The third episode of The Book of Boba Fett introduces a street gang called the Mods to the Star Wars universe. Operating on the streets of Mos Espa, they get their name from their love of modifying their bodies with droid parts. Not a bad idea on paper, but executed horribly. The episode generated a fair amount of social media discourse about whether the gang was sufficiently Star Warsy, but I feel like this overshadowed the real issue—that the scooter chase they feature in is one of the single worst moments in Star Wars history.
That's right: a scooter chase. In Star Wars. In a somewhat on-the-nose reference to the vintage Vespas and Lambrettas favoured by the British mods of the 1960s, Mos Espa's Mods ride around on polished, dazzlingly colourful hover-scooters. They're even covered in mirrors, in the same way mods in the '60s would decorate their scooters with mirrors, badges, lights, spinners, and other chrome-plated embellishments to help them stand out from the crowd. It probably sounded better in the concept artists' heads.
Harking back to Earth's past is nothing new in Star Wars, of course—whether it's Vader's samurai-inspired armour, Dexter Jettster's 1950s diner, or the fact the films are stuffed with references to George Lucas' love of California hot rod culture. Sometimes it definitely works. Vader's robes evoking a feudal Japanese lord is a nice piece of design. But in the case of that kitschy space diner, and The Book of Boba Fett's scooter-riding Mods, it just doesn't fit. In fact, all it does is pull me out of the illusion that this is a galaxy far, far away.
The Mods themselves look like characters from a low budget movie adaptation of a YA novel, with some conspicuously plastic-looking robot parts glued to their faces. Also, for a scrappy, impoverished street gang forced to steal water simply to survive, they sure look well turned out—and seemingly have enough spare money to keep their scooters pristine, polished, and in perfect working order. Everything just feels off with them. From the moment they first appeared on screen I was like, nah. You've lost me here, Favreau.
Anyway, whatever your opinion of the Mods, and whether you think they're a good fit for Star Wars or not, I think both sides of the debate can agree that the chase towards the end of the episode is awful. As the mayor of Mos Espa's cowardly majordomo flees in a speeder, the Mods spring to action, jumping on their scooters and chasing after him—at about five miles per hour. It's one of the most languid, low energy chase scenes I've seen, and easily the worst Star Wars has been since the lowest lows of the dreaded prequels.
These Star Wars shows are beautiful to look at, with special effects that often rival the movies. But the clunky way the scooters move in this chase really fails to sell the idea that we're witnessing a dangerous, high-speed chase. It looks stiff and unconvincing, and when Drash skims across a rooftop and lands on the fleeing majordomo's car, it's all floaty and weird—like a video game with poorly implemented physics. What should have been a thrilling ending left me wondering if I should even watch the next episode.
I will, because this scene aside, I'm enjoying The Book of Boba Fett quite a bit. It's just that this scooter chase reminded me of the prequels at their worst and most indulgent, with its laboured action, fake-looking special effects, and in the case of the Mods, questionable stylistic choices. It's hard to believe Robert Rodriguez, the guy who directed Desperado and Sin City, is responsible for an action scene this bad. There's a long list of embarrassing stuff in Star Wars, and I'm fast-tracking the Mods to somewhere near the top.