Andor
Disney + | ★★★★★
It doesn’t take too much effort to be able to highlight some Jewish element when it comes to the cultural behemoth that is Star Wars. Heck, it’s a religion in its own right; the original trilogy the “Old Testament”, the prequels and sequels its Abrahamic off-shoots.
Which makes Rogue One, boycotted by Neo-Nazis for supposed insidious Jewish influence, and its companion piece here Andor, the Talmudic commentaries, filling in the gaps, getting to grips with the details.
Since purchasing the franchise for $4 billion, Disney has mined the mythology to varying levels of creative success.
The sequels almost killed the whole shebang, the TV offshoots for its Disney+ streaming service serving somewhat to redeem it. Rogue One, about how those plucky Rebels secured the Death Star plans, was a bright blip in that cinematic decline, so it made sense to turn to one of its writers in attempting to recreate some of that magic for the small screen.
Maarva (Fiona Shaw)
Maarva (Fiona Shaw)
But Tony Gilroy’s managed to do something much more impressive than that though. He’s finally realised the dream of a thousand fanboys and girls, by treating Star Wars with the maturity of the now-grown fanmen and women.
No stranger to franchises after authoring the Bourne films, it’s really Gilroy’s previous masterpiece Michael Clayton that’s the greatest indicator of what he could bring to the galaxy far far away. George Clooney’s panicked portrayal of conflicted frustration, as he rushes about trying to save his own skin whilst hoping it dovetails with doing the right thing, is the precursor for Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor.
Remaining miraculously boyish two decades after his big break in Y Tu Mama Tambien, Luna revisits his rebel spy from Rouge One. As he — spoiler alert — dies in that film, Andor is thus a prequel, to a prequel, but set after the first prequels. Got it? Actually you don’t really need to know anything going into this, in the first few episodes there’s little apart from some iconography and set design to indicate this is Star Wars at all.
This is adult science fiction, a universe of aliens, robots and laser guns, but centred around characters driven by the very human motivations of jealousy, pride, friendship and, in Andor’s case, survival.
As the consequences mount from an altercation following his search for a missing sister, Andor schemes and calls in favours from dubious friends in an effort to escape the rapidly closing corporation aka stand-in for the Empire.
He’s a hustler, nearing the end of his luck even before his latest misstep, but whose very skills that’ve got him into this predicament are viewed as potential to a fledging gathering of those seeking to fight back.
The battles in space may be about good versus evil, but on the ground the enemy’s more insidious and recognisable as the ever-encroaching infringement upon the liberties of people who’re just trying to get by.
Or to put it another way, my kids got bored and walked out. But for the first time ever, my wife got entranced and sucked in. The force is strong with this one.
