Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) Review

 

SPOILERS!

Obi-Wan must reignite his old Jedi powers when a child is kidnapped, causing him to face his past.

Playing as a follow up to Revenge of the Sith and a prequel series to Star Wars (1977) director Deborah Chow's 6 part offering works due to Ewan McGregor returning as Obi-Wan and Hayden Christensen bringing more dynamics to Vader. McGregor is on fine form as we follow him reconnecting with the force. Christensen is fantastic; but is sorely underused. The surprise inclusion of Leia Organa gives it some context and needed expansion to the character, Luke Skywalker is rightly sidelined for the most part in-keeping with the original trilogy story of him being unaware of his importance.

The duels and showdowns between Kenobi and Vader are brilliantly executed, even if lacking visually interesting backdrops. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan Kenobi suffers from clusters of staging and editing issues, with some clunky action setups. This aside, the story works bringing Kenobi and Vader back to the screen further exploring their doomed relationship. Natalie Holt's score along with John Williams theme music bring it together along with the familiar sound design of Star Wars.

There's lots of callbacks, nods to films and series throughout, with new memorable characters and droids, but it's a pity we didn't see more established trilogy aliens. For Star Wars CGI animation fans both Sung Kang playing the Fifth Brother and The Grand Inquisitor played by Rupert Friend of Star Wars Rebels appear. Rya Kihlstedt as Fourth Sister screen time is sadly limited. The Inquisitor Reva character played by Moses Ingram is notable, shouldering a lot of the story. A bounty hunter named 1-JAC who looks like The Empire Strikes Back's 4-LOM pops up. Jimmy Smits reprises his Bail Organa role as well as a handful of other movie characters. Joel Edgerton also returns as the prequel's Own Lars and gives a great performance. Temuera Morrison cameos as a beggar clone. C-3PO and R2-D2 appear in the background at one point, also The Emperor, but the big pay off is Liam Neeson briefly reprising his role as Qui-Gon in the final episode.

Deborah Chow's series while staying true to the original and without contradicting it, is a great expansion even if feeling somewhat restricted by a TV productions pacing and limitations. The cave and a number of 'the path' to safety settings are flat especially when compared to other locations we've seen in Star Wars Universe. There's some tense moments, Obi-wan's ride with stormtroopers, his face offs with Vader, his rescue of Leia to name a few, along with some poignant moments, his relationship with Luke, his friendship with Leia and a few surprise deaths. Some threads are also added for future possible exposition, that said, from Leia to Vader, to Obi-Wan and Reva's journey and everything in between the main storylines are satisfyingly concluded.

Overall, at times it's a bumpy ride in terms of execution, but the emotional payoffs, striking visuals (notably Vader's sliced helmet, Obi-Wan and Vader's power play) and a number of setups out weigh the handful of flaws. It's worth watching for McGregor and Christensen alone.