“Rogue One” is not your father’s “Star Wars.” There’s no opening crawl, and no Jedi Knights or Skywalkers musing about who’s related to whom.
It is also not a “Star Wars” made with children in mind. I suppose someone will miss the Ewoks or (shudder) Jar Jar Binks, but I didn’t.
Rather, “Rogue One” is its own creation – a movie that’s both unlike any other “Star Wars” film and one of the best of the lot.
The story revolves around the efforts of the Rebel Alliance to steal the blueprints of the dreaded Death Star, which (spoiler alert!) Luke Skywalker famously detonates in the original film. Out of that effort, a small band of insurgents comes together through circumstance to pull off the impossible.
“Star Wars” has always been painted in equal shades of light and darkness. In “Rogue One,” the shadows of evil take over. The Empire seems more ruthless than ever. Rebels do questionable things in the name of the cause. And there’s destruction on a mass scale that’s rendered more realistically and chillingly than was possible in 1977.
The violent overtones are necessary because “Rogue One” is first and foremost a war movie. The action scenes make this clear. Imagine a cross between “Star Wars” and a PG-13 rated “Black Hawk Down,” and you’ll have an idea of what this film is like. It’s gritty. It’s brutal without being too bloody. And I heard no one joking afterward about Stormtroopers having bad aim.
Despite the focus on combat, “Rogue One” doesn’t lack humor. One of the functions of K-2SO, a reprogrammed Imperial droid conscripted by the rebellion, is comedy relief. Thankfully, the writers gave him a lot of great lines. “Congratulations, you’re being rescued,” he tells Jyn, the female lead. “Do not resist.”
As with every “Star Wars” movie, “Rogue One” is as much about its characters as it is about spaceships, lightsabers and aliens. But this is where my analysis becomes tricky. On the one hand, the writers came up with a compelling group of individuals. On the other hand, they gave most of them the short stick.
I was still drawn to Jyn, a young lady who as a child lost her mother to blaster fire and her father to the Empire. Because of her dad’s connection to the construction of the Death Star, Jyn finds herself in an uneasy alliance with rebels. I also liked Chirrut Îmwe, a blind warrior who believes in the Force.
There are others, but describing them all would take up too much space. The filmmakers must have thought the same thing, because the introductions in “Rogue One” are brief. If there’s a blemish in the movie, it’s the lack of character development. We learn little about the members of Rogue One before we’re asked to cheer them on.
Fortunately, Jyn is given a deeper back-story than the other characters, so she pulls viewers along.
“Suicide Squad” suffered from the same problem. But unlike that film, about which I felt wholly indifferent, I wanted to know more about the characters in “Rogue One.” Plus, although the members of Rogue One are largely two-dimensional, they are very well drawn.
I have one other issue: the music. “Rogue One” is the first “Star Wars” film without a John Williams score. From the opening crawl of “A New Hope” to the credits of “The Force Awakens” last year, Williams’ music has contributed as much to the spirit of “Star Wars” as anything else.
Composer Michael Giacchino labors to evoke the same kind of fanfare and wonder, but his score is merely workman-like. During the first third of the film, Williams’ absence music is palpable and the lack of familiar music undercuts the emotional crescendos. But as the action picked up and the cacophony of war overwhelmed the music, I stopped noticing.
Beyond these issues, “Rogue One” soars. The direction by Gareth Edwards, who helmed the “Godzilla” update in 2014, is strong. Edwards has a knack for making things look big, which must have come in handy as the special effects team composed shots of the Death Star. The weapon is more impressive than ever, and the scale of it in several shots imparts a true sense of uncontained evil.
Edwards also handles the emotional beats of the story well. As a war film, “Rogue One” is punctuated with tragedy and grief. Some of the deaths feel like a punch in the gut.
What’s more, the action is stellar. From gritty urban warfare, to intense guerilla-style combat on a beach, to a spectacular battle in space, the action looks great and is utterly thrilling and full of surprises.
The space battle alone is worth the price of admission. It not only tops every other “Star Wars” skirmish, it also raises the bar for future installments in the saga.
A final thought: Even though “Rogue One” is a standalone film not connected to the trilogies, it ties in perfectly with the original movie. The last few minutes in particular thrilled the “Star Wars” fan in me.
Some critics have accused the movie of pandering to fans at the expense of the general viewing public. They should have their heads checked. What they’re calling fan service is simply the filmmakers expressing their affection for the property. The nods to the other movies and the clever intertwining with “A New Hope” are very natural and help to make “Rogue One” a deeply satisfying “Star Wars” experience.
When George Lucas sat down at a typewriter in the early 1970s and first tapped out the words, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” he was preparing to tell a story that would expand in ways he could not have imagined. Forty years later, his tale is still with us – and in “Rogue One,” it’s more thrilling and captivating than ever.When George Lucas sat down at a typewriter in the early 1970s and first tapped out the words, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” he was preparing to tell a story that would expand in ways he could not have imagined. Forty years later, his tale is still with us.When George Lucas sat down at a typewriter in the early 1970s and first tapped out the words, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” he was preparing to tell a story that would expand in ways he could not have imagined. Forty years later, his tale is still with us.
3.5 stars