Kaka

Laser nostalgia and finally they talk about the force. It took a long time, but we have the first Jedi. The choreography is good, some moments are extraordinary and the inspiration from the East is obvious.

Mando must complete another secondary mission to move forward in the primary one. A bit repetitive and simple, but visually captivating enough that why not. This time, however, the crew didn't have as much fun as last time and I wouldn't rank the attack on the base among the best moments of the series so far.

More serious and darker than the previous episodes. More focused on the characters and the mythology, and thus the shift in the story, rather than on mere antics.

A bit self contained episode about a cave full of spiders, but Reed manages to film it in a very suspenseful style so that the viewer doesn't get bored. There’s very little shift in the plot, but there’s a lot of eye candy fun.

The second season picks up exactly where the first left off. It's fast-paced, fresh, full of references to the classic films while still having some humour and funny moments to lighten things up. The Mandalorian is looking like Indiana Jones from the future and from a different galaxy. Great action with the desert worm, and top-notch visuals for a series production.

A suspense flick where almost everything works in a minimum of space. Costner and Lane had already proven themselves as a film couple in Man of Steel, and it was probably no coincidence that they reprised similar roles several years later. A typical Eastwood movie that lacks the traditional morose Eastwood, but instead there's a damn cool Costner in his typical "semi-scruffy guy" role that he's been playing for a good decade now, and it’s still fun, as it's apt, from life and avoids useless talk about nothing. Costner's character here is also the quiet type, but he's on point and the film's strongest moments are around him. In contrast, Diane Lane puts in a palette of expressive emotions and sometimes the writers untie her hands too much, overwhelming the viewer with dialogue that could have been shorter. Another great little film that is sometimes painful to watch, but throws in some interesting moments to ponder about family, relationships, life's losses, etc.

Epic. A bit of a reflection on the trend set by seasons one, two and three and how the series finally ended its journey (not entirely positively), but still very high in quality. The comparisons to GoT are warranted, although Vikings is a bit different in some details: it’s more religious and, in particular, longer in terms of time span. Whereas in GoT it's years (more or less the same as the years of the actors playing the main characters), here it's decades, which translates into even broader possibilities for the writers to create bigger twists and turns. But they exploit it only partially. After a key turning point (the protagonist), the quality of the individual episodes goes down a bit despite all the efforts. Even so, it is quite certain that Vikings will be remembered for a long time and very likely, as in GoT, everyone found their favourite character they couldn't get enough of. Although the fan base here will be a bit thinner compared to the competing spectacle.

Well done paranoia. Suspenseful until the very end, with good performances primarily in the supporting roles, very believable atmosphere, and although somehow from the middle you can suspect a possible alternative shocking ending, you still get there with a cleverly constructed story with suspense and without unnecessary awkward moments and crutches. Worthington, probably at the limit of his acting abilities, gives a 90% respectable performance.

A contrived finale that lacks the sophistication of the first season, the suspense of the middle ones, and any invention, or perhaps at least the visual satisfaction that the end of this saga would deserve. It's not a total disaster, it has its good moments, but they are few and far between, and it's more about sentiment and respect for the material than quality.

The last battle is weird, the situation in Kattegat is unintentionally self-parodic and the journey across the ocean is, let's say, decent and pleasantly melancholic. I expected something more epic and intense for the series finale.