When it first hit Disney+ around the time of the streamer’s launch, The Mandalorian was instantly praised as a must-see Star Wars series. Critics continued to praise the show into its second season, which set up a handful of spin-offs. The first of those spin-offs, The Book of Boba Fett, was recently released to much more mixed reviews.
Some parts of The Book of Boba Fett were universally lauded, like Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen’s lead performances. But other aspects of the series were criticized, from specific characters like the Power Rangers biker gang to broader elements like the disjointed structure that turns into a different show in the middle.
Things That Worked
Temuera Morrison’s Spot-On Turn As Boba Fett
The Book of Boba Fett’s characterization of its title character was controversial among the fan base. Since The Mandalorian is an action-adventure series about a gun-toting Mandalorian armor-clad bounty hunter, The Book of Boba Fett ended up betraying Boba’s iconic legacy just to differentiate itself.
This strangely harmless, soft-edged reinvention of Boba was redeemed by Temuera Morrison’s typically spot-on turn as the plain-spoken gunslinging antihero.
Stunning Action Sequences
The action in The Book of Boba Fett isn’t quite as consistently riveting as The Mandalorian – it has a few subpar set-pieces like the painfully slow speeder chase – but, for the most part, its action sequences are stunning.
Some of the show’s action scenes, like the train robbery (a staple of the western genre) and Mando’s Darksaber-wielding debut, are fun enough to make up for shaky storytelling. The whole series culminates in an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink final battle on the streets of Tatooine, with Boba riding a rancor and Mando reuniting with Grogu.
Ludwig Göransson & Joseph Shirley’s Musical Score
Mandalorian composer Ludwig Göransson returned to the studio to work on The Book of Boba Fett. The bulk of the series’ music was created by Joseph Shirley, who previously provided additional music for The Mandalorian, but Göransson composed the title theme.
This theme is just as catchy as The Mandalorian’s without stepping on its toes. It feels more like a battle march – and even has lyrics. After John Williams defined Star Wars music with instrumental orchestrations, it wouldn’t have seemed possible to make vocals work in a galaxy far, far away. But then again, Göransson did make dubstep work in Star Wars music with his thrilling Dark Troopers theme.
Ming-Na Wen’s Fierce Performance As Fennec Shand
Boba’s sidekick Fennec Shand gets disappointingly sidelined throughout The Book of Boba Fett. She gets some kick-ass fight scenes in the first couple of episodes, but she’s often relegated to the fringes of scenes (and eventually, after Mando shows up, the fringes of entire storylines).
Still, while she’s underserved by the story, Ming-Na Wen gets plenty of chances to shine. In Boba’s show, Fennec is every bit the badass that she was in Mando’s show.
Cad Bane’s Live-Action Debut
Cad Bane, appearing in live-action for the first time, is easily the best villain in The Book of Boba Fett. The only thing that disappoints about Bane’s transition to live-action is that it’s much too brief. He’s introduced too late and killed off too early – but he dominates the screen whenever he shows up.
Brought to life by stuntman Dorian Kingi and returning voice actor Corey Burton, Bane’s live-action debut beautifully channels spaghetti western icon Lee Van Cleef.
Things That Didn’t
Disjointed Structure
George Lucas’ creation of the Star Wars saga was deeply rooted in mythical storytelling and the traditional structures of westerns and fairy tales. But The Book of Boba Fett doesn’t follow a cohesive structure; its storytelling jumps all over the place.
It starts off with Godfather Part II-style parallel storylines with fast-paced flashbacks and slow-moving present-day A-plots before ditching that style and becoming The Mandalorian season 3. The finale can’t pull it all together because the story has no focus.
The Cyborg Biker Gang
The cyborg biker gang that Boba recruits as backup was one of the most controversial elements of the series. They were all forgettable characters, their goofy color-coded bikes made them look like Power Rangers, and they moved at such a slow speed that their chase scenes were more laughable than thrilling.
If they had faster bikes, a gang of leather-clad biker characters might fit into a Star Wars story set on Coruscant, where Lucas included plenty of nostalgic ‘50s-era iconography. But they feel out of place in a gangster western set on Tatooine.
Softening Boba’s Edges
Temuera Morrison is awesome as always in The Book of Boba Fett, but he’s let down by some of the material. In The Mandalorian’s second season, Morrison got to play Boba as a gun-toting badass (albeit a little slower and weaker than he was before he got digested by the Sarlacc). But in The Book of Boba Fett, he’s practically harmless.
He’s determined to rule the criminal underworld with respect, not violence and intimidation, and as a result, Star Wars’ most iconic gunslinger spends his entire series’ run getting beaten up by everybody he encounters.
Overusing CG Luke Skywalker
In the momentous season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, a computer-generated Luke Skywalker makes a glorious appearance to save Mando, Grogu, and co. from certain death at the hands of a platoon of Dark Troopers. This scene managed to evoke nostalgia and revitalize Luke’s character without taking the spotlight away from Mando.
In The Book of Boba Fett, Luke’s role is expanded from a brief cameo to a supporting turn and it doesn’t work nearly as well. The uncanny-valley CG effects are undeniably distracting and the Jedi wisdom he imparts onto Grogu is too generic to befit such an icon.
Making Din Djarin The New Series Lead
Since The Book of Boba Fett has Boba Fett’s name in the title, Star Wars fans went in expecting a show about Boba Fett. It started out focused on Boba, but by the end of its seven-episode run, the series was much more interested in continuing the adventures of Din Djarin. The fifth episode, “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian,” is a Mandalorian episode wedged into The Book of Boba Fett’s run – Boba is nowhere to be seen. In the sixth episode, Boba gets a brief cameo in the middle of a story about Mando meeting up with Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, R2-D2, and Cobb Vanth.
The structure of The Book of Boba Fett feels disjointed and all-over-the-place, because it takes the spotlight off of Boba midway through its run and gives a spotlight to the Mandalorian and his friends instead. By the end of the show’s run, with a very brisk wrap-up scene, Boba and his storylines are treated as an afterthought.