Rogue One – The Movie We All Asked For

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones and a talented collection of acclaimed actors and actresses delivers in its promise of a gritty war story told in the setting of Star Wars universe. However what we want may not be what’s best for the franchise.

Now with that curious statement over with, this overall experience was far different from my last experience with Star Wars with episode VII, The Force Awakens. At that time the theatre was buzzing with eager anticipation and there was a major feeling of fans out numbering the critical reviewing public. Quite honestly this time it felt like I was surrounded by a classroom of film critics, a room full of Brian Smiths from our beloved review show Critique Revolve here on Rain Man Digital. “I’m not that interested in the whole Star Wars thing…” That was from a fellow reviewer that was chosen to view the screening in my theatre. I found myself asking will Rogue One live up to the standards set before it from Force Awakens? The honest answer is not really, however this does not mean the movie is bad. Far from it the movie does great in establishing a different tone than any of the other films before it. When Rogue One was first discussed it was said that this movie would be a war film for the Star Wars franchise, The Dirty Dozen of the Star Wars universe. That promise from the Star Wars Rogue One San Diego Comic Con panel was fulfilled. So we can’t complain about that, fans worldwide worried if the Lucas Story Group would follow through with this bold change of pace for the beloved franchise. They stuck to their word and delivered a Star Wars war film.

So why am I left with this feeling that this movie reminds me more of the prequels than the beloved trinity of old? It can’t be the cast…lead by Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso the cast that is assembled is honestly one of the best ensemble ever put together. Donnie Yen, Forrest Whittaker, Wen Jiang, Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk round out a great dirty half dozen for Gareth Edwards take on a Star Wars war film. Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO is was of the best new characters introduced into the Star Wars mythos. Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso is a tragic figure caught in between the light and darkness and Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic was a great look into the inner working of the Empire hierarchy. What hurts the ensemble is honestly the lack of screen time given to each of the new characters. Motivations are not fully fleshed out and because of this the movie comes across as rushed. I felt I wanted to know more about Wen Jiang and Donnie Yen’s characters Baze and Chirrut Imwe, the guardians of the fallen Jedha city, as well as Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor.

Instead of focusing on telling us the story of this rag tag band of rebels the movie takes breaks to give what I can only guess is heartfelt fan service. While focusing on fan service is a welcome nod from the filmmakers at times the fan service seemed more forced than balanced. Without giving anything away and trying to keep this spoiler free, I feel that one thing has to be addressed – CGI created actors. While the technology to recreate actors from the past has gotten much better by leaps and bounds. This practice of bringing back beloved faces from the past is far from perfect, and at times the effect seems to remind me of the harder to watch CGI effects from the Star Wars Prequels.

So while trying to be different from the other Star Wars movies in tone and feel, Rogue One would still try to remind us that this movie shares the same place as the other movies. Now you know why I’m left a little confused how to feel about this movie. As I sat through the credits I was left wondering what exactly did I watch, the Star Wars war film we anticipated OR the Star Wars film fans wanted to see that would have call backs to beloved characters like R2D2, C3PO and Darth Vader? Overall, I truly enjoyed the film. It didn’t leave me with the fuzzy feeling that Force Awaken gave me however this movie opened doors into what Star Wars can become for future generations. The question now becomes will the mass audiences embrace Star Wars or will it truly be a franchise lost in a galaxy far far away?