The Mandalorian 2.3 Review - 7 Ups And 1 Down From Chapter 11
6. Bryce Dallas Howard's Strong Direction
Lucasfilm
Bryce Dallas Howard is more renowned for her acting talents than her skills behind the camera, but she's proven once again why that should probably change with her efforts in Chapter 11.
Howard previously directed Chapter 4 of The Mandalorian back in Season 1 (the Seven Samurai story), and this episode was just as strong.
Everything is remarkably orchestrated and suitably cinematic, with Howard providing plenty of onscreen tension with a series of stunning action set-pieces, and through the fragile alliance between Din and the new Mandalorians.
The episode overall just felt a lot tighter than previous efforts. It still works from a script penned by series creator Jon Favreau (he also wrote the first two episodes of Season 2), but there's a real sense of momentum and urgency that was lacking in the previous two instalments.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
