Of all of the methods to revolutionize an arguably stagnant franchise, the refreshing feeling of “Andor” principally comes all the way down to the only potential reply — it treats its essential plot as an precise story price telling. Who knew!
The franchise’s tendency to create new installments virtually solely for the aim of being fed by way of the IP meatgrinder has change into prevalent sufficient to inspire its own mocking meme, however fortunately that is the place “Andor” is available in. Few would’ve ever anticipated {that a} prequel sequence to a prequel/spin-off film of its personal would act as a stark rebuttal to this tiresome pattern, however that is merely the by-product of narratives which can be prioritized as character-first, not cameo-first. Not surprisingly, creator Tony Gilroy (the “Bourne” trilogy, “Michael Clayton”) infuses a extra grown-up and narratively satisfying mentality proper from the beginning.
After we meet up with Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor to start with moments of “Andor,” it is obvious that he has an extended, lengthy path forward of him to change into the (barely) extra heroic character we meet in “Rogue One.” His stunning act of brutality that ends with one attacker useless and the opposite mercilessly executed units the tone for the remainder of the premiere, taking viewers by way of a street-level journey that continues to be totally targeted on Cassian’s particular arc. No cross-branding workouts or characters virtually designed to go viral distract from the present’s mission assertion.
The truth that some have spun this as a failure of the sequence, as unbelievable as that’s to imagine, speaks to how desperately a present like “Andor” — easy, simple ambitions and all — has been wanted.
