Rogue One (2016)

Rogue One (2016)

There’s a new Star Wars film out this Christmas if you guys didn’t know and it is based on the rebel alliance capturing the plans for the first Death Star, set in between Episode 3 and 4. After the financial supernova of The Force Awakens, the expectation for the following features that will be introduced in this expanded universe, multiverse, soft reboot, prequel sequel world, has risen ten-fold. And I must admit I was caught in the hype, the marketing for this film alone had me edging toward the screen. Directed by Gareth Edwards, a director I hugely admire after his beautiful directorial debut Monsters (which I recommend to anyone), I was excited to how this could revitalise the Star Wars mythos. I say this because the Force Awakens, the huge box office hit that it was, really did play its audience. I mean it did what it had to do considering the backlash of the prequels, but the copy and paste narrative of New Hope and the constant pandering to Star Wars visual codes and conventions really did infuriate me after a while. But I am glad to say that I did enjoy this more than Force Awakens. It was a solid movie that I would see again but I do have my reservations.

Starting off with the negatives of Rogue One. The main two being, the constant self-referential nods to the original trilogy and the character development. Now Force Awakens was orgiastic in its perpetual references to the original trilogy and Rogue One has its moments too of appealing to the fandom but nowhere near as much. There are characters here that really don’t need to be in the film and characters that aren’t in the film enough. More specifically Grand Moff Tarkin who is a CGI apparition which is very distracting. I was constantly thinking his appearance would be a better fit in Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol. It is understandable why he is in this film but that does not mean he has to be in this film.

To compare to characters who are not in this film enough, I won’t say any names as I don’t want to spoil anything, but during this entire marketing for this film there were prominent characters who I assumed would be integral to the narrative. But it didn’t turn out that way. And if certain characters had stayed in longer or had more screen time, it may have helped in supplementing my next gripe. This being the character development, especially of our protagonist Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). In a story where we know how it will end, we need to have strong characters in order to forget the inevitable ending and hope for something new to come about. We just didn’t spend enough time developing sympathy for Jyn existing in an occupied galaxy, living on the edges, thieving and actually rebelling. It just jumps from one scenario to another, introducing more surface when what we need is more substance.

That being said, there were quite a few things that I really did enjoy about Rogue One. The visuals first off, bar Tarkin obviously, were exceptional. Scale is something Gareth Edwards has down to a tee. As we saw in Godzilla and Monsters, the magnitude of the creatures is truly spectacular and the Death Star is no exception. It really does have such an omnipotence that the rebellion cause becomes all the greater for it. Branching off from this, the war tropes that were trying to be embedded was something I did appreciate. Gareth Edwards was trying something new to a certain extent, something I will always respect and admire. There are moments in this that are truly captivating, with the combat sequences being incredibly reminiscent of Vietnam and World War Two films. Observing it all at a ground level which in turn elevates the sensation of being in the thick of it with the rebels in but also accentuates the power of the Empire and the weapons at their disposal.

Additionally, when the idea was announced of a Star Wars feature with war genre tropes I was very excited because there was the expectation, for me personally, of witnessing the Empire’s effect on everyday life in these worlds and societies. Communicating the Empire’s alikeness to the Third Reich and other oppressive regimes which in turn establishes the audience into this world whilst aligning with the cause of the rebels. And yes there are moments where this is put into action, where we see Stormtroopers causally walking the gritty scenery which were the parts I enjoyed the most limited as they were. Simply because it illustrated the oppressiveness of the Empire but more so unexpectedly presented visual cues, in one combative sequence in particular, akin to United States involvement in Iraq. Something the trailer only hinted at and that was Rogue One in a nutshell, constant hints to really good things but got caught up in the hype of its own universe and lost its way to audience appeal.

To finish off, I would recommend Rogue One to fans of Star Wars as it possesses qualities of a stand-alone piece whilst reassuring you it is in the Star Wars universe. It was a strange one because it always felt like it was balancing two viewpoints, similar to Prometheus, it had its own voice that it really tried to project but was continually hushed by iconography that recalled a previous film. Plus I do not have anything wrong with fan service, I loved it when Darth Vader showed up for example, but I just wished it kept those references to a minimum and tried to establish Jyn as a well-rounded character which would have raised the stakes in the entire third act.