mm’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
Shoulda been a movie.
I'm not going to echo too many of the criticisms (awkwardness, pacing, repetition) floating out there, just what got me the most.
Cinematography: This was of my own doing by watching Rogue One before I watched this, but as is the problem with the other Disney+ Star Wars shows there is a lack of "oomph" in the cinematography and visuals that I think Star Wars needs. I thought they would put a little more elbow grease into making this, their most asked-for continuation in a more cinematic scope, but alas, these shots are composed in a frustratingly safe way.
Conflict: I'm sure people more attuned to the Star Wars lore will have deeper, more interesting things to say about this, but for me (and this is partly due to the nature of prequels) Vader and Kenobi's relationships and characters don't really change in a satisfying way, nor do we learn very much about them that we didn't already know in the prequels. I don't know if there was a story in this time and setting that could deliver that kind of thing, but one thing that could have helped in my opinion is giving someone for Obi-Wan to really talk to once he finds out Vader is alive, rather than internalizing everything. This also might be nitpicking, but setting both duels in a similar dark, rocky terrain was... a choice.
As a casual fan of this universe, this delivered everything I expected it to, but not much more.
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