Rogue One is a 2016 science fiction film. Directed by Gareth
Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) and starring Felicity Jones (Cemetery Junction),
Ben Mendelsohn and Riz Ahmed (Four Lions). This is the first spinoff from the
main Star Wars universe and serves as a direct prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope
(1977).
The film follows Jyn Erso (Jones), the daughter of an
eminent empire scientist responsible for engineering the infamous Death Star
space station. Forced to grow up as a fugitive, Erso eventually falls in with
the Rebel Alliance after coming across defected Empire pilot Bodhi (Ahmed), who
has information suggesting a fatal flaw in the Death Star. In the meantime, the
Death Star is becoming dangerously operational under the supervision of
Director Krennic (Mendelsohn) and Grand Moff Tarkin (CGI Peter Cushing). The
group of rebels are eventually able to locate the vital Death Star plans on an Empire
controlled tropical planet, leading to a showdown where they are forced to make
the ultimate sacrifice to enable the victory that would follow in A New Hope.
It’s no surprise with Edwards credentials that Rogue One is
a dazzling visual display with thrilling action set pieces that meet the always
high standards of the Star Wars franchise. That the film breaks from the
overexposed Jedi/Sith lore of the previous 7 films and attempts to forge its
own narrative is extremely refreshing, especially in the face of the enormously
disappointing Force Awakens. The characters are interesting and diverse, apart
from the infuriating C-3PO rehash, and I especially enjoyed the double act of
Chirrut and Baze, a Chinese due playing monk and mercenary respectively. The
inclusion of Darth Vader in the film was initially a concern, however, I was
impressed by the restrained use of the iconic character and surely no one could
complain about THAT scene towards the end.
The areas in which the film falls down are exactly the same
as The Force Awakens, lazy rehashing and an overreliance on nostalgia. As hard
as the film tries, lack of an opening crawl and fresh musical themes for
example, it still can’t resist the occasional smug nod to the original trilogy.
This is most infuriating when the imperial droid character is substituting for
C-3PO (and sometimes Chewie) at every available opportunity and produced many
eye rolling moments. And this leads us to the elephant in the room, Grand Moff
Tarkin. It is absolutely baffling that they felt the need to include a fairly
minor character from the original film, much less that they chose to go the CGI
route resulting in an effect that was more Scorpion King than Oliver reed. Nobody
would have minded if they had recast the character and every time the glassy
eyed rendition appears on screen (which is far too much) it drags the film down
into parody.
As a standalone film about war and sacrifice, Rogue One
would be considered great. However, the gravity of the franchise once again
restricts the freedom of a Star Wars film and leaves Rogue One sitting just
above the murky rehash that was Force Awakens. The gauntlet has been laid down
for future filmmakers tasked with expanding the universe’s less travelled roads
and I hope that the more adult oriented approach continues. But, for now, we
have an enjoyable Star Wars prequel, and who has been able to say that before?
*** 3 Stars
What did you think of Rogue One? How do you feel it compares
with Force Awakens?
