Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) Dir: Deborah Chow
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This Disney Plus original series marked the return of Ewan McGregor to the Star Wars franchise after an absence of 17 years - his last appearance being in Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005).
I was immensely excited for this, especially after the first trailer. Visually, the series has some drab points here and there, but for the most part it was excellent. The fight choreography was also good, the intensity of the duels reminiscent of the prequel trilogy at times.
The narrative was better than I had expected, it started a little hesitantly, but once it picked up everything seemed to come together nicely. Episode 1 was too slow for my liking but the pacing picked up with episode 2.
Episode 3's cinematography was especially beautiful, a definite stand out for me. Episode 5 took things to another level of intensity and quality, I cannot stress enough how incredible Darth Vader is as a villain. It is so satisfying seeing him be as brutal and scary as he should and can be.
The series culminates with a pretty good finale, if a little predictable. Though, in fairness, it is hard to avoid that when anyone who's seen the film's knows how the story of Obi-Wan and his fellow characters ends.
Ewan McGregor brings an emotional, heartfelt and at times powerful performance to the series. His ability to evoke emotion with such subtle facial expressions is truly something to be appreciated.
Hayden Christensen makes a return to Star Wars, though he doesn't have a huge amount of screentime as Anakin, he does wear the Vader costume, which is a really nice touch I must say. He shows why he is so loved in the Star Wars community with a varied performance, particularly in the last 3 episodes.
James Earl Jones once again returns to one of his most iconic voice roles in Vader. There truly is no one else who can effectively do his voice. His powerful voice once again delivers each line with the familiar and sinister deliberacy and intensity we are used to from Vader.
Moses Ingram has a bit of an inconsistent run of it however. She has some really great moments where she feels dangerous and powerful, but also times where she feels like an afterthought and rather weak.
The young Vivien Lyra Blair plays the youthful Leia, and manages to recreate the iconic Carrie Fisher's wit and personality surprisingly well. I found her to be likeable and endearing throughout.
Joel Edgerton is another returning actor to the galaxy far, far away - he once again plays Owen Lars, his character from the prequels, and has a lot more screentime to play with. I really liked that he was more involved here, it meant the audience sees a lot more of what he and young Luke get up to in the years before A New Hope.
A character I desperately wanted to see more of was that of Rupert Friend as The Inquisitor. His voice was excellent and he was the only antagonist which felt undeniably threatening in comparison to Darth Vader. Unfortunately, he doesn't appear that much though, but if there are more Star Wars projects to come out, I hope he can be involved.
Finally, I'll mention 2 supporting actors which I thought were worth mentioning; Indira Verma as Tala and Sung Kang as Fifth Brother. Both had some intriguing and enjoyable moments, particularly Verma, who in fairness had more opportunity to shine.
Overall, I have to say this series was far better than I had hoped for, which is a very good thing. There were so many moments and features that got me excited and enthralled.
I read some other reviews that were far more negative, but I think that is mainly due to the eternally high expectations given to any and all Star Wars projects these days. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this and am glad I took the time to watch it.
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