charleski2000

Andor season 2 is simply the best piece of Star Wars ever made. There is no contest. It is a story of struggle and sacrifice, a story of the forgotten heroes who rose up from the darkest days of Imperial dominance and pushed at the cracks in the shell of tyrrany that surrounded them. It is also the story of the bitter and ultimately broken individuals who found it so easy to bow to that tyrrany and further its aims. It ends not with a victory, but on the threshold of the prelude to that victory. It is superb. Star Wars began as a Saturday matinee fairytale and morphed into a bloated franchise colossus that groaned under its own weight. With Andor Disney has taken the best bit of post-Lucas SW and used it to redefine what the entire tale really stands for. It's no accident that not once is any mention made of magical Jedi or their struggle to use forks properly. These are real people, and they have a real story.

A disappointing attempt to milk the Tolkien franchise yet further. Neither plot nor characters show any attempt to introduce nuance or explore the source material more deeply. You walk away thinking that the whole mess could have been avoided if the king had just locked up the troublemakers right at the start. The attempt to crowbar a female protagonist into Tolkien's sausage-party is forgivable, but clumsy, and ends up as just another one-dimensional tomboy fantasy.

The animation is staid and disappointing, with the whole thing reeking of the sweat-shop assembly line process that churns out so much mediocre fare in the Far East. It's certainly not a match for the innovative material coming from French studios, though that comes at a price. And this film gives a distinct whiff of having been made on the cheap.

I was initially wary of this because I am oh so tired of all the culture war B. S. But, hey, Will Ferrell is a powerful draw. This film proved to be well worth a watch. That's because it brings the whole issue back to where it really belongs: the lives and experiences of the people involved.

This is a powerful document of the pain, joy, and hope that Harper Steele has encountered in her process. Whatever your viewpoint on the matter, anyone who fails to be touched by this has lost sight of their humanity. The final scene, in particular, is deeply moving and shows the importance of simple acts of love and caring. John 13:34 is not an optional extra.

Oklahoma can hold its head up high. Texas? Not so much.