With ‘Andor’ we finally get to see a ‘Star Wars’ series that exceeds the high expectations

Bam! Bam! Bam! In one of the opening scenes of the second episode of ‘Andor’,a stout man climbs the stone steps of a tower staircase. In the ridge of thetower, high above the city, he reaches for two bronze hammers that look atleast as impressive as Thor’s hammer.

Erik StockmanWednesday 21 September 202217:54

The man checks for a moment that his worn-out noise-canceling headphones arefirmly on his ears, then starts pounding a giant cast-iron anvil with purehand force with his two hammers: bám! Bam! Bam! The clattering hammers, whosemighty sound echoes all over the city, have been used to usher in the eveningon the planet Ferrix since time immemorial. For the workers, this is thesignal to hang their gloves on the hook, the lights are extinguished in thegigantic spaceship hangars, everyone rushes home in the evening twilight. Butas far as we’re concerned, those hammer sounds can also be interpreted in adifferent way: they form the melodious signal that a masterly ‘Star Wars’series has finally started on Disney +.

It’s as if that stout man with his thunderous blows is shaking up the entiredoomed ‘Star Wars’ franchise again: bám! Bam! Bam! Because yes: after thesomewhat childish ‘The Mandalorian’, the deadly brave ‘The Book of Boba Fett’and the quickly collapsed ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ we finally get a ‘Andor’, of whichwe were allowed to watch the first four episodes, ‘ Star Wars’ series that notonly lives up to the high expectations, but exceeds in almost every area – thevisuals, the dialogues, the music, the story, the performances, the characterdrawings – magnificently.

That timid figure who, like all the other inhabitants, hastens through thestreets of Ferrix at dusk, is Cassian ( Diego Luna ), a poacher who makesa living selling stolen spaceship parts. We are Cassian in a galaxy far, faraway We’ve run into him before: at the beginning of the fantastic ‘Rogue One'(2016) we saw him walking around a bazaar on the Ring of Kafrene withdetermined pace. In ‘Rogue One’, Cassian showed himself not only as a ruthlesskiller, but also as a brave rebel, who Jyn Erso ( Felicity Jones ) helpedloot the Death Star building plans. Set up as a prequel to ‘Rogue One’,’Andor’ sees Cassian rise from common petty thief to captain of the RebelAlliance’s intelligence service.

The hammer scene described above also makes something else clear: namely that’Andor’, more than the other ‘Star Wars’ series on Disney +, was deeplygrounded by its creators in the rituals, customs and daily life on theplanets. where the story takes place. The hammerman who beats his anvil everynight. The mechanics who hang their welding machines in a dilapidatedwarehouse under the body of rusty spaceships. A passenger who grumbles thatthe shuttle has to make a few rounds again before it can start landing, justlike passenger planes sometimes have to circle above the airport for a whilewhen busy. While the other ‘Star Wars’ series made us feel just a little toomuch like we were watching digital pixels, ‘Andor’ shot on physical film sets,with a lot of drab realism and a wonderful eye for detail, immerses us in atangible reality: that city on the planet Ferrix, for example, was completelyrecreated in England. The locations we visit in the first four episodes – thepale grays of Ferrix, the forests of Cassian’s home planet Kenari, thelandscapes of Aldhani resembling the Scottish highlands – are a welcome changefrom the completely worn-out sands of Tatooine.

Another plus is the surprisingly neat photography: see for example themagnificent shot of the speeder that, leaving behind a streak of splashingwater, zooms through a rice field-like landscape. A remarkably beautiful scorefrom Nicholas Britello also: just listen to that short, melancholyfragment of music that blows by when Cassian is commissioned by the mysteriousLuthen ( Stellan Skarsgard ) accepts a job on the planet Aldhani. Who’sSeen ‘Rogue One’ – And Now Here’s A Spoiler! – know why the music in thatcrucial scene doesn’t sound too elated: because Cassian, the moment he saysyes to Luthen and thus effectively joins the rebel army, seals his own fate.Dead man walking! There is talent behind this, so we can only conclude afterthe first four episodes, and yes: the showrunner and screenwriter of ‘Andor’is none other than Tony Gilroy the man who previously penned ‘The Devil’sAdvocate’, ‘Dolores Claiborne’, ‘State of Play’, ‘Rogue One’ and the entireJason Bourne franchise.

With ‘Andor’ Gilroy finally gives us a ‘Star Wars’ series that (at least inthe first four episodes!) cuts the ties with the boredom Jedi and the Sithwith a heavy blow of the lightsaber. A series that for once does not deal withexcessive fan service, which does not feel like a lukewarm extract of thefilms we love so much, and those – thank the Jawas! – really light years awayfrom the cowie-koedie-koedie series with Baby Yoda and Grandpa Fett meant forbottle kids. In fact, ‘Andor’ stands alone in the ‘Star Wars’ universe so muchthat it would feel completely out of place if Darth Vader or a digitallyrejuvenated Luke Skywalker suddenly appeared later in the season for somereason. As far as we’re concerned, ‘Andor’ thus far gives us everything welove so much, from the magical sound of a spaceship starting up over cracklinglaser guns to the beautiful image of good old Stellan Skarsgård on a speeder(that we may experience that! And even better: that Stellan may stillexperience that!).

You know, it would take us a hundred thousand words to define the ‘Star Wars’feeling, but really it comes down to this: just like ‘A New Hope’, ‘The EmpireStrikes Back’, ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘ Rogue One’, just like the very best’Star Wars’ movies, we sat enchanted, breathless and – bám! Bam! Bam! – wideawake, glued to the screen.