Review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) by Sarumanwise — 31 Dec 2017

Like many people, I went to rewatch this after being let down by The Last Jedi, and boy, did I forget how much I enjoyed this film. It's basically a war movie set in the Star Wars universe, and as such isn't limited by the trappings of a Star Wars movie (no opening scrawl! No Jedi or lightsaber battles - the closing scene is an exception, but more on that later) and I remember thinking this film represented so much potential for the Star Wars license now out of Lucas's restrictive hands - imagine, an entire universe of Star Wars stories being told on the big screen without being tied down by the restrictions of a main "Star Wars" Episode. Rogue One is a great start to this Anthology universe.

Spoilers abound!

THE GOOD: Yes, there are a lot of characters, and some have criticised that we don't have time to get to know them before they all die horribly and hence the deaths aren't emotional for us - but I didn't feel that way. I thought the characters worked - Jyn was a strong female protagonist who clearly had chemistry with her father Galen, Cassian served his purpose, and Chirrut and Baze were standouts to me (even though a great many stormtroopers had to play into the stereotype and die stupidly to establish Chirrut's awesomeness). I fell for K2SO - he grew on me and his end was tragic (perhaps biased by my fondness for Alan Tudyk and his character's equally tragic end on 'Serenity'). The crew's deaths worked for me, because I felt I grew to know them enough over the course of the movie to care about them - I know this wasn't the case for everyone. When Cassian tells Bodhi the pilot "You're our only way out of here" before the final battle on Scarif, I thought this was going to be another happy-ending no-stakes Rebel tale - didn't see the grim ending coming until K-2SO took a blaster bolt to the chest.

Darth Vader in the hallway at the end - sweet Christmas. I swear there was a mass orgasm in the cinema when that scene happened, and I'm not ashamed to admit I was part of it. Yes, shameless fan service - but it worked very, very well. The OG stormtroopers, Imperial sets and the Death Star also scratched many nostalgia itches for me.

Original Trilogy cameos - I felt these were more than fan service since Rogue One was supposed to be a prequel to A New Hope. I'll admit I'm big on nostalgia so all the cameos worked for me - I was overjoyed at Grand Moff Tarkin and even loved Dr Evazan and Ponda Baba (more poignant as Dr Evazan's actor passed away shortly after my viewing).

Finally, the cinematography in this film was amazing (one of The Last Jedi's strongest points as well). The wide shots of the Star Destroyer over Jedha City, the Scarif beach, the Death Star ominously peeking over the horizon, the view of Scarif from space through the Rebel flagship's floor, the space battle itself - I found it all breathtaking.

THE BAD:

Krennic as a villain served his purpose, but I felt he was underused. In the iTunes extras, director Gareth Edwards explains he couldn't make Vader or Tarkin the villain because they had plot armour and clearly survive the movie - this is probably why they had to cook Krennic up. Mendelsohn does a good job but is clearly upstaged by Vader and Tarkin whenever they are onscreen.

Forest Whitaker was wasted as Saw Guerrera, I feel - this character has a far more interesting arc in the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, which explores his fanaticism and his hatred for what the Empire did to his sister. In this film he was a plot device.

I'm all for diversity in film - but while watching this film I could tell that the diversity was inserted on purpose. Not a bad thing, but it felt a little forced.

As with all Star Wars films, suspension of disbelief is required - stormtroopers still can't shoot for nuts, a whole battalion of them are defeated by a blind man with a stick in the beginning but by the end of the film they are a credible threat to a well-armed band of Rebels.

THE VERDICT: A thoroughly enjoyable film, and well worth Disney buying the franchise in my opinion (The Last Jedi notwithstanding). Spells a lot of potential for future Star Wars Anthology films - here's hoping Solo lives up to the mark.