Star Wars returns once more to the dust-coated deserts of Tatooine to see the gritty rise of the intergalactic crime lord and former bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
The Disney+ exclusive began streaming on Dec. 29. “The Book of Boba Fett” is a spin-off of the wildly popular “Mandalorian” series. As of publication, Disney released four episodes of the seven-part series.
The latest addition to the franchise opens with Fett on the brink of death, trapped inside of the stomach of the Sarlacc, a giant tentacled monster, suffocating on the gastric fumes. Fett claws his way out of the beast, using the last of his strength to torch a path through the Sarlacc’s stomach using his flamethrower and dig his way back to the surface.
The series opening is a call back to what many fans believed to be his death in “The Return of the Jedi,” the third Star Wars film.
After escaping the monster, Fett loses his strength and passes out, becoming subject to the harsh desert world. During the night, Tuskan Raiders, a group of nomadic barbarians known for their viciousness, take Fett prisoner.
The story jumps forward five years, resuming where the wildly popular “Mandalorian” series left off, where Fett has taken over Jabba The Hutt’s criminal enterprise on Tatooine. Fett and his master assassin partner Fennec Shand must collect tribute over their charges in Mos Espa, the nearby city, to keep their criminal organization afloat.
The story of “The Book of Boba Fett” is split between his near brush with death five years ago and his rise to power as a crime lord. The world of Star Wars is further fleshed out by exposing the viewer to the intergalactic criminal underground full of backstabbing mafiosos and danger lurking behind every corner. The setting and story flesh out Fett’s motivations and ambitions, bringing color to Fett’s backstory.
The show’s pacing draws some concerns. While most of the story is focused on the slow gains Fett made during his past, the show’s seven-part listing could prove to hinder Fett’s story development in the present.
Already, interactions among characters in the present seem mechanical to a degree, where personality appears to be the driving factor in how the cast relates to one another. For instance, while Fett is, to all degrees, an anti-hero, he rarely makes choices that cause the viewer to revolt against him or his motivations explicitly.
The action sequences and the design of the show also draw concern. The choreography in fight scenes often appears rushed or carried on for way too long, likely resulting from the show’s rapid pacing. Additionally, the show moves away from the series’s traditional rustic broken-down set design in favor of a more vintage cyberpunk look, spurring confusion in the viewer with the show’s visuals.
Overall, “The Book of Boba Fett” builds a compelling story around a side character from the main movie trilogy and expands upon the Star Wars galaxy with a dive into the deeply complex crime syndicates on Tatooine. While some concerns result from the show’s pacing, the exploration of a fan-favorite character’s backstory and motivations faithfully delivers its overall contribution to the Star Wars franchise.
