Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story

Release Date: December 16th, 2016
Running Time: 133 minutes
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Written by: Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy (Screenplay), John Knoll & Gary Whitta (Story)
Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, Anthony Daniels

After George Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney, the behemoth company announced that in addition to a new trilogy it would also be producing a Star Wars Anthology series; stories set in the same universe yet separate from the Skywalker saga. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first of these "standalone" movies, focusing on a group of Rebel Alliance operatives who set out to steal the Death Star's engineering plans. It takes place immediately before the events of the original film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and follows the same basic narrative formula: a heroic team of ill-assorted characters on a high-risk mission which builds up to a climactic battle. With the vast universe that a series as beloved as Star Wars has established, the potential for such offshoot stories is unlimited. But here the filmmakers have been overly cautious in their application of this anthology concept, detailing the backstory of a tale we're already familiar with. And this is the main problem with Rogue One—its place in the Star Wars continuum is based on an unambitious premise and clouded creative judgment, displaying the crowd-pleasing, moneymaking agenda that can drive a corporation like Disney.

Despite Rogue One's somewhat awkward position in the overall Star Wars narrative, there are still some cool things about it. It's a story of revolutionaries, heroes, and martyrs, detailing covert manoeuverings of agents occupying various roles in the Rebellion and the challenges they face in toppling an authoritarian, fascist regime. With characters who function alternately as saboteurs, soldiers, assassins, and double agents, Rogue One conjures numerous conventions from spy stories of old. Focusing on political intrigue and espionage, it's ultimately about how, in the heightened extremes of wartime situations, hitherto ordinary people can rise up to become powerful warriors of mythical proportions—accomplish seemingly insurmountable goals in the face of the most terrifying odds. It's full of close calls, desperate attempts, and down-to-the-wire, last-ditch efforts, for a suspense-optimized experience as the rebels race against time and the all-powerful Empire.

By transplanting universal war and spy story themes into a technologically advanced outerspace setting, parallels to real life political conflicts are evoked. This is something that Star Wars, and science fiction in general, has always strived for; to provoke contemplation about humankind's deepest issues by way of creating imagined, fictional universes. Rogue One succeeds on this level as a sincere tribute to fallen revolutionaries of past times, put into a grand, space opera, sci-fi adventure context. It's maybe a bit heavy-handed and occasionally cliché in this respect, but nonetheless offers a largely engaging narrative. Rogue One essentially, if barely, holds its own as a minor entry into the franchise, but as a standalone Star Wars film it could've—and should've—explored a new, different narrative formula and storyline.

Rogue One centers around unsung heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), one of many as-until-now unknown and uncelebrated Star Wars characters who risk or give their lives in the fight against the Empire. Her character is reminiscent of Daisy Ridley's Rey from Episode VII - The Force Awakens as an effective embodiment of both courage and vulnerability. After an introductory sequence shows the Empire destroying her family when she was a child, the present storyline starts fifteen years later with the now grown Jyn occupying an Imperial jail cell. She has an alias, indicating her underground status. Although initially not allied with the rebels, they soon rescue her and recruit her for their new mission.

Among the other main players are hardcore Resistance intelligence agent Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who won't hesitate even to kill one of his own should they endanger the mission or show signs of having been corrupted by the enemy. C-3PO and R2-D2 have cameos, but the main droid character K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) way too obviously emulates C-3PO with his uppity manner and role as a vehicle for cheesy humour. He even announces the odds of succeeding at particular military manoeuvres just like C-3PO does in the other films. Jimmy Smits returns to his supporting role from the prequel trilogy as Leia's adoptive father Bail Organa, and another minor character is Mon Mothma, a Rebel Alliance cofounder who first appears in Return of the Jedi (played by Caroline Blakiston in Return and by Genevieve O'Reilly in Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One). In Return, Mothma delivers the line "Many Bothans died to bring us this information". While referring to the mission to destroy the then-rebuilt Death Star, Mothma's words nonetheless relate to much of Rogue One's plot as well; the whole film is essentially a 133-minute unfolding of that line.

The team recruit Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a former Imperial pilot who defected to the Rebellion and carries information crucial to the mission. They're then joined by Chirrut Îmwe (Hong Kong action movie star Donnie Yen), a blind, staff-wielding warrior—clearly modeled on classic martial arts film hero Zatōichi, the blind swordsman. Îmwe has supersensory reflexes, possibly a result of practising the Force. In contrast to the agile, ninja-like Îmwe, his partner Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) is a rough-and-tumble barbarian whose weapon of choice is a huge, Gatling-like machine gun. The two are "Guardians of the Whills", rebels who serve as "protectors of the Kyber Temple"—a structure that houses the kyber crystal mine which the Empire has been raiding. Kyber crystals are the resource needed to fuel the Death Star and also, we discover, the energy source of lightsabers. This is an example of some new Star Wars mythology in Rogue which otherwise lacks such mythological details that the first two trilogies have in abundance. There are hardly any Jedi references, no mention at all of Sith, and little of the Force (except by Îmwe). Instead Rogue One favours the more "realistic", technological Star Wars elements over the supernatural and philosophical aspects.

The squad is complete with Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, and K-2SO—six disparate characters uniting for the common cause of destroying the Empire's superweapon, the Death Star. The quest takes them to various planets and moon bases, hideouts, and Imperial facilities where they attempt to gain access to this or that bit of information or rebel ally to aid in their mission. As in Star Wars tradition, Rogue One features some new planetary environments and sci-fi cities: the Ring of Kafrene, a trading outpost constructed as a city that connects between two floating asteroids, and the planet Scarif, a tropical environment complete with palm trees and sandy beaches—an ecological system that had yet to be seen amongst Star Wars' varied settings.

The battle sequences and special effects are incredible, employing extensive Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). Both Grand Moff Tarkin (played by Peter Cushing in the original film) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) are recreated as they looked in Episode IV by way of motion capture and digital technology. Cushing died in 1994 and Fisher died in 2016, just a couple of weeks after Rogue One was released. While the reproduction of these actors is amazing, they ultimately appear alien-like and/or artificial in their movement; the CGI is still not seamless enough to not be disturbing. Knowing the actors are deceased makes it somewhat unnerving to see them replicated and raises ethical questions about using a dead actor's likeness. Fisher was still alive when the film was made, so presumably gave permission, and apparently Cushing's estate likewise did—but nonetheless their appearance here presents as many problems as it attempts to solve.

The baddies in Rogue One are downgraded. Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), the Imperial officer in charge of the Death Star's construction, is the film's central villain. He answers to Tarkin, who in turn answers to Darth Vader who is only peripherally present—until one deadly scene at the end. And the Emperor isn't seen at all. In this respect, and others, Rogue One plays as a "mini" Star Wars movie, retaining some familiar elements while ultimately being narrower in scope. It has kind of a TV movie or miniseries feel, as a counterpart to the main saga.

Some Star Wars intergenerational themes surface in regards to Jyn's relationship with her father, but this too is not as interesting as the familial thread in the other episodes. And there are a few details that don't make sense: one of the spy characters talks way too loudly about sensitive information in a public place where stormtroopers can (and do) walk around the corner at any moment. And at one point Jyn neglects to obtain an important holographic message after playing it—leaving the message cartridge in a computer at a rebel base that's under attack. Granted she had to evacuate quickly, but nonetheless details like these don't ring true for experienced soldiers and revolutionaries who've survived as fugitives for years—if they've lived this long they should be savvier. Such components seem too obviously contrived to simply drive the story forward while lacking soundness in the overall narrative.

I wasn't too enthused when I heard what the first Star Wars standalone film was about. Oh, I thought, they're gonna take the action, special effects, technical route. And that they did, abandoning the spiritual and metaphorical aspects of previous Star Wars films. Rogue One's central flaw is its very premise; it's all about the rebels stealing the Death Star plans—which is very much directly connected to the original trilogy and the Skywalker saga—so is it a standalone Star Wars film or not? Occurring about seventeen years after Episode III and leading directly into Episode IV, Rogue One is basically Episode III½. And the next anthology film is going to be about a young Han Solo, presumably detailing his smuggling exploits, dealings with Jabba the Hutt, and, possibly, making "the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs". It must therefore take place a few years before Rogue One, making it the second standalone film to be set between Episodes III and IV.

Prior to Disney's involvement, the Star Wars series consisted of two trilogies separated by a sixteen-year gap, with the episodes of each trilogy released three years apart. But now the new trilogy episodes are to be released two years apart with one of these anthology films released every second alternating year. So there'll be a Star Wars film of some kind out every year for the next five years at least. Seems it won't be as special or highly anticipated anymore. I mean, I thought the X-Men movies were pretty good for the first couple installments, but now there's been like ten of them released in the last fifteen years or so—who can keep up? Maybe the kids like it, and the hardcore fans, but after awhile it starts to feel diluted. It's likely only a matter of time before Star Wars becomes like the James Bond franchise, with different actors playing Han Solo or whoever over decades of dozens of films. More doesn't always equal better, and too much of a good thing makes it less good.

Since Disney disregarded Lucas's extensive notes on the new trilogy and went their own way, I consider all future Star Wars films as part of a new era; like there's the PL (Post-Lucas) Star Wars Era or the PD (Pre-Disney) Star Wars Era. This isn't necessarily bad, as at least we get more Star Wars movies. Even if they're not perfect and/or not in line with Lucas's original vision, something is still better than nothing, right? But I think of Lucas's TV films Battle for Endor and Caravan of Courage as what could've been models for the standalones; they take place on Endor with Ewoks (including Wicket), but otherwise bear little reference to Star Wars—no Skywalkers, no Jedi, etc., and no comment on when the stories are situated in the Star Wars timeline. If Disney followed this example, the standalones could be really interesting, exploring anything from stories of Yoda's race on their planet of origin, to the evolution of Jawas and Sand People (it's been said that they evolved from the same single species), to the tale of who first invented lightsabers, and so on.

The standalone films are an opportunity to exploit Star Wars' full potential by examining more diverse aspects of its fantastical universe. Maybe they will eventually take it in the direction that I'm describing, but for now it seems they've committed to this new format without yet fully committing to its possibilities. Maybe they're short on writers with new ideas, or maybe they're doing what they see as playing it safe, but in any case it deserves only marginal applause.
Rating (out of 5): ★★★
• Nik Dobrinsky / Boy Drinks Ink
January 28th, 2017