haydensbanks

Apparently "show don't tell" isn't taught in film school anymore, because literally all that happens for 99% of this movie is characters literally telling a story.

No amount of good imagery or sci-fi mystery could possibly overcome the bland and boring dialogue that fills the 90 minutes of this film. In fact, the dialogue makes this movie feel way longer than it is and, if I wasn't OCD about leaving films unfinished, I probably would have switched it off at multiple points.

For All Mankind takes forever to get going, but once it takes flight (from about episode 5/6) it really takes off.

I initially planned to watch one episode a day to really savour the series, but after episode 5 the show had me hooked and I binged the second half of season one in two sittings (a feat I'm proud of given each episode is an hour long).

The performances are really great throughout, and the cinematography is exceptional. Overall it's a really well made series.

The season begins with The Bad Batch, which has Rex and Cody enlisting the assistance of Clone Force 99 to recover the Republic's strategy algorithm from Admiral Trench. Clone Force 99 is an unorthodox but elite squad of defective clones who are also known as the Bad Batch - hence the episodes title. The squads name is also a touching tribute to 99 who was introduced and subsequently died defending Kamino in the first two episodes of season 3. The Bad Batch is a very solid return for The Clone Wars. The episode gives us plenty of action and avoids being derivative of previous episodes, which Disney has struggled with in its big budget films so far. The big reveal at the end of the episode, which is considered a possibility throughout but finally confirmed, is definitely intriguing. I can't wait until next weeks episode, which will further explore this idea. I'm also keen to see more of Clone Force 99 who are just as intriguing on their own - could there be a spinoff movie about their adventures?