Kathryn Bigelow is the perfect person to handle an inordinately tense, gripping and powerful near-real time military thriller. Less a war film more a story of the buildup to potential conflict, it marks her successful return to moviemaking following the less-than-enthusiastic reaction to 2017’s ‘Detroit’.
And this is a talent who deserved better than to sit on the sidelines for years.
Script and Direction
Kathryn Bigelow attends the Netflix film ‘A House of Dynamite’ NYFF Main Slate Premiere and Q&A on September 28, 2025 in New York City. Photo: Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Netflix.
Noah Oppenheim, an NBC news veteran, has been behind scripts including ‘Jackie’ and the recent Netflix series ‘Zero Day’, and pumps up the tension with a structure that resets the clock on the story across three acts, telling the same story of a missile headed to the US from an unknown aggressor from different viewpoints up and down the command chain from isolated military bases to the hubs of the White House and the Pentagon.
While the switch in focus means some characters are better served than others, and some of the more movie-ish peeks into personal lives dip precariously close to cheese, it still works.
Bigelow keeps the camera moving and the tension levels high for this one, aided by Volker Bertelmann‘s doomy, evolving score. It’s the director’s best in years and deserves to be seen.
With such a big cast to service, it’s impressive how many big names Bigelow has recruited here. Standouts include Rebecca Ferguson’s steely, but human operations officer at the White House, Jason Clarke as her boss, Gabriel Basso as a nervy National Security Advisor thrust into a new level of responsibility and Jared Leto as Secretary of Defense Baker, at once outraged by the lack of efficiency in his country’s response to the weapon headed its way a terrified for his estranged daughter (an underused Kaitlyn Dever).
If there’s a weak link here, it’s Idris Elba, who never really convinces as the President.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Shannon about his work in the film, in which he plays the patriarch of a well-off family who have retreated to a luxurious underground bunker after climate change has brought about the end of human civilization.
Shannon’s character, simply known as ‘Father,’ may have contributed to the collapse of the Earth’s ecosystem as head of a fossil fuel conglomerate. Despite its bleak subject matter, ‘The End’ is a full-blown musical featuring 13 original songs all performed by the members of the cast.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with Michael Shannon.
Michael Shannon talks ‘The End’. Photo: Mubi.
Moviefone: Had you seen Joshua’s two documentaries [‘The Act of Killing’ and ‘The Look of Silence,’ both about the mass murder of Indonesian citizens by a brutal far-right regime in the mid-1960s] and having seen those, was finding out what he wanted to do with this kind of a curveball in a way?
Michael Shannon: When I first met with Josh, I had not seen the documentaries. I had heard about them, they’re rather legendary, but I hadn’t actually seen them. So I had a pretty fresh palette going into it. All I had to go on was our conversation and then reading the script. But after I signed on, I watched both of the films, and found them exquisite and painful and all the things that everybody else probably has, and I didn’t really find it to be a curveball. Josh talks about these three films, ‘The Act of Killing,’ ‘Look of Silence,’ and ‘The End’ as being a triptych. He actually got the idea to make ‘The End’ based on the time that he spent in Southeast Asia and meeting a wealthy entrepreneur who was building an underground bunker. So I guess he could have made a documentary about that guy, I don’t know. But he decided instead to make his first narrative film.
MF: What was your reaction reading the script and learning that it was a musical combined with a post-apocalyptic drama?
MS: I was thrilled. I am really disinterested in doing something that’s been done before. I think there’s probably too many movies and TV shows in general, and that people spend too much time watching them. But if you’re going to go through the trouble of making something — and it is trouble, trust me, because he devoted years of his life to making this movie. It wasn’t easy, and it took a small village to get the thing financed. But if you’re going to go through all that, then you better make something that’s unique, and I definitely feel like he’s accomplished that.
Tilda Swinton in ‘The End’. Photo: Mubi.
MF: When you do look at a script, do you have an immediate reaction? Do you have to keep turning the pages, and become aware that you want to be involved in it, or on the other hand, do you read 10 pages and are like, “No, this is not for me”?
MS: Yeah, it’s pretty quick. I don’t like reading screenplays anyway. I don’t know when that happened — it used to be that when anybody thought to send me a screenplay, I was overwhelmingly excited to see it. But I guess just through the years as you read stacks and stacks of them, they become less and less appealing. But yeah, you usually know pretty quick. But this film is about things that are really important to me, and I could tell that basically from the get-go. So this was a very easy script for me to get through.
MF: Do you see a parallel with the story in ‘The End’ to the political moment that we’re in now?
MS: A parallel? Well, it’s interesting, because I guess that’s where your mind is inclined to head, but it’s important to remember that this problem existed before Trump was elected. Even if Kamala Harris got elected or Jill Stein or whoever, it’s been a problem. It’s been a problem since the ‘60s, we’ve known about this for decades and we haven’t done enough to fix it or solve it because, frankly, we’re delusional. Not everybody on an individual basis is delusional. There are a lot of people that are aware of the problem and want to do something about it as individuals, but as a society, I feel like within the United States, there are all different kinds of people obviously, but the United States of America as a country, as a collective country, is mentally ill. It’s like a crazy person that needs treatment, and I don’t know who’s going to give us this treatment. I’m pretty sure it won’t be Donald Trump, but we need some serious time away in a clinic somewhere with a bunch of people saying, “Let’s get to the bottom of this, because you’re clearly very dysfunctional.”
(L to R) Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon in ‘The End’. Photo: Mubi.
MF: Father starts off as kind of empathetic and congenial, and then you learn more about him and his dark side starts to come out. What was your approach to playing him?
MS: Of course he’s congenial, that’s how he got through life. I don’t think many people get to be CEOs or run corporate entities by being complete dickheads. Charm is the name of the game. Is he a sociopath? I don’t know. Sociopaths are very charming. I do believe that he does have a sense of morality ultimately, that he’s not a sociopath per se. But I thought about it, the potential or the possibility for it. But I think ultimately he’s just a man dealing with a profound amount of guilt, which I can relate to. I think guilt is a pretty universal feeling, I would hope. I don’t want people to be afflicted by it, but there are some things, like I mentioned earlier, that perhaps people should have a small amount of guilty feelings about. But I think what you see in the process of the film and the process of the story is a reawakening in him. It starts with Son inspiring him to really try and remember how he and Mother met, and it’s like a thawing of sorts. Like in order to cope with this experience that they’re having, he’s created this persona that he’s perpetuating just out of survival mode, but it’s not actually who he is if he really stops to think about it. But that’s the thing, in the aquarium that they’re all stuck in, self-examination can be a very dangerous thing. You would think, “Oh, I have all this time now, I am just going to get to know myself, and journal and all these things.” But that can lead you to some dark corners or some questions that you don’t know how to answer, and I feel like that’s what happens to Father in the movie.
MF: You’ve sang onstage in a band, but this is the first time that you’ve sang on film, correct?
MS: Well, I did a miniseries called ‘George and Tammy,’ where I played George Jones, and I sang quite a bit in that. But in terms of cinema, yeah, it’s been a long road, but yes, I don’t think I’ve sang in a movie before.
(L to R) Michael Shannon, George MacKay and Tilda Swinton in ‘The End’. Photo: Mubi.
MF: The cast sang mostly live on set. Was that a challenge in any way?
MS: Well, we rehearsed quite a bit before we started filming, we had three weeks of intensive singing rehearsals and a little bit of dancing rehearsals, and also table work with the script, blocking the scenes. The challenging part about a lot of the musical numbers that involved the whole group is that Josh had something very specific in mind about how he wanted it to move and flow and look. It’s always hard when you’ve got an ensemble of people all in frame at the same time and camera movement and all that. Some of those shots took a lot of takes to get them just the way that Josh saw them in his head.
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What is the plot of ‘The End’?
A wealthy family has lived in a vast underground bunker for 20 years while the world above has become uninhabitable and humankind has all but gone extinct. Their carefully controlled life and routines are disrupted by the arrival of a young woman from above who leads them to question everything.
(L to R) Moses Ingram and Natalie Portman star in Apple TV+’s ‘Lady in the Lake’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram about their work on ‘Lady in the Lake,’ their approach to their characters, similarities between the two women, and working with director Alma Har’el.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Portman and Ingram, as well as Y’llan Noel, Byron Bowers, Josiah Cross, Noah Jupe and director Alma Har’el.
Natalie Portman in ‘Lady in the Lake,’ premiering July 19, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Moviefone: To begin with, Natalie, can you talk about your approach to playing Maddie, a character who is really discovering who she is for herself as the series unfolds?
Natalie Portman: Well, I think that something that’s exciting with Maddie is she’s someone who’s bottled up her personality for so long that it kind of explodes and then she kind of overdoes everything. So, it was exciting to have that kind of exploration. It was very different because I’ve never done a series before, so I’ve never had that amount of space to explore a character. Alma created incredible space for us to improvise, find detail, play, and it was fun. Just with creating the character and with other actors who also had created these very detailed characters, she would leave the end of takes open that we could just keep improvising back and forth. There were some treasures that came out of that, and beautiful moments that she just allowed us to have. You must have some breathing room to find those things.
Moses Ingram in ‘Lady in the Lake,’ premiering July 19, 2024 on Apple TV+.
MF: Moses, can you talk about your approach to playing Cleo and her motivation to protect her family and give them a better life?
Moses Ingram: I mean, I don’t have children of my own, but I can see in mothers around me, my own mother, that you always want yours to have better than you did. I think that’s certainly the thing that drives her. When life is hard, people make decisions that other people might not understand. I think that’s kind of the position that Cleo is in. But she does it for her kids, for sure.
(L to R) Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram in ‘Lady in the Lake,’ premiering July 19, 2024 on Apple TV+.
MF: Maddie and Cleo are completely different people, but at the same time are very similar in a lot of ways. Can you talk about that?
MI: I mean, women in the 60s, they couldn’t even have credit cards without a man attached. Trying to make very simple decisions like getting rid of your car, for example. Things like that make it very hard to get a leg up on your own. I think that’s where these two women meet, and I think that’s where the universality lies between the two of them. Obviously, it’s different because of the intersectionality of it all, but alike and different. I think there’s space for many women to see themselves here.
(L to R) Natalie Portman with creator, showrunner, executive producer, writer and director Alma Har’el for ‘Lady in the Lake,’ premiering July 19, 2024 on Apple TV+.
MF: Finally, Natalie, can you talk about working on set with director Alma Har’el and collaborating with her to execute her vision for this project?
NP: Alma is extraordinary. I mean, I was in awe of her every day. She comes with full energy, full positivity, full creativity, a very precise and beautiful vision that she communicates well, creating space for other people to participate and collaborate, and then managed to do that every day for months and months and months and months. She wrote everything. I mean, she had a team that she wrote with, but she led the writing. She directed every episode. She cut everything. I mean, she’s a boss. I am in awe of her and love her dearly.
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What is the plot of ‘Lady in the Lake’?
In 1960s Baltimore, an investigative journalist (Natalie Portman) working on an unsolved murder, clashes with a woman (Angela Robinson) working to advance the agenda of the city’s black community. The protagonist ditches her doting husband (Brett Gelman) and big Pikesville home to pursue a career as a newspaper reporter. She becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery of two separate killings: eleven-year-old Tessie Fine and a bartender named Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram).
It’s time for the stand-off that we have all been waiting for. Welcome to the finale of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’.
We begin with Reva (Moses Ingram) on Tatooine. She tells a stall owner that she’s looking for a farmer, Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton). In space, Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) is chasing Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and the group of refugees. Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) tells Ben the shields won’t last, and the Empire is likely to catch them.
He looks to the escapees, and at Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) as she helps calm a child. She tells Kenobi they’re scared. Luke (Grant Feely) and Owen go shopping for parts. He’s approached by the stall owner from earlier, saying he needs to tell him something.
Ben explains to Leia he’s going to go to Vader, so the refugees can escape. They’ve spent their time protecting Jedi, so let him return the favor. He orders Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) to get Leia home safe if he doesn’t come back.
Owen tells Beru (Bonnie Piesse) that Reva is coming for them. She tells him they’re not leaving, and not putting anyone else in danger. They arm up, ready to face her.
Haja tells Ben he spoke to Leia, and Kenobi relays to her how he wishes he could have taken her home. He gives Leia the blaster holster that belonged to Tala (Indira Varma). Leia hugs Ben and begs him to come back. He promises her he will. We see him looking over his lightsaber, trying to speak to Qui-Gon’s force ghost. But all he gets is silence.
Roken tells Ben he doesn’t have to confront Vader, but Kenobi explains there’s not many leaders left, and tells Roken not to stop. The Empire tracks the escape ship, and the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) explains to Vader how they need to wipe out what’s left of the refugees. “He’s not just some Jedi,” Vader responds.
On Tatooine, Owen explains to Luke why he needs to hide, and tells him not to leave. He tells his uncle he’s not afraid, and they lock him away.
Vader chases Kenobi to a planet, saying he will face him alone. Ben lands on a dark, rocky planet and just sits, waiting for his old Padawan to find him. He hears a droid, and it’s revealed Leia left L0-LA for him.
Reva is creeping her way onto Owen’s farm. We see Vader landing on the planet at the same time. He steps off the ship, facing down Kenobi. Vader asks if he’s come to destroy him. Kenobi says, “I will do what I must.” “Then you will die,” Vader responds. Finally, the battle the entire series has led up to.
Back on Tatooine, we’re shown Owen aiming for Reva. They fire on her, at the same time Vader and Kenobi are duking it out, using the Force against one another. “Your strength has returned, but the weakness still remains,” Vader says to Kenobi. Vader managed to finally get the high ground. He tries to crush Kenobi under a large pile of rocks and walks away.
Reva fights against Owen, and it’s revealed she’s going after Luke in some attempt at justice against Vader. Luke escapes, and she chases after him.
Kenobi is buried, but he’s struggling to use the Force to help himself escape. We hear flashbacks to when he fought Anakin before he was Vader, and he uses Leia and Luke’s voice to free himself. Vader stops walking away, Obi-Wan finally getting the upper hand and using intense force powers, turns the tables on him.
Reva chases Luke into a rocky corridor, paralleling where Kenobi and Vader are fighting. At the same time, Obi-Wan destroys Vader’s breathing tech. He destroys his helmet, and for the first time in a long time, he is face to face with Anakin Skywalker. We’re shown the surprise and fear on Kenobi’s face. “Anakin’s gone, I am what remains,’ says Vader.
Kenobi tearfully apologies, for everything, as Vader tells him “I’m not your failure. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did.” Whatever was left of Anakin, was gone. “Then my friend is truly dead,” replies Kenobi. Ben says goodbye calling him Darth instead of Anakin one last time.
Obi-Wan escapes the planet, and meanwhile, Reva is still on the hunt, getting closer to Luke. Kenobi feels what is happening to Luke and races to help. Reva approaches the child, ready to take her revenge on whoever she can that is related to Vader. She does hesitate, seeing Luke as herself as a child during Order 66.
Kenobi lands on the planet and sees Owen and Beru trying to find Luke. They see Reva carrying Luke back to them, very clear she didn’t kill him. Reva tells Kenobi she couldn’t do it, and she explains how Anakin killed all of the younglings. Ben tells Reva that by saving Luke, she honors all who have been lost.
She asks if she’s become Vader, but Ben says she’s chosen not to. What she becomes is up to her. Reva takes out her lightsaber and tosses it away. Kenobi offers her a hand, and she accepts. “Now you’re free, we both are,” Kenobi says.
Cut to Mustafar, and we’re shown Vader talking to the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid). He questions if Vader’s thoughts are clear and asks if his feelings are clouding him.
Leia is shown returned to her family, dressed like a little Rebellion princess. Her mother (Simone Kessell) questions the holster, but explains she actually loves it. They make it out to her father (Jimmy Smits), who looks at her outfit, with Leia responding, “You said there was many ways to lead.”
Kenobi steps off the visiting ship, giving her L0-LA back and visiting Leia’s family. They explain how they can never repay him, and her father says he fears for her future. Ben offers his help in case anything happens, and Leia asks what he’ll do now. He says he doesn’t know, and she offers up the idea he should sleep.
He finally reveals to Leia all her fantastic qualities come from both her real mother and father, but she seems not to care, looking to her adoptive family as if they were blood. Leia asks if she’ll ever see him again, and they hug one last time. Obi-Wan flies off, and he’s seen packing his stuff away once again in his cave on Tatooine.
He grabs the bag of metal toy parts, and visits Owen one last time. Owen asks what he’s doing there, and Kenobi tells the man he was right. Luke just needs to be a boy. “The future will take care of itself,” Ben admits.
Kenobi tells Owen the only protection Luke needs is him and his aunt and tells him to take care of the boy. Owen calls for Ben, asking if he wants to meet Luke. He walks over to the boy and gives a single greeting of “Hello there.”
Finally, we’re shown Kenobi riding into the desert, when a force ghost of his old master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) finally appears. “Well, took you long enough,’ Jinn says to Kenobi.
He explains to Ben he was always there, saying he just wasn’t ready to see him. He tells Ben to “Come on, we got a way to go,” leading him into the desert as the series ends.
(L to R) Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson in ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.’
So, how was ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ really’? Well, I was someone who grew up on the prequel trilogy. Seeing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christenson back was probably a highlight of this extended universe for me. Both of the characters and their story were huge highlights of the show. From the smallest side characters to the leads, everyone was incredibly interesting and felt like fantastic additions to the universe.
Being able to see Christensen and McGregor continuing where the prequels ended was a dream come true, and their acting absolutely killed it. Seeing the pain on Kenobi’s face when he sees his old apprentice in this last episode hurt me to my core. Special props to Christensen for making Darth Vader just as scary so many years later. His performance is an absolute triumph.
Moses Ingram’s performance as Reva also deserves a shout-out, especially for being one of the more badass villains so far on the ‘Star Wars’ screen, and quickly becoming sympathetic through her heartbreaking origin.
With all this praise, the show did indeed have its issues, such as missed opportunities for character cameos (though the addition of Qui-Gon Jinn right at the end was a sweet touch) rather than uninteresting villain plotlines. The Inquisitors, not counting Reva, seeming more like a video game nod than real fleshed out baddies.
But we’re staying in the past with the next Disney+ ‘Star Wars’ show, ‘Andor’.
Can’t wait to see you all then, and thanks for reading!
‘Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Poster Courtesy of Disney+
The Empire isn’t willing to let Kenobi go that easily. Welcome to the second to last episode of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’.
We begin with a flashback to ‘The Clone Wars’ era and see Hayden Christensen as a young Anakin Skywalker! He’s sparring with Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) to prove he’s ready to be a Jedi Master but then we’re quickly brought back to present day and now see Anakin as Darth Vader.
Reva (Moses Ingram) walks in and tells Vader exactly where Obi-Wan is headed. She’s also finally given what she’s always wanted, the Grand Inquisitor title.
The rescue ship lands, and Kenobi runs into Haja (Kumail Nanjiani), who explains he’s now wanted by the empire after his confrontation with Reva. They ask Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) for help getting back to Alderaan, but he explains that they need to save the refugees first.
Vader is on his way, and he is not happy. It’s revealed that the tracker Reva planted was in Leia’s droid, and she directs it remotely to close the hideaway’s doors and trap the refuges inside. Obi-Wan then confronts a wall of messages from Jedi who have previously been there, as well as a box full of lightsabers.
The droid locks down the facility, as Kenobi tells Roken that Vader “has no patients for a siege.” We’re shown another flashback, and the Empire lands on the planet. Obi-Wan takes the lead and promises everyone they will be safe if they can hold off the Empire long enough to escape. He gives Roken an hour to bypass the lockdown as the Empire prepares their attack, and Reva lands with an army of Stormtroopers.
Obi-Wan receives a message from Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), worried that Vader has discovered the truth about his offspring and offers to go to Tatooine and help Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) protect young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely).
Tala (Indira Varma) then speaks to Obi-Wan and tells him about the force sensitive families that she watched be killed, explaining how she moved from the Empire to the Resistance. “There are some things you can’t forget, but you can fight to make them better,” she explained.
Haja recommends climbing through the vent to fix the doors, and Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) offers to help. Roken dismisses her but Kenobi orders him to let her try. He then puts Haja in charge of Leia so he can confront Reva and buy them some time. Kenobi tells the Empire that he wants to talk the Inquisitor. Reva agrees and the two meet at the door. She instantly sees through his charade and realizes that he is just stalling for time.
Kenobi then asks her how she knows Vader is Anakin. He soon realizes that Reva was a youngling during the events of Order 66 and knows what Anakin did. We are then shown a flashback revealing that Reva had to play dead to avoid being killed by Anakin.
Obi-Wan goes on to discover her big plan. Reva isn’t helping Vader, she wants to kill him and have her revenge. But she turns the tides, blaming Kenobi for Anakin’s murder spree. She strongly asserts that she needs no help, not even his, breaking the door open and fighting her way through.
The Stormtroopers break through with her, and the rebel group retreats. Leia is still in the vents attempting to get the doors open. Tala is shot but her droid protects her as she closes the hallway door to save everyone else, before sacrificing herself by setting off an explosive to slow the attack.
Vader tells Reva remotely to stand down, as we get another flashback to Anakin’s Jedi test. Kenobi realizes that Anakin is expecting him to surrender, and once again leaves Leia with Haja to keep her safe, while giving himself up to the Empire.
Obi-Wan informs Reva that she isn’t bringing him to Vader, but that he’s bringing Vader to her! He tells her about the refuges and asks if Reva is really going to let Vader slaughter innocent people again, offering to help her end it together. Considering his offer, Reva questions if Vader will see it coming. Kenobi replies “all he’ll see is me.”
In the flashback, Anakin downs Kenobi as he explains how the young man’s need for victory blinds him. In the present, Vader lands on the planet and goes to get his old Master.
Back in the air vent, Leia finds the broken piece and gets attacked by Lola, freeing her from the empire’s control, while Vader enters the base. Leia gets the doors open and is reunited with Kenobi, as he has escaped from the Empire. A transport goes to leave, and Vader stops it, breaking it open in a rage to find Obi-Wan, only to discover that it was a distraction, as the real ship flies away.
In the flashback, Anakin finally loses to Obi-Wan, with his Master saying, “You are a great warrior Anakin, but your need to prove yourself is your undoing. Until you overcome it, a Padawan you will still be.”
Back in the present, Reva is ready to end Vader’s life until he stops her cold, revealing that he knew of her plans and blames Kenobi for using her. They fight, but she is no match for Vader, as he tosses her a blade, so they can duel it out fair and square.
But Vader gets the upper hand as Reva flashes back to when he attacked her friends during Order 66. Vader defeats Reva, leaving her gravely injured, as it is revealed that the Grand Inquisitor is still alive and working with Vader to reveal Reva’s true intentions.
Kenobi and the rebels get away, as we see Reva still fighting for her life, and discovering the message Bail Organa left for Kenobi, revealing Luke Skywalker. Back on the ship, Kenobi senses that something is wrong. The scene then cuts to Tatooine and a sleeping Luke. Fade to black.
Director Deborah Chow made a brilliant choice to use the flashback to the prequels in this episode. Not only did we get to see Hayden Christensen back in his old Jedi robe and wielding his lightsaber, but we also saw Ewan McGregor with his famous mullet!
But fan service aside, the use of that flashback was to illustrate the seemingly never-ending battle between good and evil through Anakin and Obi-Wan’s long relationship, as it was playing out in real time. While yes, we saw it as a memory, it still got its point across.
Without that choice, we would just have a back and forth between Master and Apprentice, neither of them literally in the same room! It shows the audience a time when the two were (relatively) friendly, but also giving us hints of what’s to come in this series.
Like in the flashback, Anakin is impulsive and full of anger. While this is obvious to longtime fans of the franchise, it shows how little he has changed in the long run. Not counting the missing limbs.
Order 66 as seen in ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.’
But it’s not just Anakin’s flashback that we see in this episode. Reva gets the same treatment, as we’re shown a firsthand account of Order 66, when Anakin completely turned to the dark side. The parallels of her trauma as well as Kenobi’s, while different, are nearly one in the same.
Reva lost her family in the Jedi order, just as Anakin lost his Master in his welcoming of the dark side. While I wouldn’t say that her path parallel’s Anakin’s, she does what he seemingly cannot, which is fight back!
We only have one episode left of ‘Obi-Won Kenobi’ and so much more can still happen.
The last episode of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ brought up old ghosts and some returning flames from the past. Time for episode four, where we got a rescue to pull off.
We open on Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) waking in and out of consciousness after his little stint with Vader (Hayden Christensen). Obviously injured and being brought to a settlement of people helping others escape from the Empire. He is tossed into a Bacta tank and is instantly visited with visions of his fight with Vader, while Anakin going through the same thing, parallels their history. Out of panic, Kenobi escapes the tank.
Tala (Indira Varma) tells him he still needs time to heal, and Kenobi asks where Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) is, unknowing of her capture. We are shown Leia taken by the Empire and Reva (Moses Ingram) telling her Kenobi is dead, and that she should give up hope that anyone is coming to help her. Tala takes Obi-wan to a man named Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) who appears to be the leader of the settlement, and he tells Ben about the Empire and what they’re capable of, and how his wife was killed by their hand.
He shows Kenobi a hologram of the Empire facility, Tala explaining she still has officer clearance and can get him in. The two head off, the other members of her group being hesitant to get into a fight. We see Ben trying to use the force to move an object. He can still do it—it’s just tough, like it’s trapped in his body and soul somewhere he can’t reach. “Something’s cannot be forgotten.”
Reva confronts Leia about the safe house they found. She asks how Kenobi died, and Reva lies. Leia very sternly says she doesn’t know where the “path” is, staying firm in hiding everything from the Empire. Tala lands on the base and there is suspicion around her because this isn’t her sector, so she’s not allowed in. She is stopped by a guard who is interrogating her for paperwork, but she uses her high-ranking cover to gain access.
Obi-Wan also gains access to the base when Tala uses her credentials, and she secretly helps him by opening doors and giving directions. Reva is still attempting to get the info out of Leia, but the little girl is proving to be tough. Lola (Leia’s droid) tries to escape, but the inquisitor figures it out and stops it from leaving the cell. She slowly starts to talk about her past, reminiscing to the princess that she too used to have a droid.
Tala is found out, and Ben is on his own. He hides from a pair of troopers but uses the force successfully to confuse them. In the meantime, Tala knocks out the officer who discovers her. Reva is still trying to push Leia to the edge mentally. Leia says she will tell her, but claims she needs to tell her father (Jimmy Smits) first. Angered, Reva sends her to be tortured to discover the truth.
Ben finds the secure sector, only to discover a disturbing amount of Jedi and resistance members locked up in a tomb in a substance similar to amber. It is a mixture of adults, children, species of all kinds, in a weird and macabre trophy room.
Kenobi hears Leia and calls for Tala to make a distraction and boy does she make one. Tala instructs Reva she needs to speak to her. She explains where the hidden escape tunnels are, but she is unable to lie to the Inquisitor successfully.
The distraction does its job though, and Ben saves Leia. Meanwhile, Reva is interrogating Tala. It is revealed to them that Obi-wan and Leia were spotted, and the escape begins. An underground hallway window is about to break as their being attacked by troopers and will flood the room with water. But Ben uses the force and escapes drowning. Showing no matter what it seems like, his connection to the force is still strong.
Tala and Ben discreetly move to her ship but are stopped by Reva. They get surrounded only for a group of ships owned by the Resistance to come and rain fire down on the platform. One ship makes an escape while the other is shot down.
Vader is angry at his base being attacked so openly and that his Inquisitors couldn’t stop them from getting away. He force-chokes Reva, releasing her to speak when she motions to him. She claims to have placed a tracker on the ship (inside Leia’s droid), and that it will lead them to Kenobi. The group make it back to the resistance ship, down one fighter. But in a moment of peace, Leia takes hold of Ben’s hand. Fade to black.
The one thing that ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ has been really doing well is adding brand new characters to the ‘Star Wars’ universe. Both Reva, played by Moses Ingram, and Tala portrayed by Indira Varma, respectively. Both also showing a distinct different view of the Empire.
In Tala, we have a character who joined the Empire at a time when she thought they were all for protecting the galaxy. But, as the show mentions, she realized that it was changing, and not for the better. This contradicts with how we can interpret Reva’s point of view of the Empire.
In her, we are introduced to a character who sees the Empire as the final goal for the galaxy. That control and fear goes hand in hand, and that both can be accomplished whether people like it or not. Like the rest of the Empire, Reva is willing to do whatever she can to show loyalty and strength.
These two characters show just how vast the world of ‘Star Wars’ can be on either side. You have one character who we know saw the error in what she was believing and changed sides to put a stop to it, and we have another person who thrives in that evil, becoming one with the darkness to gain the power she needs to be on top.
I hope the remaining two episodes of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ continue this path of gracing the universe with brand new, interesting characters that we can only hope we’ll see more of in the future!
Last week was the start of the new Disney+ ‘Star Wars’ series ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’. But what if you just happened to miss it? Don’t worry, we’re back to give you a quick rundown.
For those of you who missed the start, the episodes show us Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) post the prequel trilogy; having stationed himself on Tatooine to keep watch over a young Luke Skywalker (and unknowingly being hunted by Imperial inquisitors). He receives a call from Bale Organa (Jimmy Smits), in need of help when his daughter Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) is kidnapped. It spurs Kenobi to leave his self-exile to save her.
Episode 2, it’s Ben and Leia on the run, escaping through a seedy mercenary planet, all with the Empire and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) slowly on their tails, dealing with fake Jedi and kidnapping mercenaries, and finally escaping on a cargo vessel. But now, we continue where that left off.
We open with a shot of Obi-Wan trying to call out for his old master, Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson). We get flash images of both Darth Vader in current time and Anakin Skywalker’s voice-overs from the prequels.
We see Vader talking to Reva (Moses Ingram), and it’s implied she hid the fact it was her who killed the Grand Inquisitor. Vader promises if she proves herself, the job title will be hers.
Back to Obi-Wan and Leia, and the little girl asking how the Force works. He asks her if she’d been afraid of the dark and mentions it’s like when you turn on a light. It feels safe. He hands her Lola, the adorable droid that Obi-Wan has fixed and brought back to life.
They approach the planet where the mining ship was headed, and it’s filled with Empire troopers. It’s revealed the planet is Mapuzo. Obi-Wan appears to see a hallucination of Anakin in the distance.
Cut to Reva reporting to an Imperial outpost. She informs the other Inquisitors that Kenobi is in a mining system, and that Vader put her in charge. There’s clear tension within them, and it’s seen as the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) challenges her. She tells them to send out drones anyway.
Obi-Wan and Leia make it to the meeting point given by the fake Jedi, Haja (Kumail Nanjiani). Leia waves down a passing alien and get him to drive them to the spaceport. Freck (voiced by Zach Braff), an Empire sympathizer, picks up a group of storm troopers.
Kenobi accidentally calls her Leia, alerting the storm troopers. He lies, the troopers believe him, and they leave. Leia turns to him and confronts him, saying she knows Obi-Wan is lying to her. She asks if he’s her real father, but he tells her that he is not her dad.
He begins to explain how the Jedi took him from his family when he was young, but the moment is stopped by a checkpoint. Freck confirms their strays, and the troopers confront the two of them. He tells Obi-Wan to raise his head for a scan. He kills the troopers, but one grabs Leia.
He saves her and the two of them run, only to be stopped by another group of troopers. The Imperial officer with them kills the group and saves Leia and Obi-wan. Off planet, Reva and the Second Brother still argue, trying to steal the credit for finding Kenobi from one another.
The Officer, Tala (Indira Varma), is the one sent by Haja, and explains she can find them a way out. Leia apologizes to Obi-Wan for running and explains that she misses home. Tala explains that multiple Jedi have used the underground passageways to get away from the Empire. She explains that they are searching for anyone Force sensitive, not just Jedi, but especially children.
A pair of Troopers find the hiding spot and search the room, which is an old droid part depot. Leia approach’s Tala and asks if it’s scary to pretend. She explains why she joined the Empire, and that she stopped believing in what they were doing.
Tala opens the gate and Obi-Wan is hit with…something. It’s revealed what he felt was Darth Vader, as he is outside with the Inquisitors. He stops, as if sensing someone, and pulls a civilian out. Instantly snapping their neck and killing them. Kenobi sends Leia with Tala and tells her to get Leia to Alderaan. He makes it outside and runs as soon as Vader spots him.
It’s in the desert when Ben and Anakin are in front of each other once more. But instead of facing him, Obi-Wan runs, finally activating his saber as Vader tells him “You cannot run.” Once more pitting the two together.
“What have you become?” Ben asks, Vader responding “I am what you made me.” We’re shown a quick cut of Reva finding the droid workshop, making her one step closer to Leia and Tala.
Finally, our first lightsaber dual between Vader and Ben, cut between Reva searching for the other two. Tala decides to go back for Ben and tells Leia to run and find the pilot who will take her home.
Anakin most definitely has the upper hand in the fight, obviously taking advantage of Ben’s fall to time and trauma. Vader corners him, and throws Kenobi into a pit of fire, parallel to what Obi-Wan did to him in the prequels.
Tala saves Ben’s life, with her droid coming in for the save and then cut to Leia being trapped by Reva, her turning and running. The episode ends there.
Now, with a new ‘Star Wars’ series there’s so much one can speculate and discuss. So, let’s start off with something easy. Who might we see from existing lore that could show up in live action?
While this is still an early episode, I’d love to discuss a character who may or may not show up in the last half of the series. First premiering in the video game ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’, Cal Kestis is a perfect fit for both returning Obi-Wan to his former glory and a great way to connect continuities.
In the series, we’ve already been shown how Kenobi has given up on the Force, even the Jedi Order. He seems helpless in front of Vader and it’s clear that his strength is basically gone. Bringing in a character like Cal, a survivor of Order 66 and one of the last remaining Jedi, would show Obi-Wan that the Jedi are not totally dead and that their philosophy still works.
See you all next week for more fun and surprises!
‘Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Poster Courtesy of Disney+
Directed by Deborah Chow (‘The Mandalorian’), the cast also includes Moses Ingram, Rupert Friend, Sung Kang, and Kumail Nanjiani. The result is an excellent start to a series that in its first two episodes seems more like a ‘Star Wars’ movie with a clear direction of where it’s going resulting in a satisfying television experience.
The series begins with a flashback to Order 66 as we watch a few younglings escape their deaths. Flashforward ten years later, and we are introduced to the Sith Inquisitors, Grand Inquisitor (Friend), Fifth Brother (Kang), and Reva Sevander (Ingram). They are hunting down Jedi across the galaxy, and Reva seems to have a personal vendetta against Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor), who is living in exile on Tatooine watching over Luke Skywalker. Soon, Reva enacts a plan to draw Kenobi out of hiding by kidnapping someone with close ties to the Jedi. Now, Obi-Wan must decide if saving that person is worth the risk of having young Skywalker revealed.
What ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ does best is tell a ‘Star Wars’ story that we haven’t seen before. For years fans have wondered how Obi-Wan got from the character McGregor played in ‘Revenge of the Sith’ to the Alec Guinness version we were introduced to in ‘A New Hope.’ If the first two episodes are any indication, fans will have their answers by the end of the series. The callbacks and use of nostalgia definitely work, and does not feel forced or merely for fan-service.
At the risk of spoiling anything, I will say there is a twist at the end of the first episode, which was unexpected and drove the plot of the second episode. One small criticism might be that it is a similar plot to season one of ‘The Mandalorian,’ but I don’t think that storyline will continue and it did help drive the story in the opening episodes. There is a fun back and forth between Kenobi and the person that he is trying to rescue, and the series plays with that dynamic well.
The Grand Inquisitor first appeared in the animated series ‘The Clone Wars’ and makes a fantastic jump to live action. The character is both scary and formidable, and played quite well by Rupert Friend. Sung Kang also gives a strong performance as the Fifth Brother but is not given as much to do in the first two episodes.
However, the breakout character of the series is definitely Reva Sevander and Moses Ingram gives a fantastic performance as the main antagonist (so far) to Obi-Wan. Her lust for revenge, and her lack of respect for the Grand Inquisitor make her an intriguing character to explore through the rest of the series.
Hayden Christensen only makes a brief appearance in the second episode, but clearly looks set for a larger role through the remaining episodes. Joel Edgerton has a few nice scenes returning as Owen Lars and is at his best standing up to both Kenobi and Reva.
Rounding out the new characters in the premiere episodes are Kumail Nanjiani as Haja, a con man who comes in contact with Kenobi. Nanjiani brings his particular brand of humor to the role and creates a character that will be interesting to see grow through the course of the series.
Director Deborah Chow, who is no stranger to ‘Star Wars’ after working on ‘The Mandalorian,’ clearly knows how to tell a grounded and exciting story set in this unique universe. While there is a lot of action and excitement in the opening episodes, there is also time for character development, especially with Reva and the title character. Chow also sets a tone that fits both the original and prequel series, as well as what they have created on Disney+ with ‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘The Book of Boba Fett.’
But the series clearly belongs to Ewan McGregor, who without it would just not work. Not only is he the embodiment of Obi-Wan for generations, he is also a great actor and obviously cares about this character. He isn’t just phoning it in, he is putting on a real layered performance.
Kenobi is not the arrogant young man we met in ‘Phantom Menace’ or the confident adult we saw in ‘Attack of the Clones,’ this is an older man dealing with the mistakes of his youth. He still feels guilty about what happened to Anakin and blames himself for the fall of the Republic. That is a lot to carry, and McGregor delivers a commanding and believable performance.
In the end, ‘Obi Wan Kenobi’ is a series worthy of the character it is based on and explores fertile ground in the ‘Star Wars’ timeline. If the rest of the series is as strong as the opening episodes, fans will be extremely pleased with the outcome.
The first two episodes of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ receives 5 out of 5 stars.
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ premieres on Disney+ starting May 27th.
Directed by ‘The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow, the series is set ten years after the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,’ and features Kenobi hiding on Tatooine in exile protecting a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely). But when Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) sets up the Sith Inquisitors program to hunt down any surviving Jedi after Order 66, Kenobi leaves Tatooine to embark on a new adventure.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Deborah Chow about her work on ‘Obie Wan Kenobi.’
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You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with director Deborah Chow, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Moses Ingram.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about how your work on ‘The Mandalorian’ prepared you to direct this series?
Deborah Chow: My work on ‘The Mandalorian’, that whole experience, honestly, it felt pivotal to being able to do ‘Kenobi.’ Not only because I got introduced to ‘Star Wars’ and learned ‘Star Wars’ with people like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, but also just learning the practicality of it. How to do a creature, how they move, and just learning so much of how that world operates.
The other thing that, honestly, was very pivotal was the technology. We used stagecraft and the volume on the first season of ‘Mando,’ and it was something I was incredibly excited to continue doing on ‘Kenobi.’
MF: What can you tease fans about the journey that Obi-Wan will take throughout this series?
DC: I think one of the biggest questions that we were looking at when we were developing this series was how did Kenobi go from the end of ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ standing on the banks of Mustafar, screaming and thinking he killed Anakin, to the calm peace of Sir Alec Guinness in ‘A New Hope,’ and obviously, something did happen in the character’s arc. So really for us, that was largely why we felt we had a story to tell.
MF: What was it like working with Ewan McGregor and watching him reprise this iconic role?
DC: Ewan was the best. Honestly, he is the show. There obviously is no show without Ewan. He was very much a creative partner on the show. So, he’s been there through every stage with me. It’s been pretty amazing because not only does he know this character so incredibly well, but he’s also at a different point in his life at the same time, we’re trying to do this character at a different point in his life. So, it was essential to have him be really part of the creative in developing it.
MF: Can you also talk about bringing Hayden Christensen back as Darth Vader and working with him on a character he first played twenty years ago?
DC: It’s an interesting thing. You don’t get this opportunity very often that you’re bringing characters back from a franchise and where they’ve been in a trilogy together, and then so many years have passed. So, I think for a lot of them, and also with Joel and Bonnie coming back to do their roles was the same thing. It’s so interesting because they’ve lived with these characters for so long, even in just the public eye and perception in their lives. So, to come back, it ended up feeling very special, and it felt very emotional. There’s a lot of personal feelings involved in it as well.
MF: Finally, with a character as iconic as Darth Vader, as a director, how do you do something fresh and new with a character that we all grew up with?
DC: Well, I think one of the most interesting things for us was that this is Darth Vader, but this is a Darth Vader at a different point in his life. That’s something that’s very interesting because he’s not the exact same character that he was in the prequels nor in the original trilogy. So, we’re doing him in midlife when he’s between these two trilogies. So, that was something that was really, really interesting to explore.
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ begins streaming May 27th on Disney+.
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ premieres on Disney+ starting May 27th.
Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you… Well, if you’re reading this on May 4, at least. But this is not-so-unexpected day that Lucasfilm and Disney+ chose to launch the new trailer for streaming series ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’.
And this latest look at the show features a brief glimpse of possibly the ‘Star Wars’ franchise’s most iconic character: Darth Vader. Yes, the wheezy breathing Sith Lord is here, even if he doesn’t get to do much yet.
The big question, of course, is exactly how he’s being brought to life – Hayden Christensen is back for the new series, so is that him in the suit? Or can we expect to also see him as Anakin Skywalker somehow? And will James Earl Jones lend his trademark tones for Vader’s voice? Surely that’s a given.
Mostly, though, as the title suggests, this is about Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan. The new series is set roughly 10 years after the tragic events of ‘Revenge of the Sith’. His pupil and friend, Skywalker, has turned fully to the Dark Side and now strides around in his cybernetic black suit. Many of his fellow Jedi have been slaughtered, partly by Anakin, at the behest of Emperor Palpatine.
And Obi-Wan himself is on the run, hiding out on the dusty desert planet, where he’s trying to keep a low profile while occasionally checking in on a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely), who, along with the boy’s twin sister Leia, Obi-Wan helped find a home for after their mother’s death.
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But the Empire is not just going to let Kenobi or any of his remaining fellow Jedi hide out. The Dark Side power has dispatched a Grand Inquisitor (played by Rupert Friend) to hunt them down. With a knack for being imposing and spinning his red lightsaber, he’s sure to be a big threat.
Yet a more direct challenge comes courtesy of Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) who has her own abilities and is seen confronting Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) on Tatooine. As the baddies suggest, the Jedi’s greatest weakness is that their kindness leaves a mark on people and places – something the Empire can track. And they’ve no quibbles about killing as many people as they need to find their targets.
In addition to reminding us of all of that, the new trailer also finds Obi-Wan talking to Owen, setting up the less-than-warm relationship between the two men. “Leave us alone,” says Lars, no doubt aware of the threat that associating with the Jedi Master represents. “When the time comes, the boy must be trained,” argues Obi-Wan, referring to Luke. “Like you trained his father?” comes the snarky, world-weary reply. Thankfully, Jar-Jar Binks is nowhere to be seen, unable to exclaim at the saltiness of Owen’s attitude.
Originally planned for another big ‘Star Wars’ legacy date – May 25, the day the first movie opened back in 1977 – ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ is now set to launch its first two episodes on May 27th.
