows up, does something cute, like whatever it is, it's a it's a it's a winner. It's just a winner in every sequence.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

And I don't know if it was Ahsoka, I think it was uh Boba Fett, Book of Boba Fett, right? Where people forget, you know, they remember the the Luke reveal in the Mandalorian, but they forget that in Boba Fett, Luke starts to train Grogu, and and he's in the middle of training. Don't you think that character should have evolved other than a cute punchline, which is all he was in the movie. No, he wasn't. I purposely was viewing because my theater was pretty full. As was mine, and I was looking for reactions, and nobody was reacting to it.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, well, I'll tell you, mine got a round of applause at the end. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Mine actually got booed. Oh, bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

It did not get booed. Yeah, I'm not kidding.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Peach as soon as the credits came up.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I'm not even kidding. There's no way uh that's possible at all. I'm not buying that at all. Okay, I'll give you a lot of people. I'm not buying that it got cheered then. I'll give you credit on the title. I'm not gonna give you credit that that everybody booed. I mean, come on. I've never every Star Wars film I've seen in the you know, since the Force Awakens, basically, that's been that's been how the crowds reacted at the end. With you know, now I can't remember last Jedi, whether or not there was a booze there. Yeah. But um, but no, I mean it was uh the the the audience I went with.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Which was my audience clearly was with me. They clearly did and I sat there as they were walking out, uh-huh, and it was a younger audience, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

And they were just like, man.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

What really? Is that what they were saying? Yeah. Mike was. They were just kind of groaning. You were out in the parking lot and gone by the time anybody got up.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

I wanted to hear comments. I couldn't make out any specific comments, yeah, but I could tell people were definitely disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, again. I didn't now I should give a little bit more context on my experience because I was up against the clock to get there and see it. And I was literally sitting down in my seat, and the the opening title card was was up on the screen. So I was like, oh man, you know, here I was when we saw Michael. I was complaining about 20 minutes solid previews. I didn't get that here. So I was I did. I just made it. Yeah. And and and right away, I like as we talked about, I was like, oh yeah, I've seen all this. But again, that was good. I'm like, okay, so now I've got you know a good hour and a half plus of of new material that I haven't seen. So I was at least looking forward to that. But yeah, there was a lot of things, you know. I I wasn't, I didn't love the the the Rod of the Hut character, like being like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I plus he's more articulate than I am.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Right? What happened to Hot Knees? Yeah, my they just threw it out the window.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Mike playing off his uh Mike just took looked up Wikipedia before the episode.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

I'm like, I'm like, okay, it started. We saw the twins in the show. So that wasn't jaw-dropping. Now, the fact that this Rod of the Hunt, which is the son of Jabba and wants to be nothing like him.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I think in the first look, one of the that was another thing. I was saying, oh, this is Jabba's brother. It's actually his son.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

I mean Was he in the uh No.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

No, this is we haven't seen him, no.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Uh and like you said, his English was better than mine. He speaks, you know, like it was Jeremy Allen White's voice.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yeah, well, you said that. I I was talking about the physique. It was a bit Right. Yeah. Okay, they're going for something different than the usual blubber, you know, Jabba that we see. Uh okay, fine. But it I liked the idea around it, like the storyline around him, but I didn't like the portrayal of the character necessarily. And and I couldn't, I couldn't not be picturing Jeremy Allen White while I'm watching the character. And so one of the things I hate about this kind of casting, anybody, any voice actor could have voiced Rod of the Hut. But no, they had to do the, you know, Jeremy Allen White, who is like, you know, super the flavor of the month right now, and we loved him in Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere and The Bear and all these things, but I don't know why that was necessary to put him in there. And it takes me out of it because his voice is very distinctive. Even though it was, they did something with the tone of his voice. It wasn't exactly his voice, of course.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

What about Marty Scorsese?

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah, well, we we commented on that with the first look. You know, we thought, and it was fun, it was cute, it was a fun little scene. He was fine. Yeah, it was it was fine. I had no problem with that. Sigourni, Sigourney Weaver's character, I she was great. I had no problem with Sigourney or that character for that matter. Now, you mentioned at the very beginning about Pedro Pascal in the billing. This was one of the things that I really thought was cool about it was right in the beginning, you see Pedro Pascal, and then the next two names you see are Brandon Wayne and then Latif Crowder. These are the two guys that also play. Now there's others, but these are the two other main guys that play the physical uh, you know, uh uh Mando.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

So what you bring that up, that was odd in the sense that it came at the beginning. I don't think and you'll know better than me. I don't think any other Star Wars movie had credits at the beginning. Yeah, well, it didn't even have the typical scroll, which bummed me out.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Right, right. There was none of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

It was just like it was something that flashed up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Which is more reminiscent of what we get with Mandalorian. You know, that's that, but again, there's an there's they to tie it into Star Wars to your point. Give us a scroll. Where's the scroll, man? I I need the scroll. Maybe because they couldn't come up with a good enough one based on this thin storyline that they had. And and it is a very simple story, and that can be a pro and a con. Here, you're gonna certainly argue that it's a con. In some ways, I'd argue it's a pro because you it's not a gazillion characters that you have to know or figure out, or it's a very straightforward. Simple plot here, right? With with the Mandalorian working for the New Republic. He's out on a mission with Grogu. You know, it that's a it's a very straightforward plot.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

But and there was zero surprises. I mean, that's what bothered me more than anything.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

I don't disagree.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

People who brought you, you know, Luke, I am your father, and all these unbelievable jaw-dropping moments can't even come up with a simple surprise. I don't know that surprised me. I don't disagree with that.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

No, I don't disagree with that. Again, I I didn't say there was any jaw-dropping moments for me. You just kind of jumped on me and assumed and I don't think the point I was making. But I did like there were a lot of moments I liked. There was a lot of sweet moments. You know, I love again, it's a cash cow with Grogu, in my opinion. And there were some really sweet moments with him, some funny moments too, which again, we've come to uh be familiar with that in the series, right? In the Disney Plus.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

But don't you think his character should be more developed by now? In what sense? In the sense that he has powers. One at one scene, he's trying to, you know, start up the ship, and instead he's shooting off missiles. That was done for cuteness. And I was like, it's not cute. You did that already in the show.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Yeah, but he's not that far. You got to think about it. He's just been riding with the Mandalorian, and you got to think of where we left him at the end of season three. You know, he's out there in the brook, you know, chasing frogs or whatever. Like he's still, relatively speaking, in the universe, a kid. He's not this all powerful, you know. But he showed at moments in the series.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

He has shown moments of that. Correct, that was in the film.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

But yes, it was. And but they also in the series, it also shows how when he had demonstrated those powers, it wore him out too. Like it completely destroyed him, right? But in this, you've got, I mean, he literally saves Mando's ass in the film. He completely saves his ass.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, and just did you think he was gonna die? Did you have any he might not make? Of course not. It's drama.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Oh, okay. Let's didn't work. Did you think Rocky was gonna, I mean, like whatever other movies you want to think about with these major characters that you know are gonna continue on because of the the successfulness of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Burgess Meredith, as old as he was, was still acting after they killed his own character off.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

I'm talking about Rocky, but himself, but but the the point being, no, but that's got nothing to do with it, right? If it's good, it still pulls you in. It's still right, it's still dramatic, and it was. And then there were some funny moments too between you know, this again, there's this whole sequence of the Mando Mandalorians kind of down and out, and oh my god, this is it. You know, it's it's it's a played out trope, but it was funny.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

I think I think what you're pointing out in your analysis is a problem I had, which is he tried, and when I say he, I shouldn't put it on Favero. I didn't have any issue with the directing, but the three people who wrote it, Felone, who has a cameo in it, and some other writer that I I didn't recognize.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Noah Clore, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Okay, so there's where the problem is. I think they tried to put something in for everyone. Yeah, let's put in this for kids. Let's, you know, kind of like Jar Jar Binks, the most hated character in all of Star Wars. And we find out that George Lucas put him in there because he wanted it to appeal to kids. Okay, but I still don't like the character.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

It's his favorite character to this day. Yeah, again, I I I wouldn't even say that. I I don't even think that's what they were trying to do. I I don't I'm I'm not sure it was even that thought out, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I you know, at the beginning, I thought, okay, this is uh Mandalorian turns John Wick, and then it would shift to something else. Like I said, I think this would have made episodic television, and you could have done it reveal job as kid, reveal list.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

I don't think this was the way to pardon the pun there. I don't think this was the way to come off a seven-year drought uh in the Star Wars film franchise. I I agree, I think this would have been a great, you know, episodic, you know, season four. Um and and who knows what that now season four was gonna be way more steeped in the lore and all of that. But yeah, you know, the decision they made to go this route and this is what you get. And again, I I just was not gonna come in here and just easily hate on it for hating's sake. I there's been too much of that from the Star Wars fan base over the you know the last several years, and I just was I was gonna call, you know, say what I don't like about it, and there's several things I don't like about it, and there's several things I did like about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Yeah, and and my issue was there was nothing I found nothing likable.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

And the lack of ingenuity in the script, the lack of a surprise.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Well, I think here's one thing, here's one thing that might have hurt it. I I don't know, but you know, this was interestingly the first Star Wars film that was filmed entirely in California.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Because of this huge tax credit they got, right? They got like a $28 million, like the most ever. It was it was a lot, right? And so, you know, in some ways I think that's great, totally respect that, but in some ways I think it restricted it because even though the technology with the volume and all of that has uh greatly evolved in the last several years in in the seven-year drought that we've had, right? They've had a lot of time to sort of wait on the technology to advance to a point where they can do amazing things.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

But this is one of the back to the original when they were using models to create the effects, and you still had some of that.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

You know, there was still some of that going on here in the in the puppetry with the NZLens, and you know, there's still a a flavor of that here, and some of those original artists involved in this too, right? Doug Chang and and Phil Tippett, like legendary guys from like ILM and and whatever. But yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, again, that's kind of my I I don't I would I certainly wouldn't say don't spend your money to see on IMAX because I don't think that would make any difference whatsoever. Because to me, the scenes, it was what, about 45 minutes or so that was shot in IMAX. Yeah. And the scenes that I would have gone, been going to IMAX to see, like the ad-at sequence on the side of the cliff face and all that. I just I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped I'd be. Because when I saw it in the trailer when we did the first look, there my jaw dropped. And I was like, wow, this is and Dan, I was so excited for this.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

I I I I don't know, I don't know if that's coming true because I'm being so negative. Yeah, but I was so looking forward to this. So I couldn't have been more on board at the beginning of the film, yeah. And it opens with the the sequence, and I agree, it didn't live up to what it looked like in the in the on TV, but I just couldn't believe halfway through I was just thoroughly bored.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

I think you should have you know tempered your expectations more, unfortunately. That might have helped. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Maybe because like Rogue One, Solo, those are the two non-Skywalker films, and I love both of them, right? Right? We've done an episode, Why You Should Like Solo. This, it's just not on the same level.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

Oh, I I agree with that. I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that. And they cheaped out.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

I you know, if you do your research, well, they cheaped out, made this film for very little money to make sure it would turn a profit. So uh not ChayPeck, but his the guy that took his job back again.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Bob Iger.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Yeah, uh this got Bob Iger's prints all over.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Yeah, well, yeah, uh again, I I can't argue with any of that, honestly. I I think this the budget probably should have been 200 plus million, but it was more like probably 150, 100 and somewhere around there. Because we all in marketing, whatever it's probably 300 something, million, whatever. And they definitely huge, definitely a marketing cap. They were definitely pushing this film. It was everywhere. Commercials more, the Super Bowl ad, like all the things, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

A film has to make, people don't understand this, but a film has to make two and a half times what it cost in order to turn a profit. That's why the very good Mission Impossible finale, which I thought was great, and it made 750 million, didn't turn a profit. Yeah, I think shocking.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I I think we can both agree they would have been better served to honestly, I would have rather have waited another year or so and and just have this return as an episode, you know, episodic uh. I agree with that. Right. And I'm sorry, say what you want, but this whole you know, Kathleen Kennedy push to to and and and Iger supporting it too, with let's get away from the Skywalker saga, blah blah, they want anything to do with that. Okay, that's why this franchise has been as successful as it is or has been, is because of that storyline threaded throughout. Right and so I kind of agree. Like you think of it, what is it, the The Last Starfighter? Is that the name of the Ryan Reynolds one we've got? Or Ryan Gosling, rather. Ryan Gosling. I do that all the time with the two of them, but coming up in a year, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

And we have to wait another year, and I hope Sean Levy looks at this. And I'll tell you, Dan, the tell is gonna be next week's box office.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

There was there was another thing from the first look that made me laugh, hearing you say Dan, Dan Levy. You said not Sean Levy. You said Dan Levy, Eugene Levy's kid. And and we we never corrected it on the on the episode. But yeah, I I it makes me nervous. It makes me nervous that it could be just another one of these.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

That's what I'm and you know who's in charge? But Feloney. He was a crony to Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas. Now, he's the right pick being closest to Lucas, but he was he wrote this. He's one of the writers. Well, it's his universe now. He should have never let this go out.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Well, certainly when it comes to animation, that's Dave's wheelhouse.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Is there like which I had no interest in it?

SPEAKER_01 33:19

I got through the Maul series, and that was awesome. That was awesome. So I that I would recommend people check out is is the Shadow Lord, the Darth Maul series.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

But this one, I'll bring up the there's a uh tournament battle, right, that they did in Thor Ragnarok really good. You're talking about in this film, in this film, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:40

With Rod of the Pitfighter, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:42

He's a pitfighter. And when all those characters come in, those are characters from the chess game that they're playing in 3D holographic in the first movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like the only thing that touched Star Wars for me. And I and it wasn't, I'm not a you know, I'm not that big a buff to even know that. I had to read that.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yeah, and that that's uh to me was like minor. But yeah, I just didn't like the portrayal of that character, quite frankly. So it's it's a mixed bag for me. Again, I I certainly didn't like despise it, you know, but there like there's things in The Last Jedi that I like that I hated more than anything in this, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

But let's talk about the worst moments, but I also yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Here's what I didn't like, but I but I also there's things again. I've said this on the air, I've said it, you know, in off mic is The Last Jedi. There's plenty of things in The Last Jedi that I that I really like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

So it's connected at least, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

It's connected, sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Still got Harrison Ford, you've still got these characters we can connect to.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

And maybe that's the key ingredient is is that storyline that threads throughout. I mean, that's what we grew up on. That's why the reveal of Luke in Mando was so powerful. You know, it that's but they kind of screwed that up.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

And you know, they reverse engineered Rogue One and made it into a TV show, right? And it was wildly good. They could not go the other way, they couldn't go from TV to big screen with this. They just it just didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

It didn't work, yeah. It really didn't work. I mean it was it was cool to be going to the theater to see a new Star Wars film. Yeah, but yeah, it doesn't it it didn't it didn't fulfill that expectation uh and I'm I'm on a different rung than you because really I I was so excited.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

I I'm such a fan of Favreau, I was looking forward to this. So yeah, with each passing moment, I kept getting more and more bored. Instead of okay, instead of circling back to the same story, which they actually did, they actually completed a story and then circled back to it. Yeah, I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

I again I'm not sure what else you would have pulled in from the three Mando seasons we already got. You know, you don't have again, you don't have Carl Weathers, right? You don't have Grief Carga. I don't want to see a recasting, you know. I I'm not a huge fan of that, even though that's coming in.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Where's Bo Katan? Where's Giancarlo?

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Sure, Giancarlo, yeah, Moff Gideon, sure. A lot of that, those are great points. I think that would have helped. Yeah, and there's there's some others like, you know, listen, Gina Carano, you know, she's clearly not going to pursue her MMA uh uh career any any longer. But 17 seconds was there's but there's rumors that her and Favravo have already been discussing her return to Star Wars, and I'd be totally down for that.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I I liked her character, I'd love to see her back. Her politics got her booted out of the universe. Yeah, it wasn't even her politics, you know. Again, I don't let's not go down that road. That's been played out in you know in other venues. But yeah, so the point here is uh, you know, it's mixed reviews. I would honestly I mean, look, if you're a Star Wars fan, you're not gonna wait to see this, most likely, but I would say wait till it comes to streaming, you know. Uh but you want the big experience with Star Wars, you know, and again, my theater, plenty of claps and cheers at the end, and you had booze. So I think that I think that is a perfect summing up of the reaction here from us, right? Is the fact that it was just mixed. It's just mixed. So don't go in, uh you temper your expectations, folks. I guess is what we would say.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Which I I hate saying that because you know, I myself had such big expectations, and I put a lot on Favor on. It's hard not to. Seven years it's been. Seven years. Seven years. I don't know what's planned for the Ryan Gosling one, but you know, and here's another thing, too, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

But okay, Last Jedi, whatever, say what you want. But with Force Awakens and the rise of Skywalker, which I liked as well. I didn't hate on. I I thought what what uh Abrams did with with that last one was everything that I I I wanted and kind of needed in that summing up of the sequel trilogy.

SPEAKER_00 38:29

He kind of needed to fix something that another guy broke.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Kind of, yeah. Yeah. And I and I thought that he did. He's it was satisfying to me. But just when we get comfortable and start embracing those characters, Poe Damron, right? And the whole they've screwed that up. Right. Right? The Ray film is on, it's off, it's on, it's off. Right. You know, John uh can't got his last the actors last year.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

It was so hard to latch on to those actors, John. Given we had, you know, given it was the big three for so long, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:08

But here's here's another, like, okay, and you know, I I can BB eight, like it had all of the ingredients. It had the ingredients. And that you could play that out for you could have played that out easily for another six films, just like we got with the you know, the first three, the prequel, the right, the OG and the sequel. But I so I don't know where that's at. That may never come back around again, which is terrible.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

I recently heard it was it was dead.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

That's very sad, and that's kind of what they need right now. That's really what could potentially be.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

They need a familiar Yeah. I mean, Daisy Ridley's a skywalker. What better way to get into the universe?

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Well, you know, as you said, let's see what happens week two here with the box office, because that's gonna probably largely determine where they because you know Iger in particular, when he's been at the helmets, let's announce the next 10 Star Wars movies 40 years into the future, not deliver on two-thirds of them. And the ones we do deliver on are usually pretty unsatisfying, right? Yeah, and so I don't know. It feels like they're getting lazy because of the success of the streaming series. So I just I don't know. I was I that's what I was most excited about, Mike, was to be going back to the theater to see Star Wars. That was my greatest expectation. Yeah, me too. And at the end of the day, I walked out like, yeah, yeah, it was good. It was alright.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

There was a little bit of reason to be worried, which I overlooked. Is the first two seasons of Mandalorian are both really good. The third season kind of was like it started to go down.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Yeah, I didn't have any problem with it. And well, most people like I don't even own the third season. Yeah, I had some problems with it, but you know, yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

But I didn't buy the third season because there wasn't enough in there for me. So there was a hint that hey, maybe the creative juice of this character characters is on thin ice, and I think I think this movie proved it.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah, super unfortunate. I mean, this is not what you want to come on and be expressing after seeing a Star Wars film, the first in seven years, folks.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

In seven years, and this is what you know, it just proves that Disney can't handle George Lucas, needs to buy this back and get us on track.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

I I couldn't agree more. I I and I, you know, in the writers, I don't know how much of the writing was Favreau, how much was Feloney, like who knows?

SPEAKER_00 41:45

But um, yeah, yeah, which one do I blame?

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Yeah, I know. This is a very lukewarm reaction, of course, from both of us. So again, it wasn't gonna come in here and pretend this was like super fantastic. It was not. It was, you know, but there were again, there's a lot of enjoyable things about it. I think it would be a super fun film to take your kids to if you're a Star Wars fan. Like, there's a there's a lot here to like, but not enough to love it. Not enough to love it, and that should be a given with Star Wars. I mean, it's how do you screw that IP up? And Disney has really they they've figured out how to screw it up, they've done a number on it. Both in that some of the shows and in the park experience. Let's not even get into that, right? Go back to the episodes we've done on Disney and you'll you'll hear it, folks. But it that it's playing out there too, Mike. You go and, you know, they finally. Here's another great example. They finally caved in, and they've given us the original characters in Galaxy's Edge now, right? You can go and see Han Solo and Luke and Leah and and you know, and and say what you want about the portrayals of them, but okay, they're finally embracing that. How many years did it take? Ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Ridiculous. And they're doing makeovers all around the four parks, but it's a little too late for that. For those of us who were diehard Disney fans, yeah, we got bored.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

It feels very disingenuous, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

So yeah, and and that's a cash cow, Dan. Yeah, you know, it's one thing about the movies, they're hit and miss. Sometimes they make money, sometimes they lose money. But the parks consistently make money, and they've been ignoring them for years. It took universal, I think, to wake them up.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Yeah, it's shocking considering the the cost still that it is to go there. Shock. I mean, you got a family going there? Wow, I don't know how you do it. But anyways, well, there you go. Very mixed here, uh, not what we were hoping for for sure, but uh I I don't know. It it it makes me really kind of nervous now. Like you said, what to look forward to for you know the the Starfighter film.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

You know Ryan Gosling, as good as he is, he's gotta have a story to work with.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

There's gotta be, yeah, it's gotta be a good story there. Let let to not end on a sour note. I I had I wanted to ask you this. What's your what's your favorite memory of Star Wars of all time? Like what's your favorite memory that you think Star Wars and what comes into your brain?

SPEAKER_00 44:20

You know what comes into my brain, and I'll just say it, is we were on a camping trip, and there was a guy named Rick Carwan. Carwan. Him telling me I just saw this movie Star Wars, and him trying to explain it to me. That's my first memory, is I got excited just from him telling me about it. Then when I went to see it, boom, I was blown away.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

You were the perfect age, too. Yeah. To see you were about the same age I was when I saw Return of the Jedi in the theater.

unknown 44:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

And kind of the same thing, just you know, forever and I was lucky enough, well, not anymore, but I was lucky enough to be old enough to go to the three originals.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Now, the other thing I wanted to ask you, what's your favorite Star Wars character and why?

SPEAKER_00 45:14

That's so tough.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

I've never asked you that before.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

I gotta think it's Han Solo. He was just so cool.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Me too. Same. Okay. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, there you go, folks. The Mandalorian and Grogu. Uh, if you've seen the film, please drop some comments on the video. Let us know what you think. Um, you can also hit us up. Uh, there's a link in the show notes if you're listening to the episode. You can reach out to the video.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Dan, we didn't give out much spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

We really didn't. No, I I thought maybe, you know, that might be where it the conversation went, but yeah, we didn't we didn't really have to. So um, but yeah, uh let us know what you think. Really want to get your thoughts on this one uh once you've seen the film. And if you're not planning to see it as a Star Wars film, I definitely want to know why. I would think you'd at least want to see it and then form your own impression. But right you've heard our take on it. Uh there'll be many, many other takes across the the airwaves and on YouTube and everything. People breaking it down.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

The box office won't hurt people unless they dig deep into it like we do. But I think you're gonna see a major like 70% drop off.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Yeah, and then and then what that results in in terms of where they go next and and what we start hearing rumors about. Right, that will be very telling, I think, as well. Especially with Infavro Retrust. I mean, he was at the helm here, so you know it's gonna be a good one. Sean, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Again. Some things I liked, some things I didn't like. Right. So that there's my take on it. All right, folks, that's uh that's gonna do it for the Mandalorian and Grogu episode. Uh again, let us know what you think. Appreciate all the support we're getting out there uh on the YouTube channel in particular. Uh, anybody that's subscribed, greatly appreciate the support there. Anybody who's downloading and listening to the episodes, appreciate that. Make sure you share it with a friend. Don't forget to like and subscribe, all those different things. And uh and again, we love the engagement on the episodes, and I'm sure that this is one that we'll get a lot of engagement on, but uh definitely want to hear the the reactions for those that have seen it already. Um, especially if you love it. If you love the film, let like let's hear it. Break it down for you.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Yeah, like we've done videos why you should love a movie.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Yeah.

unknown 47:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Why should my yeah, you're right, right. Well, I'm not gonna begrudge anybody either if they like loved it and whatever. I just want to hear it. Me either.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

In fact, I hope people loved it.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

That that's what I want. I uh every movie I see, I want to like, and I want people to like it.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Yeah, for sure.

unknown 47:49

All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Well, there you go, folks. It's gonna do it for another episode of the O Brother Podcast. Been your host, Dan Smith, alongside me as always, my brother from the same other, Mike Smith, and we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

Bye, everyone.