TMC
05-29-2022, 03:50 AM
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/27/23144221/obi-wan-kenobi-review-disney-plus
"The show succeeds early on by really understanding what makes Star Wars cool," says Andrew Webster. "And it all starts with (Ewan) McGregor, arguably the best part of the prequel movies, who is very convincing as a man fighting against his base urges just so he can survive. The dude looks rough (though better than I would after a decade of hard desert living), and one of the show’s highlights so far has been watching him wrestle with the hard-wired instinct to be a hero. Obi-Wan also has some great villains so far; the Inquisitors are suitably menacing, with the Third Sister in particular gripped with a clear and unyielding desire for power that makes her seem capable of anything. My favorite part, though, has been how lived-in the universe feels, much like classic Star Wars. The worlds aren’t painted over with a glossy CG sheen. For the most part, they feel plausible and realistic, despite being populated by space wizards and muppets. Much of this comes down to the small details. Things like the nasty-looking cave stew Obi-Wan makes for himself as pure sustenance or the pan-handling Stormtrooper on the neon-lit planet Daiyu, where most of the second episode takes place. There’s a particularly great scene in episode two where characters race through a street market, and it’s the perfect chance to just stop and look at the weird food and strange creatures that populate this galaxy."
ALSO:
Obi-Wan Kenobi is fun, but it's initially too dependent on familiarity (https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/obi-wan-kenobi-tv-review): "We are in an era of increasing reliance on familiarity to sell new movies and TV shows," says Brian Tallerico. "'Remember how much you loved this!?!? Please love it again!' The Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars shows have been criticized as fan service before but the two-part premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi struggles more than any other property to date to develop its own personality outside of the two famous trilogies it seeks to connect (and even a hit Disney+ Star Wars show in its protector/child dynamic). However, this is a case wherein reviewing a show like director Deborah Chow and showrunner Joby Harold’s blockbuster series after only two episodes is almost impossible. One hopes that the first two episodes have gotten the callbacks out of the way and that the program will develop its own personality now, but there’s little evidence here that this will actually happen. If Obi-Wan Kenobi is content to be a big budget reminder of famous movies, fans will likely consider that fun enough to kick off the summer, but this kind of forgettable storytelling just doesn’t last like the properties that inspired it."
Obi-Wan Kenobi shares with all other Star Wars stories a taste for creating new worlds, and does a better job of it than many (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/obi-wan-kenobi-tv-review-1235151337/): "From a certain point of view, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) might have had it right in Star Wars: The Last Jedi when he advised Rey (Daisy Ridley) to 'Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you were meant to be,'" says Angie Han. "But letting go has tended to be far easier said than done for Star Wars, which can’t seem to stop mining the gaps between its old stories for ideas for new ones. Often, what it digs up feels, for better or for worse, like more of the same: explanations for things that didn’t need explaining, cameos by characters we’ve seen plenty of already, famous last names instead of new family trees. Yet there’s always the possibility of striking gold somewhere in all that sand — and while it’s too soon to say definitively what Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is made of, its first two episodes give off a very promising shine."
Deborah Chow builds an elegant, streamlined aesthetic that balances the colorful palette of the prequel trilogy and the starker settings of the original set (https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-series-1234728941/): "Considering Obi-Wan Kenobi serves as a de-facto bridge between the two — explaining how Ben spent his time after defeating Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) but before his son, Luke, comes into his own — the look fits, as does our protagonist’s central dilemma: Can trying to save one life jeopardize another? Can good be manipulated into evil? Is the risk always worth it, or should exceptions be made?" says Ben Travers. "Such dilemmas are familiar to Star Wars, but that doesn’t make them any less engaging. Under McGregor’s welcoming wing, Obi-Wan Kenobi uses nostalgia like a weighted blanket: surrounding you with characters you already love, warming you with an uncomplicated quest, and inviting you to lay still, sans complaints, in order to appreciate what little time you have left with Obi-Wan — the Jedi so good they built a prequel trilogy just to spend more time with him, and now a miniseries to boot."
Obi-Wan Kenobi could be titled “Episode III and a Half: How a Jedi Got His Groove Back" (https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/05/27/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-aces-star-wars-return/9956369002/): "Whereas the previous two shows (The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett) went for more of a Western flavor, the first two episodes of the six-part Kenobi.... drop Ewan McGregor’s returning title character into the Jedi equivalent of a John Wick movie with some strong neo-noir vibes," says Brian Truitt. "While it doesn’t break any huge new Star Wars ground, at least not yet – we’ll see what happens in the next four episodes (streaming weekly beginning Wednesday) – the series nicely bridges the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy and hints at some political intrigue within the evil Empire."
Obi-Wan Kenobi shows that a compelling story can be told even if you know the outcome (https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/obi-wan-kenobi-review-thrilling-character-driven-star-wars-action/): "Obi-Wan Kenobi (the show) is an assured, pacey and exciting new series that knows just how to use familiar elements -- and, crucially, how to hold some back -- in a story that is, most importantly, character-driven," says Richard Trenholm. "...This series could have gone either way, let's face it. It features Proper Movie Star Ewan McGregor wielding both a beard and a lightsaber, and focuses on one of the most engaging characters in the whole Star Wars saga. But more than any recent Star Wars shows, it's built from Star Wars at its best (the original film) and Star Wars at its worst (the overblown, computer-effects-blighted prequel trilogy). And it follows the stodgy Book of Boba Fett, another tale of a familiar Star Wars mainstay which undid some of the goodwill around streaming hit The Mandalorian."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is on the right track as a solid bridge between trilogies (https://variety.com/2022/tv/reviews/obi-wan-kenobi-review-disney-plus-leia-1235279832/): "Unlike many other Star Wars series... this one doesn’t need to try too hard to establish itself as something different," says Caroline Framke. "In telling the stories of the galaxy’s most famous stars, Obi-Wan Kenobi just has to put one foot in front of the other, sow seeds of what’s to come, and have enough self-awareness to know both its limits and what the audience wants from these characters. On those fronts, at least, the show seems right on track."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is hobbled by the same challenge that faces the prequel movies -- and any prequel (https://www.npr.org/2022/05/27/1101767449/obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-disney-review): "This series should be a paradise for Star Wars fans; a previously untold story filled with characters from the films and opportunities to flesh out underserved plotlines," says Eric Deggans. "But some of the same storytelling inconsistencies that made George Lucas's three prequel Star Wars films such a slog also weigh down Obi-Wan Kenobi — pulling viewers out of the narrative, just when they should be lost in a haze of nostalgia and sci-fi wonder. Some of the mistakes are small....But other mistakes loom larger."
Obi-Wan Kenobi gives Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan some breathing room (https://www.vulture.com/article/obi-wan-kenobi-premiere-recap-episode-1-part-one.html): "The first chapter of his new story excels when it accumulates silent details and small interactions from his lonely routine," says Jesse Hassenger. "For the first stretch of the episode, he doesn’t speak much, and his desert isolation, complete with gunky quick-rising food mix that still manages to look weirdly appetizing, recalls Rey at the beginning of The Force Awakens — a retroactive parallel that makes some details of the former feel slightly less like a pure nostalgia exercise. For all of the unnecessary fan service and callbacks that Star Wars has trafficked in more or less since it was first sequelized, the series at its best can be cleverly recursive, with new connections forming patterns both expected and not."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a soiled mosaic of its influences (https://deadline.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenboi-review-star-wars-ewan-mcgregor-disney-1235034293/): "No matter how much Lawrence of Arabia you mix in with the original Blade Runner, some Matrix and an unseen Home Alone sequel, (Obi-Wan Kenobi) wilts faster than an orchid under the grueling twin suns of Tatooine," says Dominic Patten. "That demise is made all the more scorched by the fact that significant swaths of Obi-Wan have a mid-1990s syndication cheapness to them, with slightly better lighting."
Obi-Wan Kenobi feels like it was built to serve too many masters (https://theplaylist.net/obi-wan-kenobi-review-perhaps-its-too-big-a-burden-for-the-jedi-master-to-be-our-only-hope-20220527/): "Episode one of Obi-Wan: Kenobi and all this doom and gloom is gritty, affecting emotional stuff, but unfortunately, episode two seems all too content to get onto a Prequels-like adventure," says Rodrigo Perez. "This is where Obi-Wan’feels like it serves too many masters. And maybe this is projection, but the first episode feels like it was written by the more adult Hossein Amini (known for Nicolas Winding’s Drive), who is among the screen credits. Episode two, with its corny jokes, mild tensions, and eagerness to just get on with the action, feels like it’s a product of Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), a writer that Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy hired to brighten up the Obi-Wan story (she’s suggested Amini’s version, and he was replaced, was too dark, but it’s literally every emotional dark moment of the series that at is most convincing and engaging)."
This is "Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Startlingly Unnecessary Years" (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/may/27/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-fight-scenes-genuinely-thrilling): "The story goes that this series started life as a film," says Stuart Heritage. "But once The Mandalorian surged out of nowhere, reversing what looked like terminal theatrical decline, the project jumped rails and ended up on TV instead. And, at times, it shows. Especially in the opening episode, scenes drag on for much longer than they need to, bogging themselves down in exposition that could have been chewed through far more elegantly. However, once Obi-Wan Kenobi starts to build up a bit of momentum, a miraculous thing happens. The series actually starts to justify its own existence. Two episodes of six were released (Friday), so we’re already a third of the way through the entire series, and so far the series seems to be a kind of intergalactic John Wick."
Much like the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi is much more complex than initially believed, but in a good way (https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/disney-plus/obi-wan-kenobi-review/): "When the first trailers for Disney+’s limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi were released, it sure seemed like the aging Jedi (Ewan McGregor) was going to be stalking Luke Skywalker on Tatooine and avoiding Inquisitors, while occasionally taking random field trips off planet," says Terry Terrones. "Nope. It turns out Star Wars fans were Jedi mind tricked by director Deborah Chow and Lucasfilm honcho Kathleen Kennedy." Terrones adds: "If the first two episodes of the six-episode first season (which dropped surprisingly early late Thursday night) are any indication, Obi-Wan Kenobi will take the Star Wars franchise in a bold, new direction. And much of that is due to a character no one expected much from in this series..."
Obi-Wan Kenobi feels, at least so far, like the most well-balanced Star Wars story in quite some time (https://www.ign.com/articles/obi-wan-kenobi-episode-1-2-review): "Director Deborah Chow, showrunner Joby Harold, and the writing team make their vision clear from the very start," says Matt Purslow. "Opening as Order 66 is initiated, this is a show about living amid the death of one age, and the start of a darker one. George Lucas envisioned the Empire as a reflection of many things, but Obi-Wan Kenobi really leans into the Nazi parallels. The incredibly tense sequence in the cantina, in which the Grand Inquisitor intimidates locals for hiding a Jedi, evokes the Third Reich’s inhumane hunt for Jewish people. There’s even a little of Christoph Waltz’ Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds in Rupert Friend’s terrifyingly charismatic portrayal of the Grand Inquisitor; he too is an impeccably well-spoken and intelligent tyrant. It’s a shame he’s (seemingly) already been killed off, really, as his colleagues don’t carry anything close to the same level of menace. But while vital to the journey, the ongoing hunt for the final surviving Jedi is just the broad picture. In a wonderful performance from an understated Ewan McGregor we see a man wracked by guilt and sorrow. In his slow, deliberate movements and tired eyes McGregor reflects a man whose real struggles lie in his inability to let go of Anakin Skywalker, rather than the galaxy’s plight. His new camp on Tatooine has been established not to watch over Luke because he represents hope for the future, but through an inability to let go of one of the remaining links to his fallen brother."
Obi-Wan Kenobi pulls off its delicate balancing act (https://www.thedailybeast.com/star-wars-prequel-obi-wan-kenobi-is-masterfully-guided-by-ewan-mcgregor): "Obi-Wan Kenobi is a unique undertaking tasked with simultaneously expanding the Star Wars IP (ŕ la its post-2005 offerings) and faithfully following in the footsteps of Lucas’ idiosyncratic second trilogy," says Nick Schager. "Unexpectedly, on the basis of its first two episodes...it appears to be capable of pulling off that balancing act. Re-enlisting Ewan McGregor for galaxy-saving duty as famed Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, showrunner Joby Harold and director Deborah Chow’s six-part affair feels like a natural extension of that which came before, led by its headliner’s subdued and world-weary performance as the Man Who Will Become Alec Guinness, whose failure to prevent talented apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) from turning to the dark side of the Force and transforming into Darth Vader remains, ten years after the conclusion of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, a crushing blow from which he’s not yet recovered."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is like a 1970s detective procedural (https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/05/review-obi-wan-kenobi-debuts-with-prequel-redemption-in-its-scope/): "I point to a ''70s procedural' vibe for an important reason, and it's less of a criticism and more of a clarification," says Seth Machkovech. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, only two episodes in, is in no way beholden to a single tone, and it can apparently flip on an episode-by-episode basis. Really, the series' promotional flurry, full of intrigue-filled trailers and interviews with the likes of McGregor and Hayden Christiansen, has pulled off an incredible misdirect, as if Lucasfilm spent the last month telling fans, 'This isn't the plot you're looking for.' The spoiler-free way of telling it is that the first two episodes generally follow three plots: Obi-Wan's personal journey, which has grown all the more somber 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith; a diametrically opposed hunt conducted by Inquisitors, eager to fulfill their Order 66 orders and kill all remaining traces of Jedi; and a previously unspoiled character introduction, which drags the other plotlines' orbits together like a megaton magnet. In each case, the camera generally follows one major character, with a few peeks into other characters' lives to help build the storytelling."
Moses Ingram’s Reva is Obi-Wan Kenobi's most interesting character (https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-third-sister-reva-villain-mose-1848986808): "In Obi-Wan Kenobi, a quartet of Inquisitors are hunting Kenobi down, but the most important of them all is Moses Ingram’s Reva, aka the Third Sister," says Justin Carter. "Where the other Inquisitors let their intimidating presence instill fear in the people around them, she uses her lightsaber to cut off a civilian’s hand and loudly announces her intentions to kill Owen (Joel Edgerton) and his family if Tatooine’s people don’t produce a Jedi. The people of Tatooine don’t like her, and even her own coworkers don’t like her very much. Her superiors, the Grand Inquisitor (here played by Rupert Friend) and the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang), dress her down throughout the first two episodes, and she visibly chafes from their verbal needling. Without even saying it, you get the impression that she absolutely has fantasies of slicing up the other Inquisitors. What makes Reva great, or at least a fascinating character to watch, is that she is completely obsessed with catching Kenobi. Her motives aren’t clear, but she very clearly has an axe to grind with the man, something he’s had experience with in the past."
Presenting a casual Star Wars fan's guide to Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://slate.com/culture/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-flea-grand-inquisitor.html)
Here are all the Star Wars characters you need to know before watching Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://gizmodo.com/obi-wan-kenobi-characters-vader-inquisitor-luke-skywalk-1848923417)
Star Wars fans are thrilled by Obi-Wan Kenobi's surprise character (https://uproxx.com/tv/obi-wan-kenobi-leia-reactions/)
Flea -- who recently appeared in a Deborah Chow-directed Red Hot Chili Peppers music video -- makes a cameo in Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://www.eonline.com/news/1332610/this-red-hot-chili-peppers-member-has-a-surprise-obi-wan-kenobi-cameo)
Does Obi-Wan Kenobi give a nod to a Quentin Tarantino film? (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/obi-wan-kenobi-quentin-tarantino-inglourious-basterds-1235155315/)
Anything John Williams touches rules, and his new Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi main theme is no exception (https://gizmodo.com/obi-wan-kenobi-musical-theme-release-john-williams-1848988091)
Moses Ingram says Reva Sevander is "serious and she don’t take no mess" (https://www.etonline.com/moses-ingram-talks-hayden-christensen-and-obi-wan-kenobi-184519): Ingram adds that she was excited to kicks some a**, but that the light sabers “are heavier than you might expect.” “It takes a lot of forearm strength,” she says, adding that “there’s so many little, tiny muscles in your hand that are required to make sure you can hold it. And it’s hard at first. But once you do it enough, you get the hang of it. You get more confident.”
Hayden Christensen says his “imagination started to run wild” at the prospect of donning the Darth Vader suit once again (https://www.insider.com/obi-wan-kenobi-director-met-hayden-christensen-to-persuade-him-2022-5): “Then I got the call saying that Deborah Chow wanted to get together and talk about this Obi-Wan Kenobi show that she’s doing with Ewan. I was just thrilled,” he says. “This is a character that means so much to me, and to get to come back and do more with it was just a thrilling opportunity.”
Christensen says he met with a "Vader movement specialist" (https://ew.com/tv/hayden-christensen-obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-darth-vader-movement-specialist/)
McGregor was stunned how much he enjoyed rewatching the prequels (https://collider.com/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-ewan-mcgregor-prequel-rewatch-comments/)
Deborah Chow says she met with Hayden Christensen personally to ask him to join the cast (https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-hayden-christensen-cathartic-darth-vader-cathartic-1234728320/): "Obviously, we're very connected to the prequels, and we're very strongly connected to Revenge of the Sith in particular," Chow said. "It just felt very organic and it felt like we really needed Hayden back in this story, particularly in relation to Obi-Wan. So I went and met with him when we were still in development and explained the series and explained what we were trying to do."
Chow wanted to bring the character of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader into the Disney+ series because of the love story (https://gizmodo.com/star-was-obi-wan-kenobi-love-story-anakin-skywalker-dis-1848936515): “For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing,” says Chow. “I felt like it was quite hard to not [include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series… What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”
Chow was grateful to be given carte blanche with Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a40044059/obi-wan-star-wars-deborah-chow-cameos-rewrites): “I loved being able to take the characters and the show and really see a vision through over the entire thing,” she says. “It's also for me, such a joy to be able to work with the actors on every single episode and every single moment so that you can really try to build an arc over the course of the series. So I was very, very grateful to be able to do the whole thing.” Chow adds of a potential second season: “I think one of the things that is the most exciting about the show is the fact that it's a limited series, and it's a format that hasn't been done in Star Wars yet. It's also a character-driven limited series where we're really taking a character out of the franchise and really focusing on that one character. It's a very personal and emotional story that we're trying to tell with it. I think that's quite exciting. This has always been conceived to be one big story with a beginning, middle and end. You can never say never, who knows what the future holds, but it really was conceived as a limited series.”
"The show succeeds early on by really understanding what makes Star Wars cool," says Andrew Webster. "And it all starts with (Ewan) McGregor, arguably the best part of the prequel movies, who is very convincing as a man fighting against his base urges just so he can survive. The dude looks rough (though better than I would after a decade of hard desert living), and one of the show’s highlights so far has been watching him wrestle with the hard-wired instinct to be a hero. Obi-Wan also has some great villains so far; the Inquisitors are suitably menacing, with the Third Sister in particular gripped with a clear and unyielding desire for power that makes her seem capable of anything. My favorite part, though, has been how lived-in the universe feels, much like classic Star Wars. The worlds aren’t painted over with a glossy CG sheen. For the most part, they feel plausible and realistic, despite being populated by space wizards and muppets. Much of this comes down to the small details. Things like the nasty-looking cave stew Obi-Wan makes for himself as pure sustenance or the pan-handling Stormtrooper on the neon-lit planet Daiyu, where most of the second episode takes place. There’s a particularly great scene in episode two where characters race through a street market, and it’s the perfect chance to just stop and look at the weird food and strange creatures that populate this galaxy."
ALSO:
Obi-Wan Kenobi is fun, but it's initially too dependent on familiarity (https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/obi-wan-kenobi-tv-review): "We are in an era of increasing reliance on familiarity to sell new movies and TV shows," says Brian Tallerico. "'Remember how much you loved this!?!? Please love it again!' The Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars shows have been criticized as fan service before but the two-part premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi struggles more than any other property to date to develop its own personality outside of the two famous trilogies it seeks to connect (and even a hit Disney+ Star Wars show in its protector/child dynamic). However, this is a case wherein reviewing a show like director Deborah Chow and showrunner Joby Harold’s blockbuster series after only two episodes is almost impossible. One hopes that the first two episodes have gotten the callbacks out of the way and that the program will develop its own personality now, but there’s little evidence here that this will actually happen. If Obi-Wan Kenobi is content to be a big budget reminder of famous movies, fans will likely consider that fun enough to kick off the summer, but this kind of forgettable storytelling just doesn’t last like the properties that inspired it."
Obi-Wan Kenobi shares with all other Star Wars stories a taste for creating new worlds, and does a better job of it than many (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/obi-wan-kenobi-tv-review-1235151337/): "From a certain point of view, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) might have had it right in Star Wars: The Last Jedi when he advised Rey (Daisy Ridley) to 'Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you were meant to be,'" says Angie Han. "But letting go has tended to be far easier said than done for Star Wars, which can’t seem to stop mining the gaps between its old stories for ideas for new ones. Often, what it digs up feels, for better or for worse, like more of the same: explanations for things that didn’t need explaining, cameos by characters we’ve seen plenty of already, famous last names instead of new family trees. Yet there’s always the possibility of striking gold somewhere in all that sand — and while it’s too soon to say definitively what Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is made of, its first two episodes give off a very promising shine."
Deborah Chow builds an elegant, streamlined aesthetic that balances the colorful palette of the prequel trilogy and the starker settings of the original set (https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-series-1234728941/): "Considering Obi-Wan Kenobi serves as a de-facto bridge between the two — explaining how Ben spent his time after defeating Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) but before his son, Luke, comes into his own — the look fits, as does our protagonist’s central dilemma: Can trying to save one life jeopardize another? Can good be manipulated into evil? Is the risk always worth it, or should exceptions be made?" says Ben Travers. "Such dilemmas are familiar to Star Wars, but that doesn’t make them any less engaging. Under McGregor’s welcoming wing, Obi-Wan Kenobi uses nostalgia like a weighted blanket: surrounding you with characters you already love, warming you with an uncomplicated quest, and inviting you to lay still, sans complaints, in order to appreciate what little time you have left with Obi-Wan — the Jedi so good they built a prequel trilogy just to spend more time with him, and now a miniseries to boot."
Obi-Wan Kenobi could be titled “Episode III and a Half: How a Jedi Got His Groove Back" (https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/05/27/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-aces-star-wars-return/9956369002/): "Whereas the previous two shows (The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett) went for more of a Western flavor, the first two episodes of the six-part Kenobi.... drop Ewan McGregor’s returning title character into the Jedi equivalent of a John Wick movie with some strong neo-noir vibes," says Brian Truitt. "While it doesn’t break any huge new Star Wars ground, at least not yet – we’ll see what happens in the next four episodes (streaming weekly beginning Wednesday) – the series nicely bridges the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy and hints at some political intrigue within the evil Empire."
Obi-Wan Kenobi shows that a compelling story can be told even if you know the outcome (https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/obi-wan-kenobi-review-thrilling-character-driven-star-wars-action/): "Obi-Wan Kenobi (the show) is an assured, pacey and exciting new series that knows just how to use familiar elements -- and, crucially, how to hold some back -- in a story that is, most importantly, character-driven," says Richard Trenholm. "...This series could have gone either way, let's face it. It features Proper Movie Star Ewan McGregor wielding both a beard and a lightsaber, and focuses on one of the most engaging characters in the whole Star Wars saga. But more than any recent Star Wars shows, it's built from Star Wars at its best (the original film) and Star Wars at its worst (the overblown, computer-effects-blighted prequel trilogy). And it follows the stodgy Book of Boba Fett, another tale of a familiar Star Wars mainstay which undid some of the goodwill around streaming hit The Mandalorian."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is on the right track as a solid bridge between trilogies (https://variety.com/2022/tv/reviews/obi-wan-kenobi-review-disney-plus-leia-1235279832/): "Unlike many other Star Wars series... this one doesn’t need to try too hard to establish itself as something different," says Caroline Framke. "In telling the stories of the galaxy’s most famous stars, Obi-Wan Kenobi just has to put one foot in front of the other, sow seeds of what’s to come, and have enough self-awareness to know both its limits and what the audience wants from these characters. On those fronts, at least, the show seems right on track."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is hobbled by the same challenge that faces the prequel movies -- and any prequel (https://www.npr.org/2022/05/27/1101767449/obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-disney-review): "This series should be a paradise for Star Wars fans; a previously untold story filled with characters from the films and opportunities to flesh out underserved plotlines," says Eric Deggans. "But some of the same storytelling inconsistencies that made George Lucas's three prequel Star Wars films such a slog also weigh down Obi-Wan Kenobi — pulling viewers out of the narrative, just when they should be lost in a haze of nostalgia and sci-fi wonder. Some of the mistakes are small....But other mistakes loom larger."
Obi-Wan Kenobi gives Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan some breathing room (https://www.vulture.com/article/obi-wan-kenobi-premiere-recap-episode-1-part-one.html): "The first chapter of his new story excels when it accumulates silent details and small interactions from his lonely routine," says Jesse Hassenger. "For the first stretch of the episode, he doesn’t speak much, and his desert isolation, complete with gunky quick-rising food mix that still manages to look weirdly appetizing, recalls Rey at the beginning of The Force Awakens — a retroactive parallel that makes some details of the former feel slightly less like a pure nostalgia exercise. For all of the unnecessary fan service and callbacks that Star Wars has trafficked in more or less since it was first sequelized, the series at its best can be cleverly recursive, with new connections forming patterns both expected and not."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a soiled mosaic of its influences (https://deadline.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenboi-review-star-wars-ewan-mcgregor-disney-1235034293/): "No matter how much Lawrence of Arabia you mix in with the original Blade Runner, some Matrix and an unseen Home Alone sequel, (Obi-Wan Kenobi) wilts faster than an orchid under the grueling twin suns of Tatooine," says Dominic Patten. "That demise is made all the more scorched by the fact that significant swaths of Obi-Wan have a mid-1990s syndication cheapness to them, with slightly better lighting."
Obi-Wan Kenobi feels like it was built to serve too many masters (https://theplaylist.net/obi-wan-kenobi-review-perhaps-its-too-big-a-burden-for-the-jedi-master-to-be-our-only-hope-20220527/): "Episode one of Obi-Wan: Kenobi and all this doom and gloom is gritty, affecting emotional stuff, but unfortunately, episode two seems all too content to get onto a Prequels-like adventure," says Rodrigo Perez. "This is where Obi-Wan’feels like it serves too many masters. And maybe this is projection, but the first episode feels like it was written by the more adult Hossein Amini (known for Nicolas Winding’s Drive), who is among the screen credits. Episode two, with its corny jokes, mild tensions, and eagerness to just get on with the action, feels like it’s a product of Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), a writer that Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy hired to brighten up the Obi-Wan story (she’s suggested Amini’s version, and he was replaced, was too dark, but it’s literally every emotional dark moment of the series that at is most convincing and engaging)."
This is "Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Startlingly Unnecessary Years" (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/may/27/obi-wan-kenobi-review-ewan-mcgregor-fight-scenes-genuinely-thrilling): "The story goes that this series started life as a film," says Stuart Heritage. "But once The Mandalorian surged out of nowhere, reversing what looked like terminal theatrical decline, the project jumped rails and ended up on TV instead. And, at times, it shows. Especially in the opening episode, scenes drag on for much longer than they need to, bogging themselves down in exposition that could have been chewed through far more elegantly. However, once Obi-Wan Kenobi starts to build up a bit of momentum, a miraculous thing happens. The series actually starts to justify its own existence. Two episodes of six were released (Friday), so we’re already a third of the way through the entire series, and so far the series seems to be a kind of intergalactic John Wick."
Much like the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi is much more complex than initially believed, but in a good way (https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/disney-plus/obi-wan-kenobi-review/): "When the first trailers for Disney+’s limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi were released, it sure seemed like the aging Jedi (Ewan McGregor) was going to be stalking Luke Skywalker on Tatooine and avoiding Inquisitors, while occasionally taking random field trips off planet," says Terry Terrones. "Nope. It turns out Star Wars fans were Jedi mind tricked by director Deborah Chow and Lucasfilm honcho Kathleen Kennedy." Terrones adds: "If the first two episodes of the six-episode first season (which dropped surprisingly early late Thursday night) are any indication, Obi-Wan Kenobi will take the Star Wars franchise in a bold, new direction. And much of that is due to a character no one expected much from in this series..."
Obi-Wan Kenobi feels, at least so far, like the most well-balanced Star Wars story in quite some time (https://www.ign.com/articles/obi-wan-kenobi-episode-1-2-review): "Director Deborah Chow, showrunner Joby Harold, and the writing team make their vision clear from the very start," says Matt Purslow. "Opening as Order 66 is initiated, this is a show about living amid the death of one age, and the start of a darker one. George Lucas envisioned the Empire as a reflection of many things, but Obi-Wan Kenobi really leans into the Nazi parallels. The incredibly tense sequence in the cantina, in which the Grand Inquisitor intimidates locals for hiding a Jedi, evokes the Third Reich’s inhumane hunt for Jewish people. There’s even a little of Christoph Waltz’ Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds in Rupert Friend’s terrifyingly charismatic portrayal of the Grand Inquisitor; he too is an impeccably well-spoken and intelligent tyrant. It’s a shame he’s (seemingly) already been killed off, really, as his colleagues don’t carry anything close to the same level of menace. But while vital to the journey, the ongoing hunt for the final surviving Jedi is just the broad picture. In a wonderful performance from an understated Ewan McGregor we see a man wracked by guilt and sorrow. In his slow, deliberate movements and tired eyes McGregor reflects a man whose real struggles lie in his inability to let go of Anakin Skywalker, rather than the galaxy’s plight. His new camp on Tatooine has been established not to watch over Luke because he represents hope for the future, but through an inability to let go of one of the remaining links to his fallen brother."
Obi-Wan Kenobi pulls off its delicate balancing act (https://www.thedailybeast.com/star-wars-prequel-obi-wan-kenobi-is-masterfully-guided-by-ewan-mcgregor): "Obi-Wan Kenobi is a unique undertaking tasked with simultaneously expanding the Star Wars IP (ŕ la its post-2005 offerings) and faithfully following in the footsteps of Lucas’ idiosyncratic second trilogy," says Nick Schager. "Unexpectedly, on the basis of its first two episodes...it appears to be capable of pulling off that balancing act. Re-enlisting Ewan McGregor for galaxy-saving duty as famed Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, showrunner Joby Harold and director Deborah Chow’s six-part affair feels like a natural extension of that which came before, led by its headliner’s subdued and world-weary performance as the Man Who Will Become Alec Guinness, whose failure to prevent talented apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) from turning to the dark side of the Force and transforming into Darth Vader remains, ten years after the conclusion of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, a crushing blow from which he’s not yet recovered."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is like a 1970s detective procedural (https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/05/review-obi-wan-kenobi-debuts-with-prequel-redemption-in-its-scope/): "I point to a ''70s procedural' vibe for an important reason, and it's less of a criticism and more of a clarification," says Seth Machkovech. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, only two episodes in, is in no way beholden to a single tone, and it can apparently flip on an episode-by-episode basis. Really, the series' promotional flurry, full of intrigue-filled trailers and interviews with the likes of McGregor and Hayden Christiansen, has pulled off an incredible misdirect, as if Lucasfilm spent the last month telling fans, 'This isn't the plot you're looking for.' The spoiler-free way of telling it is that the first two episodes generally follow three plots: Obi-Wan's personal journey, which has grown all the more somber 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith; a diametrically opposed hunt conducted by Inquisitors, eager to fulfill their Order 66 orders and kill all remaining traces of Jedi; and a previously unspoiled character introduction, which drags the other plotlines' orbits together like a megaton magnet. In each case, the camera generally follows one major character, with a few peeks into other characters' lives to help build the storytelling."
Moses Ingram’s Reva is Obi-Wan Kenobi's most interesting character (https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-third-sister-reva-villain-mose-1848986808): "In Obi-Wan Kenobi, a quartet of Inquisitors are hunting Kenobi down, but the most important of them all is Moses Ingram’s Reva, aka the Third Sister," says Justin Carter. "Where the other Inquisitors let their intimidating presence instill fear in the people around them, she uses her lightsaber to cut off a civilian’s hand and loudly announces her intentions to kill Owen (Joel Edgerton) and his family if Tatooine’s people don’t produce a Jedi. The people of Tatooine don’t like her, and even her own coworkers don’t like her very much. Her superiors, the Grand Inquisitor (here played by Rupert Friend) and the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang), dress her down throughout the first two episodes, and she visibly chafes from their verbal needling. Without even saying it, you get the impression that she absolutely has fantasies of slicing up the other Inquisitors. What makes Reva great, or at least a fascinating character to watch, is that she is completely obsessed with catching Kenobi. Her motives aren’t clear, but she very clearly has an axe to grind with the man, something he’s had experience with in the past."
Presenting a casual Star Wars fan's guide to Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://slate.com/culture/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-flea-grand-inquisitor.html)
Here are all the Star Wars characters you need to know before watching Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://gizmodo.com/obi-wan-kenobi-characters-vader-inquisitor-luke-skywalk-1848923417)
Star Wars fans are thrilled by Obi-Wan Kenobi's surprise character (https://uproxx.com/tv/obi-wan-kenobi-leia-reactions/)
Flea -- who recently appeared in a Deborah Chow-directed Red Hot Chili Peppers music video -- makes a cameo in Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://www.eonline.com/news/1332610/this-red-hot-chili-peppers-member-has-a-surprise-obi-wan-kenobi-cameo)
Does Obi-Wan Kenobi give a nod to a Quentin Tarantino film? (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/obi-wan-kenobi-quentin-tarantino-inglourious-basterds-1235155315/)
Anything John Williams touches rules, and his new Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi main theme is no exception (https://gizmodo.com/obi-wan-kenobi-musical-theme-release-john-williams-1848988091)
Moses Ingram says Reva Sevander is "serious and she don’t take no mess" (https://www.etonline.com/moses-ingram-talks-hayden-christensen-and-obi-wan-kenobi-184519): Ingram adds that she was excited to kicks some a**, but that the light sabers “are heavier than you might expect.” “It takes a lot of forearm strength,” she says, adding that “there’s so many little, tiny muscles in your hand that are required to make sure you can hold it. And it’s hard at first. But once you do it enough, you get the hang of it. You get more confident.”
Hayden Christensen says his “imagination started to run wild” at the prospect of donning the Darth Vader suit once again (https://www.insider.com/obi-wan-kenobi-director-met-hayden-christensen-to-persuade-him-2022-5): “Then I got the call saying that Deborah Chow wanted to get together and talk about this Obi-Wan Kenobi show that she’s doing with Ewan. I was just thrilled,” he says. “This is a character that means so much to me, and to get to come back and do more with it was just a thrilling opportunity.”
Christensen says he met with a "Vader movement specialist" (https://ew.com/tv/hayden-christensen-obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-darth-vader-movement-specialist/)
McGregor was stunned how much he enjoyed rewatching the prequels (https://collider.com/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-ewan-mcgregor-prequel-rewatch-comments/)
Deborah Chow says she met with Hayden Christensen personally to ask him to join the cast (https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/obi-wan-kenobi-hayden-christensen-cathartic-darth-vader-cathartic-1234728320/): "Obviously, we're very connected to the prequels, and we're very strongly connected to Revenge of the Sith in particular," Chow said. "It just felt very organic and it felt like we really needed Hayden back in this story, particularly in relation to Obi-Wan. So I went and met with him when we were still in development and explained the series and explained what we were trying to do."
Chow wanted to bring the character of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader into the Disney+ series because of the love story (https://gizmodo.com/star-was-obi-wan-kenobi-love-story-anakin-skywalker-dis-1848936515): “For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing,” says Chow. “I felt like it was quite hard to not [include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series… What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”
Chow was grateful to be given carte blanche with Obi-Wan Kenobi (https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a40044059/obi-wan-star-wars-deborah-chow-cameos-rewrites): “I loved being able to take the characters and the show and really see a vision through over the entire thing,” she says. “It's also for me, such a joy to be able to work with the actors on every single episode and every single moment so that you can really try to build an arc over the course of the series. So I was very, very grateful to be able to do the whole thing.” Chow adds of a potential second season: “I think one of the things that is the most exciting about the show is the fact that it's a limited series, and it's a format that hasn't been done in Star Wars yet. It's also a character-driven limited series where we're really taking a character out of the franchise and really focusing on that one character. It's a very personal and emotional story that we're trying to tell with it. I think that's quite exciting. This has always been conceived to be one big story with a beginning, middle and end. You can never say never, who knows what the future holds, but it really was conceived as a limited series.”