Rogue One A Star Wars Story is good. It
is really good. So good that you (the reader) should just go see it. If you
have even a 5% interest in seeing this film, then you should see it in the
theaters and you should see it now. Before you go though, I will warn you of 2
things. For people going into this film with certain expectations, you should
know these two things. First, the announcements are true about the opening
crawl; there is no crawl. Second, the score is not John Williams. As a Star
Wars fan, I expect “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” to be followed
by the John Williams score and a crawl explaining what is going on in the
galaxy. Rogue One does not have
either of those. It is jarring, but just wait a few minutes and let Gareth
Edwards show you his Star Wars dream film.
The
rest of this is an actual review of the film. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, obviously takes place in the Star
Wars galaxy, but does not follow the typical protagonists with the surname
Skywalker or Solo. The Star Wars Episode films tell the big parts of the story
while Rogue One, and presumably the
other non-episodic Star Wars stories, focus on more specific parts. In this
story, we learn how the Rebels got the plans to destroy the Death Star. Not
being a part of the main episodic series, Rogue
One also plays more like a war film instead of the regular fantasy that
Star Wars is known for. I know everyone is saying that, but it’s true. Think of
Inglorious Basterds or The Dirty Dozen minus the gratuitous
violence and language. It’s the best possible way for the film to be fresh and
still feel like Star Wars.
The film really focuses on the character
of Jyn Erso and her journey beginning with the events of her childhood. Her
father Galen served as a scientist for The Empire and in order to save his
daughter, he agrees to come out of retirement to help Orson Kennic, head of The
Empire’s science division, complete a special weapons project. Some time passes
and Jyn is now on her own pledging allegiance to neither The Empire nor The
Rebellion, but circumstances arise that force her into the war. Along her
journey she teams up with a motley crew of characters that become an unlikely
squad that will change the course of the ongoing rebellion against The Empire.
Because of the twists and complexities that drive the story, I would prefer not
to divulge much more of the plot.
The
first Star Wars film, A New Hope, was
the story of a young man leaving his old life to join a resistance when the war
came too close to home. Subsequent films became more operatic as they told a
family drama and the struggle between good and evil. Rogue One really takes the idea of Star Wars back to its roots. The
resistance exists and the people involved are just ordinary folks that are
forced to do horrible things, as you do in a time of war. Each character introduced
has lost something and that brings a nuance and humanity that is also a staple
of war films. We see the oppression by The Empire as civilians live in fear of
being seen as noncompliant. The character of Darth Vader is sparingly used as
he is mentioned in fearful whispers, and if this film came earlier his presence
would seem mysterious to the audience. Even The Force is not recognized as
being anything more than religious superstition by most of the characters. Rogue One really is a perfect war film
that takes place in a galaxy far, far away.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
is directed by Gareth Edwards, director of 2014’s Godzilla. It stars Academy Award Nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) as Jyn Erso,
Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama Tambien, ) as
Captain Cassian Andor, Alan Tudyk (Firefly)
as the droid K-2SO, Donnie Yen (Ip Man)
as the blind warrior Chirrut Imwe, Wen Jiang (Warriors of Heaven and Earth) as Baze Malbus, Ben Mendelson (Animal Kingdom) is the evil Director
Orson Kennic, Academy Award Winner Forrest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) is the legendary rebel Saw Gerrera, Riz
Ahmed (Nightcrawler) is the Pilot
Bodhi Rook, Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor
Strange) is Imperial Science Officer and Jyn’s father Galen Erso, Jimmy
Smits (Star Wars Revenge of the Sith)
returns as Senator Bail Organa. Written by Academy Award Nominee Chris Weitz (About A Boy) and Academy Award Nominee
Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity, Michael
Clayton).
This film has me excited about Star
Wars again in a way I can’t get over. I just want to see this film with every
Star Wars fan, young and old, and talk with them about everything we see.
Please feel free to comment so we can discuss the awesomeness of Rogue One.
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