Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

There's a scene in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story where one of the characters begins saying a line familiar to many fans of the franchise, perhaps in an attempt at invoking the main series of films. But in a rare moment of self consciousness, the other characters in the scene shut him down. In a way, it mirrors what Rogue One tries to be as a film: something distinct from the previous seven films, while paying respects to said films at the same time. The result is an enjoyable experience, if a bit calculated at points.

The film bridges the gap between the prequel and original trilogies, telling the story of how the Death Star schematics, crucial to the plot of Episode IV, got into the hands of the rebel alliance. The story knows its way around Star Wars' extensive lore, and director Gareth Edwards manages to craft a narrative that pays tribute to both trilogies, featuring characters from both, even giving a few tributes to plot points in George Lucas' original script for Episode IV(!).

It's all thanks to the filmmakers, who are for all intents and purposes, ascended fans, thus making this movie the ultimate fan film. This movie is an example of how fans of a series can give back to it by creating something new, shaped by their intimate knowledge and understanding of their fandom. These callbacks help the film ease into the larger picture of the Star Wars universe, but at times you feel that the notion of the larger universe becomes a crutch instead of just a guide.

No Star Wars film is incomplete without elaborate, exciting action setpieces, and Rogue One delivers in spades. The climax of the movie, where Rebel and Imperial forces face off on a coastal planet, ends up even better than the climax of last year's The Force Awakens, simply because we feel a sense of urgency and tension, despite the fact that we generally know how the story is going to pan out. In a general sense, there's excitement to be found here.

The performances of the cast are all solid. Alan Tudyk's K2-SO is sure to delight audiences, and the characters of Baze Malbus and Chirrut Imwe, played by Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen respectively, are in my opinion one of the best things about the movie.

That said, we come to know little about the new characters populating the story of Rogue One, other than heroine Jyn Erso. Even then, Jyn's depiction in the actual movie is far different than what we see in the trailer - instead of a confident, brash, almost incorrigible rebel, we get a reluctant fighter who finds herself sucked into a galactic conflict she would rather avoid. (Another reason why we should never ever judge a movie by its trailer.) While the other characters have distinct personalities, we don't really get to know any of them intimately. It would have been nice to see this band grow together as friends, but unfortunately stories have to be told and we are dragged along with the characters through to the inevitable conclusion.

Characters from the original and prequel trilogies show up either as actual supporting performances, cameos, or as motion capture CGI. The latter seems to operate similar to the technology used during the end of Episode III, and also during Disney/Marvel's Captain America: Civil War. While to some the CGI seems passable enough to be unnoticeable, to me the images crossed the Uncanny Valley a number of times.

Most notable among this film's guest performances is Darth Vader, voiced once again by James Earl Jones. While his scenes in this film are short, they are effective (especially one sequence near the end that is pure awesome), and Vader himself exudes a menace that I haven't seen since The Empire Strikes Back.

All in all, Rogue One is a flawed but immensely fun, action packed ride that only makes the wait for next year's Episode VIII all the more excruciating. December 2017 cannot come soon enough.