"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" Review

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an action-adventure fantasy film directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, Alan Tudyk, and Forest Whitaker. A spinoff from the main Star Wars saga, the film takes place directly before Episode IV: A New Hope, and does not include the adventures of the Skywalker family, but instead follows a group of rebels responsible for the recovery of the blueprints that help the Rebel Alliance defeat the Death Star. The movie centers on Jyn Erso (Jones), a renegade rebel since childhood, who is thrust into the affair due to her father's previous allegiance to the Empire. The film is the first in a series of anthology films to complement the main "episodes" in the Star Wars universe, telling stories of supplement to the original trilogy of new characters set in the world of Star Wars and building on its lore, and creating endless amounts of new characters and setpieces to turn into Lego sets and action figures to sell to children and man-children like me. The result is the most depressing addition to the Star Wars universe thus far that is essentially a team of stock characters on a suicide mission to do something that we already know the outcome of. I mean that in a loving way; I'm not bashing on this film.

I will say that I think I have a generally less glowing attitude toward this film than most people I've talked to. I actually saw this film at the Thursday night pre-showing (exams and laziness have prevented me from writing), and I don't regret doing it, and will probably see it again. It's a super entertaining action film, and is filled with some of the best Star Wars moments a nerd could hope for. But it may be wise to temper your expectations, especially if you happened to really love The Force Awakens.

Rogue One isn't really a Star Wars movie in a lot of ways, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It takes place in the Star Wars universe, of course, and the detail in the production design, creature design, costumes, and environments is stunning, lived-in, and reminiscent of the original trilogy. In terms of look and feel, however, this does not completely fit within the Star Wars main pantheon. Rogue One is shot like a war film, in a way that's almost naturalistic - or as naturalistic as you can get in a fantastical space adventure. The action is typically involving, well-shot, and full of plenty of badass moments. Fanservice and wink-wink references to the original trilogy are in relatively short order, something detractors of The Force Awakens should appreciate. There are a few nods and cameos peppered around the film, some more agreeable than others, but they are for the most part rather integral to the story and satisfying rather than cloying and lazy.

The primary problem with Rogue One is that if you eliminated its main character, the movie wouldn't get worse. Felicity Jones does agreeably well performing as Jyn Erso, and she's certainly a cool, confident character, but she's not terribly interesting beyond being a fairly generic rebel girl (she says "hope" a lot). Most of the characters suffer from this. It's not that they don't have a backstory or personality traits, but they feel more like archetypes than fleshed-out human beings (or robots). That said, these archetypes are entertaining to watch and all have their share of eye-popping action sequences. Donnie Yen is particularly badass as obligatory Zen master man, and you've already heard of Alan Tudyk's snarky droid K-2SO stealing the show, who is arguably a better character than BB-8, though significantly less cute.

The introductions and development of our characters is awkwardly paced and sparse. The villain and his connection to Jyn's father is sort of compelling, and the film is certainly an interesting take on its premise, and really gives the plot of A New Hope some more emotional weight. And despite the first two acts being rather unsatisfying and plodding (Forest Whitaker's character could honestly have been eliminated completely), somehow the third act earns all its big moments. And big those moments certainly are.

The third act of the film has some of the best stuff you'll see in a Star Wars film, and I mean that sincerely. The final storm-the-beach war sequence lasts about 40 minutes and it's spectacular. It's like the sinking sequence in Titanic - somehow all the setup and character development up to that point was completely unconvincing and contrived, and yet for some reason we're all super invested in this catastrophe our archetypal characters have fallen into. Rogue One has some of the best directed action scenes in the series, with Greg Fraiser's amazing cinematography that deftly captures the towering scale of the Empire vs. the rebels facing insurmountable odds. The ending to the film is big, bold, ballsy, and brilliant. It almost makes all the weak points of the film completely forgivable. Darth Vader is not in the movie much at all, but his time on screen is not wasted, and the finale of this film is quite simply one of the best movie endings of the year. Seriously, the last 20 minutes of this movie completely save it.

I know I'm giving this movie a fairly low score for my taste, but I still recommend Rogue One for any Star Wars fan and anyone looking for a really effective, gorgeous action film. Once the movie has been seen a bit more, I'd like to write up a separate post concerning the use of a certain computer-generated effect (by the way, the CGI in this film is simply breathtaking - I thought they were using models half the time but it's just unbelievably state-of-the-art effects work). There are two instances of visual effects use that have proven controversial on an ethical level, so once that's less of a spoiler for people, I'd like to talk about it. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

Regardless, Rogue One is underdeveloped and doesn't quite live up to its potential, but is visually rapturous, a respectably risky move for the franchise, and its heart-pounding third act alone is worth the price of admission. It's a great holiday action film, and I look forward to seeing it again. Can't wait for Episode VIII.

Grade: B