The Mandalorian Episode 1 Review - 6 Ups And 1 Down
Ups...
6. The Western Motif Works Perfectly
Disney+
Star Wars has always been a western, in the sense that the original, 1977 classic took major inspiration from The Hidden Fortress, one of many samurai films by the legendary Akira Kurosawa that would come to form the basis of countless Old West tales helmed by American and Italian directors in the 1960s. Han Solo's as close to a space cowboy as you can get without putting an egregiously large hat on his already cowboy-ish costume, and there are plenty of other examples littered throughout the franchise that owe their existence to the western genre.
The Mandalorian, in a way, is paying Star Wars' debt to the genre - almost from the off. It's very Leone, and the intro where the titular Mando enters a remote canteen is even accompanied by a Morricone-esque accompaniment.
Pedro Pascal's protagonist is also typical of the genre. He's stoic, and while the Man With No Name comparisons are apt (Clint Eastwood's character from Leone's 'Dollars Trilogy'), he's not exactly emotionally distant. There's a vulnerability to the character and Pascal is able to sell those brief moments surprisingly well even when hidden behind a mask.
The western motif also translates into the action, and to a more lawless kind of Star Wars than we've seen before...
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.
