Wednesday 12 January 2022

The Book of Boba Fett 
Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa (2022) Review

 

Spoilers!  

Boba Fett faces threats from all over Mos Espa, in his palace as well as on the streets.

Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa is another good episode. Cyborgs who are stealing water, dangerous gifts and double crossing. While the action sets ups aren’t as slick as they could be (or not a good as Steph Green’s brilliant episode The Tribes of Tatooine), Robert Rodriguez redeems himself somewhat after directing Stranger in a Strange Land. In a writing capacity Jon Favreau and Rodriguez offer more world building, packed with nostalgia nods. While it doesn’t reach the heights of Chapter 2, it does offer an emotional clout in the Tusken Raiders flashback.

Although Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and the new cyber-biker gang (with an odd echo of Back to the Future Part 2) have little to do, The Hutt Twins and (from the 2015 comic) Black Krrsantan feature again. There’s a protocol-droid, more 8D8 (voiced by Matt Berry), a Solo type chase, a new Rancor and a perfectly cast (long time Rodriguez collaborator) actor Danny Trejo as the Rancor Keeper– you can’t go wrong.

It’s not perfect. There’s an overuse of slow-motion which does give it an unnecessary cheap and dated feel, mainly during the Palace fight scene. There’s another entertaining (but clunky) chase scene from Rodriguez, this time on speeder-type bikes. There’s a few lapses in logic that die hard fans would surmise and the theorise about. For example the the Wookies infiltration, why are the bikes Earth-like in design, also why does a Wookie need a knuckle duster? Don’t they pull peoples arms out of their sockets? There’s a few fridge logic moments in Favreau’s story.

Will Boba throw a Jabba Return of the Jedi-like party? That’s what we’d like to see, who knows; but one things for sure is that this is a sure fire hit thanks to the production quality, Temuera Morrison’s performance and presence. He picks up the slack where the staging falls short. He may not be the mysterious masked Bounty Hunter that many including myself grew up with, but he is mesmerising as TVs Boba Fett.

Overall, while not as rounded as the previous episode, it’s Star Wars-tastic none the less.

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