A Complicated Profession: My Reaction to the First 25 Minutes of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu"

Last night at the end of a very busy Star Wars Day 2026, I attended the Special Look event for Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu at the AMC The Grove 14 movie theater in Los Angeles via a reservation made through Fandango. Below are my (mostly spoiler-free) thoughts on what I saw.

I want to start this off by reiterating that I've been a huge Star Wars fan for 35 years, having got into the franchise around age 11 around when Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire was released in 1991. I'm also pretty into the "Mandoverse" collection of Disney+ series that have been produced by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni since the streaming service launched in the fall of 2019. My favorites of those series has been The Mandalorian and Skeleton Crew (with Andor being a favorite outside of the Mandoverse), but I recognize and welcome that there is a wide spectrum of Star Wars content available for fans of most ages and tastes.

With that said, I went into the footage screening last night with high expectations and I left mostly optimistic about what's to come, with some minor reservations. Let's go through all of that now, shall we? First of all, the aspect of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu's first 25 minutes I have to gush about the most is the action. The opening sequence, of which you've seen clips in the trailers, is especially fun and exciting, with a lot of great, memorable moments making wonderful use of our titular heroes' respective abilities-- Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal / Brendan Wayne / Lateef Crowder) as the skilled bounty hunter and Grogu (still a mix of old-school puppeterring and CGI) as his Force-using ward. Having established themselves as a working partnership during the in-universe time since the show's third-season finale, Grogu has a lot more to do on the mission that kicks off the film than he used to in the series, and he spends more screen-time by himself as a formidable opponent of the Imperial remnant that serves as the chief antagonist.

So the action is great in the first ten minutes or so, and there was lots of cheering for some of the more adrenaline-pumping moments, and then the movie settles down with a change of planets and the establishment of what is presented as the overarching narrative-- more on that later. There are some quieter character moments and the introduction of Sigourney Weaver's character of Colonel Ward. I was surprised to find Weaver's performance to be a little wooden, as I've been a lifelong fan of hers as well from the Ghostbusters and Alien franchises. I would have assumed she was very used to acting in this type of movie, having recently starred in the Avatar franchise for filmmaker James Cameron, but her line deliveries in The Mandalorian and Grogu weren't convincing to me. At the same time I was beyond exhausted from a jam-packed May the 4th, so there's a chance I'll feel differently when I have the chance to see the finished film.

Speaking of things I hope I feel differently about in the context of the full movie: the story. As it stands, it's exactly what the trailers have portrayed it as-- Mando and Grogu work for the New Republic in pursuit of Imperial remnant warlords as bounty targets, getting mixed up with the Hutts along the way. It's almost too straightforward based on what I saw, so I'm crossing my fingers that there is something major being withheld from the marketing (much like Grogu himself was, leading up to the premiere of the series six and a half years ago) that will make for a more compelling plot. Right now, on a structural level, the script feels very video-gamey, with our protagonists going from point A to point B, receiving intel that leads them to point C, and so on. Djarin himself comes across an extremely inactive protagonist so far, and I really hope that evolves as the story goes along, too.

My biggest "huh?" moment came with the scene involving Martin Scorsese's Ardennian character (also depicted in the trailer), when I was left scratching my head as to why it was in the movie at all, except for Chef writer/director Favreau's desire to create a Star Wars food truck. Again, hopefully this pays off in some form during the final 4/5ths of the film. And since these critiques are all things that could (and very well may) be resolved by seeing the rest of The Mandalorian and Grogu, I'll sum up my criticisms by noting that the worst thing I can really say about the movie right now is that of the three existing seasons of The Mandalorian, tonally the movie (so far) most closely resembles the third... which, as you'll recall, was the least well-received by fans and critics. There's a lot of heightened tomfoolery and, while fun-- like season three-- it did make me pine for the somewhat more grounded, intimate mood of the series' first season.

Okay, so, positives: great action and production design (by the way, the look of the movie is fine; don't listen to the internet malcontents who insist on complaining about "color grading" and cinematography without actually knowing what those terms mean). The whole thing does also feel grander and more rigorously executed than the show, justifying these characters' graduation to the big screen, with certain scenes shot specifically for the IMAX premium format-- worth checking out if it's available to you. Plus there's one brief sequence included in this footage that highlights the more bizarre/gross side of Star Wars, and that put a big smile on my face. As for the negatives, I'm not entirely sold on the performances or the story yet, and the script maybe could have used some tightening and excising of flab, while letting the remainder breathe a little more, pacing-wise. But, of course, I'm saying all of this having only seen the first 25 minutes, so my opinion could entire change within the next couple of weeks. Until then, I remain enthusiastic about the potential of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and the future of Lucasfilm as a whole under its new president (and co-writer of the film) Dave Filoni, who was there at The Grove to introduce the screening last night.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on Friday, May 22.