Review - Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Hope everyone is enjoying this May the Fourth. And today, we'll be taking a look at Obi-Wan Kenobi, the 2022 Disney+ Star Wars series directed by Deborah Chow, and starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Rupert Friend, Sung Kang, Moses Ingram, Indira Varma, Kumail Nanjiani, Vivien Lyra Blair, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Flea, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Benny Safdie, and Jimmy Smits. 

       So, the series is set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, and Obi-Wan Kenobi has been living a life of exile on the desert planet Tatooine, working local labor gigs and watching over Luke Skywalker, son of his former Padawan Anakin, who is now the armored Sith warrior Darth Vader. And, unfortunately, Obi-Wan is carrying around a mass amount of guilt over what happened to Anakin, feeling he broke his promise to his own mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn, to train Anakin, and left his old apprentice to die on Mustafar. 

       Things don't help much when a trio of Imperial Inquisitors, led by the Grand Inquisitor, arrive on Tatooine looking for Jedi. One such Jedi is a young man named Nari, who seeks Obi-Wan's help from the Inquisitors, but Obi-Wan is unwilling to help, having moved on from the ways of the Jedi Order. However, the thing that does get Obi-Wan back into action is a call from an old friend: Senator Bail Organa. You see, the Senator adopted Anakin Skywalker's daughter, Luke's twin sister Leia, and raised her on Alderaan. However, the girl was kidnapped by mercenaries being led by a bounty hunter named Vect Nokru. 

       So, Obi-Wan now finds himself having to traverse the galaxy again, rescue Leia, and return her home safely, all while avoiding the Inquisitors. One of the Inquisitors, Reva/The Third Sister, is relentless in her pursuit, much to the chagrin of both the Grand Inquisitor and The Fifth Brother. Obi-Wan, on his journey, makes a number of allies with a disillusioned Imperial officer named Talia Durith, an underground leader named Kawlan Roken, a con artist named Haja Estree. And, it all leads to the confrontation many have wanted to see since Revenge of the Sith: Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader round two. In the end, Obi-Wan accepts that Anakin's fall to the Dark Side wasn't his fault, and goes back to his new life on Tatooine, where he is greeted by the Force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn. 

       So, the performances of this series were actually pretty good, with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan really being the highlight. It has been seventeen years since he was on screen as one of the greatest Jedi of all time, and he hasn't missed a beat. Vivien Lyra Blair, who is also known for her role as Guppy in We Can Be Heroes, was pretty entertaining as the young Leia, definitely showing a lot of the spunk Natalie Portman had as Padme in Attack of the Clones. Now, while she got a lot of flak by a bunch of nimrods on YouTube, I thought that Moses Ingram as Reva/The Third Sister was actually pretty unique a a villain in this series. 

       Some of the other performances, like Benny Safdie as Nari, Kumail Nanjiani as Haja Estree, Indira Varma as Talia Durith, O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Kawlan Roken, and Sung Kang as The Fifth Brother were all decent. The returning Jimmy Smits as Senator Organa, Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, and Bonnie Piesse as Beru were all really good. However, I was not a fan of Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor. I dunno, he just lacked the intimidating gravitas of Jason Isaacs from the animated series Star Wars Rebels. But, the major draw was the return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin/Darth Vader. Not only seeing Hayden return to the franchise after all the crap.he got because of the Prequel Trilogy, but seeing that he does, indeed, truly own the character of Anakin is absolutely fantastic for me as a Star Wars fan. And, it was awesome to see him in action in the Darth Vader armor. And, yes we do get the return of James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader, and it's awesome. 

        Now, obviously, we were going to see the planets Tatooine, Mustafar, and Alderaan in this series, but some of the other planets were pretty unique as well. Planets like the industrial planet Daiyu, the mining planet Mapuzo, and the planet Jabiim were definitely unique, and they all stand out from each other, and definitely belong in the universe of Star Wars. And, some of the people, creatures, and terrain of those planets make them all super interesting, and something genuinely fascinating in the Star Wars universe. At least, that's what I think. Oh, and I loved finally seeing the Fortress Inquisitorius in live-action. 

       There is definitely plenty of action in this series, both involving blasters and lightsabers. And, the action is actually pretty good. However, one of the downsides to the series is that it feels dragged out in terms of narrative. You see, there was originally a plan to make this Obi-Wan Kenobi series as a theatrical movie, and it would have been one of the Star Wars Anthology movies like Rogue One and Solo. However, it was the mediocre box office of the latter, due to overspending on having to reshoot the entire movie, that led this to be a six episode streaming series rather than a movie. But, I personally think that the story probably had enough for a movie instead, and the extra padding to make it work as a streaming series was just unnecessary. 

        Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. As someone who enjoyed the Prequels when I was younger, I was glad to see a return of on of the Prequel Trilogy's central protagonists in a new Star Wars project. I'm giving Obi-Wan Kenobi a rating of 4.75/5. Log on to Disney+ and check it out. 

       Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and have a great May the Fourth. See you guys on Monday for my review of the Entourage movie, followed by my review of the new series Knuckles on Wednesday.