NEW MOVIE: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

When The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, it was soon announced that, besides the release of the sequel trilogy beginning with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we would be getting biennial "Anthology" films that deal with stories outside the main "Skywalker Saga" episodes. On December 16, 2016, we received the first of these Anthology films: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action

Rogue One acts as a direct prequel to the original 1977 film, Star Wars: A New Hope, detailing the theft of the Death Star plans which Princess Leia delivers to Obi-Wan Kenobi. As a result, we experience new characters, a Rebellion at the brink of defeat, an Empire struggling to meet deadlines, and the harrowing moments before Episode IV's opening crawl. Our heroine for this adventure is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything) as she reluctantly becomes involved in a Rebel plot to halt the finalization of the Death Star since her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelson, Hannibal), is (reluctantly) one of the Imperial scientists spearheading the project.

Director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) promised that this film would be darker and grittier than the main films, and that morals would reside in a mostly grey area; in this respect, he delivered. Even though the Empire is still the major villain, the blurred lines are on every side. The Rebel Alliance seeks to defeat both the Empire as well as anti-Empire extremists. The Empire still does power plays among its ranks and often treats its own as expendable. There are moles that the Empire wants done away with and the Rebels want killed because there's some part of them that neither like. Heck, I found Rebel General Draven (Alistair Petrie, The Night Manager) more unlikable than the film's villain Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, The Place Beyond the Pines)! It's interesting to see a more grounded Star Wars movie, for sure, and it reminds me of some of the better episodes from the two recent animated series. At times, the only reminder that this is a Star Wars film are the appearances of Stormtroopers and mentions of the Force. It's a distinctly less Romantic view of the sci-fi universe, so major props are due to Edwards for the successful execution.

There are some great action moments in this film, most of which are in the second half. The much-advertised "Beach Scene" climax on the planet Scarif is well-worth the price of admission, and the final scene is one of the best moments in the entire series. The third act reminded me of some of the best moments when playing the Star Wars Battlefront video games. Donnie Yen (Ip Man) as the blind Force warrior, a Guardian of the Whills if you will, also provides some of the film's best action moments while also expanding the lore and extent of the Force beyond just the Jedi and Sith. The space dogfights, too, reminded me of the Death Star Run from the climax of A New Hope--and it was great! How it all ties into Episode IV, though, is easily the film's greatest strength, personifying the stakes set up in the opening crawl of said episode.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) prepares for battle.

With brand new characters comes necessary build-up and development, which the film does okay at, but not as great as it could have. Galen Erso may be one of the most critical characters in the film, but his reluctance of working with the Empire is only briefly established in the opening scene and touched upon throughout. Other than that, we don't get as much time with him as I would have liked, with an exposition-heavy (but necessary) sequence being the most we get to know about him...unless you read Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel. I've enjoyed Disney's two Star Wars movies thus far, but a lot of the development holes are being filled not by the script but by novelizations and related novels. I felt nothing when the New Republic was destroyed in its first appearance in The Force Awakens because I had no connection to it--because all of the connective threads were in the books. While I still liked the character of Galen Erso, it was evident that his character arc was in its last act when we learn about him--because the first two were in Catalyst. On the other hand, Krennic was introduced and characterized well as the antagonist and we got to satisfyingly see multiple levels to him. Clone Wars hero Saw Gerrara (Forrest Whitaker, Lee Daniels' The Butler) may just be the best developed character, even outside of his animated series appearances--I never saw his episodes or scenes before--and Whitaker brings a really strong performance for the morally ambiguous Gerrara. That said, the main Rogue One crew is nowhere near as well-developed as they should have been. We know enough about them to care about them in the final hour, but I feel like most of that is based on the performances that suggest more about them than the script. There's a Imperial deserter (Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler) whose characterization is limited to...well, that--and the fact that he might know Galen Erso. Captain Andor (Diego Luna, Casa de Mi Padre) could've been fleshed out more--I didn't quite connect to his character until a monologue late in the movie--and even Jyn could have had some more beef to her. They're developed enough that we care for them in the intense Battle of Scarif, but they're not as memorable as they could have been. K-2S0 (Alan Tudyk, Firefly), though, has some good moments and he does well as a more agressive C-3P0 type.

While most of the special effects look really impressive, there are some surprise appearances from certain characters from the original films, one of which has a substantial role. However, due to their age or being deceased, they could not fulfill their appropriate duties in this prequel. In order to be more visually similar to their A New Hope counterparts, Edwards and his team elected to not recast them (like they did with Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma) but bring them back as CG performance capture characters a la The Polar Express. The less we see of them, the more impressive the effect. Also worth noting, composer Michael Giacchino, even though his scores are usually awesome--from The Incredibles to Tomorrowland, and Up to Jurassic World and Inside Out--just doesn't quite deliver this time around, which isn't entirely his fault since he was only given 3.5 weeks to do it since Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel) left the project after reshoots. There aren't any notable or memorable themes like the rest of the Star Wars films and the main Star Wars theme is constantly and ridiculously teased and subverted. It's not a terrible score, but it wasn't as great as I hoped it would be.

All in all, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story a good addition to the Star Wars saga and a strong enough freshman effort for the Anthology films, reminiscent of the best of the animated TV shows and with plenty of fun fan-service cameos. It serves as a powerful prologue to A New Hope, even with its flaws. Then again, this film may grow on me with repeat viewings, as The Empire Strikes Back did, and the musical score may get better over time, like Episode II and VII's for me. Just seeing it once, though, I'll give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you're not a die-hard Star Wars fan or you're boycotting the Disney films, you'll be forgiven for skipping this one. If you do go out and see it, though, you're in for some of the franchise's best moments, even if it is nowhere near its best offering.

Have you seen Rogue One? What did you think about it? Have you been a fan of Disney's latest Star Wars movies? Whatever you have to say about me and the movies, comment below!