Who needs it? It turns out we all
Andor is a spin-off film prequel series in the Star Wars universe. That doesn't sound very attractive, does it? I also thought so when I first heard about this series 1.5 years ago. I was wrong. In the summer, I watched Rogue One (the prequel, which is Andor, he is one of the main characters there). And this is one of the best blockbusters I've seen. But even after that, I did not wait for Andor and decided to watch it after several praise reviews on the Internet.
But let's be clear. The series tells the story of Cassian Andor, who, as we know, will become an important participant in the insurgency, but we meet him just a man who is trying to survive - a thief with no special moral principles. It is interesting and realistic how he came from this position to resist the Empire. One of the memorable phrases of the series: “Insurrection has its own”. We see that Andor began to fight not because of lofty ideals, but because he lost his freedom, his adoptive mother and almost lost his love.
Andor has a very interesting structure. Although it has a horizontal plot (that is, all the series are related and tell the same story), the series is very clearly divided into 4 parts. The first 3 series - exposition and acquaintance with the main characters. Episode 4-7 is a true spy thriller/film robbery. Episodes 8-10 - Prison Break. The 11-12 series is a finale where almost all the characters intersect in one place. The season looks smooth and whole, but manages to be different, and this is cool.
The best part for me is getting out of jail. This part is so intimidating and inspiring at the same time that I watched it with tears and my mouth open. There appears absolutely beautiful Andy Serkis, overturning his game, and the character of which in a few episodes passes an incredible arch.
Andor shows in detail the functioning of the totalitarian regime and how people try to fight it. It's very important that we watch both sides and see that there are ordinary people everywhere trying to adjust. The people who serve the Empire are not portrayed as sinister evils, they have their own values and ideals, and one can believe that they see their cause of order as right. The evil here is the system itself, which does not count with human (and not only, we are in the galaxy) lives. And the insurgents, whose aim is pure and sympathetic, no better than the Empire in terms of methods, also take extreme measures, are capable of nefarious acts and human sacrifices, in order to achieve results.
Andor is a very real show. There are no fabulous and fantasy conventions of the main films. You don't believe that this can (and has) happen in our science fiction-adjusted world. The world in the series feels alive, we are shown in detail life and small details, thanks to which you are completely immersed in it. And there is a danger of catching very painful parallels with the reality in which we live.
And Andor is just very high quality and beautifully shot. It would look great on the big screen. Several scenes are striking in their entertainment.
Andor is one of the best Star Wars projects and one of the best TV series of 2022.
9 out of 10
Original