Star Wars Maul: Shadow Lord – Dark Revenge review E1
The Dark Revenge marks the kickoff to Star Wars: Maul: Shadow Lord, the latest animated series in the Star Wars universe sure to enthrall fans with this latest tale of Darth Maul.
Maul has surprisingly been one of the more enduring characters from the prequels, no small feat since George Lucas initially killed him off in the prequels’ opening act, The Phantom Menace, in 1999.
Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni, the architect for Maul’s revival and Shadow Lord show runner, has turned the former Sith into one of the more complex and nuanced characters in the entire Star Wars saga.
The Dark Revenge continues that trend as Shadow Lord finds a galaxy firmly held under the thumb of the Empire years after the Clone Wars. Maul survived that treacherous time period to emerge as the leader of a crime syndicate, The Shadow Collective.
With the various gangs splintering off, Maul (Sam Witwer) seeks to reconsolidate his power and get dark revenge on everyone who betrayed him. Maul’s ultimate endgame is to stick it to his former master, Palpatine — now The Emperor.
That’s the final prize. For now, Maul is focusing on the smaller fish with his crew, which includes Mandalorian Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall), a pair of fellow Zabraks and a spybot (David W. Collins) that has an attitude problem like Chopper in Filoni’s other major animated series, Rebels.
Dark Revenge is set on the planet Janix with a fast-paced opening act as Maul’s crew efficiently steal a shipment of credits from a bank. It’s a fun heist scene and shows while Maul’s crew might be small, they are very effective. Stealing credits was the first part of Maul’s plan as he sews seeds of distrust between two former syndicate gangs.
Further down in the streets, Jedi padawan Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Three) and her master, Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert, 24), stay in the shadows while trying to scrounge up some credits for food.
Frustrated at the idea of having to resort to begging just to eat, Devon steals some food from a vendor, only to get busted by a security droid. Eeeko-Dio warns Devon against causing a scene, so she allows the droids to place her in custody. Jedi definitely don’t need to draw any attention on themselves in the era of Inquisitors on the hunt in a post-Order 66 Empire.
Local police captain Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura, Civil War) investigates the credit heist scene with his by the books droid partner, Two-Boots (Richard Ayoade, The Mandalorian), who immediately wants to follow protocol and call in the Empire. Lawson’s been around long enough to know calling in the Empire is a terrible idea.
As we’ve seen on other shows like The Bad Batch and Andor, once the Empire arrives, a planet is screwed and subject to all kinds of bureaucracy and shenanigans under the illusion of “maintaining/restoring order.” Like Daredevil: Born Again, Maul: Shadow Lord wasn’t seeking to be a show caught up in current day politics, but it’s easy to draw comparisons.
The Lawson/Two-Boots dynamic in Dark Revenge is refreshingly different from most mentor/apprentice relationships shown in the Star Wars universe. They’re cops — one just happens to be a droid. In a fun bit, Two-Boots brings over some coffee for Lawson while holding a token mug for himself to better take part in the bonding ritual.
Maul’s machinations bring crime lords Deemis (John Carroll Lynch) and Looti Vario (Chris Diamantopoulos) together to sort out the stolen credits. Deemis thinks Vario was behind the heist and Maul pushes the suspicion over the edge, by having Deemis’ bank security droid’s head in a case delivered to Vario. That’s about as close as an outright homage to The Godfather as we can expect for Star Wars, but Dark Revenge makes it count.
Vario surprisingly gets the upper hand and kills Deemis. It didn’t matter since Maul fully planned to kill the Shadow Collective turncoat as soon as he finished this task for him. Maul sends his crew after Vario, but they’re cut off by Lawson, Two-Boots and their reinforcements, who put Vario in protective custody.
That’s a temporary problem for Maul as his crew quickly attacks the precinct gunning down human and droid guards alike. The two Zabraks especially shine in this sequence with the larger one mowing down troops with his gatling gun and the other rocking a mouth covering mask and attacking with blades like a ninja.
These action sequences in Dark Revenge are…most impressive with beautiful animation with sharp, contrasting colors and a motion blur for Maul’s lightsaber strikes that are unlike any other animated Star Wars effort. It’s both mesmerizing and deadly.
Lawson is both too effective an officer and too valuable a character to get killed off in Dark Revenge, so Maul force grabs him and simply knocks him out instead of his usual impaling method.
Vario manages to sell Maul on the notion that he’s still of use so he avoids getting killed for now. Maul makes a different pitch to Devon, whom he’s had visions of being his new apprentice. All she has to do is break on through to the other side…
Dark Revenge is an effective kickoff to the new series with a quick reminder of Maul’s endless potential as a star player in this universe, a compelling buddy cop dynamic and a possibly conflicted Jedi ready to be turned.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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