“Rogue One” is the first ever theatrical release of a spin-off Star Wars Film and the first time in history a new Star Wars film was released back to back. It’s the 8th Live Action Theatrical release of Star Wars. It is technically the 6th Star Wars spin off after “The Holiday Special”, “C-3PO & R2D2: Droids Animated Series”, “The Clone Wars: Animated Film” and both “Ewoks” movie television specials. The Time-frame of the movie takes place after “Revenge of the Sith” and before “A New Hope”. The story focuses on the Rebels and the Empire and not the Jedi and the Sith. I thought the movie was fantastic and did a lot of world building for the franchise. It also felt like a great homage to the Extended Universe. The story is based around a passage from the opening crawl of “A New Hope” which talks about the rebels stealing the Death Star Plans.
Gelen Erso who is an imperial scientist working on the Death Star decides to leave and start a family on a moisture farm. Soon the main villain in the film Krennic comes to bring him back to finish the project. He was a vintage Star Wars villain; the white cape and uniform was dope. To make The Death Star operational Galen used Kyber Crystals (These are used inside of lightsabers). He disagrees with leaving and they kill his wife. His young daughter Jyn then goes on the run and is taken care of by the Clone Wars Character Saw played by Forest Whittaker. Forest did good but the character was underused because of his long history with “The Clone Wars” already so again a causal fan wouldn’t get this is an older version of a younger character.
Jyn grows up living a life of crime on the run from the Empire. She is then captured and on the way to prison the Rebels break her out. They take her to Yavin 4 which is the Rebel Home base from “A New Hope”. There she tells the rebels her identity and they asked her to help them find information about a Rogue Pilot from the empire. She agrees and the movie goes on from there. I thought it was a great side story into the franchise. I really enjoyed all the throwback and callbacks to the original trilogy. Sadly, though to fully understand this movie you must be a knowledgeable or diehard fan. There are way too many references for the causal fans to understand everything.
The time-frame made it feel like you were watching the original three. There were easter eggs to the Prequels and Original Trilogy. It was very cool to see the inter working's of the Empire and the Rebels in this power struggle. ILM did a great job on CGI Tarkin but I think it should have been a quick scene like Leia instead of full conversations. Instead of CGI Tarkin it should have been more Vader with Tarkin in the shadows. We got all the debates and agreements from Tarkin in “A New Hope” already. I enjoyed that it wasn’t all about the Jedi or Sith and we can see the other side of Star Wars. The Action was off the hook with a great space battle and ground battle at the end of the film.
As someone who grew up on the franchise, seeing Vader again was special, even if it was only for a little bit. Hearing James Legendary Voice again was great. Loved all the Vader easter eggs in the film too including his Castle on Mustafar. Of course, him going H.A.M. was crazy, reminded me of the Yoda V Dooku fight in “Clones”. But just seeing him in full on control was great. Even though they were just rebels he was slicing through, the scene worked because it heightens the stakes even more when Leia is on the run at the beginning of “Hope”. They did a great job tying into “A New Hope” with the ending. The Leia CGI was good and they did it quick and to the point so it worked. The overall problem with these CGI “Youth” effects are again it needs to be something quick.
With Tarkin I just felt like “OK, this is fake, it’s taking me out of the movie” slightly because I know he has passed on and I grew up on the originals so It was cool to see him again but I’m torn on these CGI Dead Folks into movies after the fact. Just like with “Tron: Legacy” and Jeff Bridges. But at least Carrie Fisher and Jeff Bridges are still alive. It would be like CGI’in Harrison Ford for “Blade Runner 2049”, lol. The film also fits perfectly after “Revenge of the Sith” as well and again had ties to the Prequels. Though I enjoyed the movie very much there were still some problems and it was far from perfect. The opening wasn’t done very well, they were better off using the traditional opening with the Crawl especially with them going out there way to tie it into the Episodes. If this was really a “Stand Alone” it would not need to tie into any of the Episodes or feature any Skywalker’s. The main title font and background wasn't that great either.
The Score just didn’t do for me, it felt like Michael was trying to hard when John made it sound easy. It felt like a Star Wars Video Game Score and not the real thing. In Michael’s defense, he was brought on the last minute with only a month to score the film. Hopefully he does better next time because John’s music is a character in Star Wars and it could have been the difference in this film. With that said, the Choir during the Vader scene was fire. As far as pacing yes, the first act did slightly drag and there were problems in the 2nd act as well. That because there were many in the process of writing and editing of the film so there is a slight disjointed feel. The story was cool but it’s the 2nd film where someone from the empire defects to help the rebellion. Also, the movie took a while to get going because we didn’t know who these characters were.
The Character Development outside of Jyn wasn’t that great for the rest of the characters. You cared about her because we saw her entire story from childhood to death. But when the whole team died, it was like I wasn’t invested. I did like Deigo’s character Cassian and how conflicted he was. I also loved how it showed the rebels doing raw sh!t too (Murder, etc). Donnie Yen’s character was probably my favorite, he might have worked even better as a “Rouge Jedi” on the run from the Empire as it was clear he was force sensitive. But it worked because it shows how The Force was a religious and spiritual experience. His character was connected to "The Whills" which has a deep history in Jedi lore. Kennic’s death was anti-climactic though fitting. So, going in I knew this was basically a Suicide Mission but I felt with a little more development I would have cared about the characters more. Once it was over for them I understood their sacrifice but I didn’t “Feel” for them like I felt I should of.
I loved how this was basically an origin story for the Death Star. The Planets were cool but I felt there was too much Planet Hoping though Gareth did a good job showing the planets. Like Jeddah that Jedi Temple planet. K2-SO was funny and had great one-liners but he was basically a mean C3PO, they could be cousins, lol. The Droid aspect is a part of tradition so you had to have a main feature droid. Yes, C3PO and R2 appearance could be debated as pointless but it’s tradition and they are featured in every single movie. The movie felt like Star Wars all day but it was experimental so there are aspects that didn’t feel like it was Star Wars as well (No Crawl, Title Font, Music, etc) Also, once again like “The Force Awakens”, the movie lacked a lot of originality.
Basically, Gareth directed his “Love Letter” to George Lucas. The final act was Star Wars Heaven for fans of the original trilogy. With that said as good as the battle was, it was basically a copy of “A New Hope” with a sprinkle of “Return of the Jedi” as far as space and ground battles. They even had another “Admiral Ackbar” creature leading the rebel fleet. But overall it still worked and the battle was Epic. The bottom line is we are 2 new Star Wars movies in by Disney and they both really haven’t brought that much new to the table. Most of the ships are previous designs from Lucas’s team. They are focusing too much on “Fan Service” instead of focusing on expanding the universe. Yes, we all as fans of the franchise want familiarity but at what point does it become “Pandering” and not something that serves an artistic purpose?
Lucas gave us callbacks but they all had purpose. We’ve now basically gotten two “A New Hope” remix movies. As great as it is to get Star Wars back, I wonder if the franchise can grow with this constant obsession with “Let’s remix the original trilogy again”. Also, this was supposed to be the first “NON-SKYWALKER” film. WRONG, Vader and Leia made appearances and were critical to the story even if they were cameo’s so therefor it’s still Skywalker tied regardless. Yes, they were both fun movies and as a lifelong fan I enjoyed both movies even with the flaws they had. With that said I find it hypocritical all the Hate George Lucas got for trying to making different types of Star Wars films but we are going to praise two directors for making “Homage” films? No I will be fair, they both really didn’t bring much of anything new even though the films were good.
The movie just came out so I won’t compare it to the Episodes yet, it needs time but Overall good entry into the franchise and I left the theater very happy, must give it another spin. It could have even worked as a 4-part miniseries on television to really dig deep in the rebels and empire. I remember George said he supervised 100 Episodes scrips for a live action television series before he sold it to Disney. Basically, it was “Star Wars: Rebels” or “Star Wars: Battlefront” the movie. Being honest though “Awakens” have better character development I did enjoy “Rogue One” more because it ties so closely to the original trilogy. I felt this film paid even better homage to George than “The Force Awakens” did. I felt JJ was trying to Distance himself from George (Even though he was still paying homage) whereas Gareth embraced George with “Rogue One”. I personally think George co-signs “Rogue One” more than “The Force Awakens”. Very solid first spin off, this opens to the door to really expand the Star Wars Universe. I just hope it doesn’t get oversaturated. George used to make us wake decades and several years’ in-between sequels. The great news about this is, The Extended Universe stories are far from over now. Next up we got Episode VIII in 2017 and Han Solo: Origin Spin Off in 2018.
), would novels like Shatterpoint be worth reading even at this point? Any others?
." Everybody got all in their feelings over that.
