Hope. Prequels, like rebellions, are built on hope. Usually, that there’s enough lingering interest in a pre-existing franchise to make a bit of extra cash. So after 3 universally panned prequel films, this is a bit of a risk for Disney (as much as a studio that certainly has a Scrooge McDuck style golden vault somewhere risks anything), it could be a dud, making them stick to the tried and tested Skywalker family films. Its quite something then, that spinning off from a single line of text in the opening crawl of STAR WARS, ROGUE ONE manages to be that rarest of things, a prequel film that is not only a very good movie in its own right, but one that actually enhances the films it’s linked to.
Set just before the 1977 classic, ROGUE ONE follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and a rag-tag band of rebellious freedom fighters, who along with the thinly spread Rebel Alliance stage a daring, against-all-odds mission to steal the plans for The Empire’s rumoured new super-weapon, the “Death Star”. Hmm, I wonder if they get them..
One of the issues prequel films often face is that if we already know the outcome, its hard to build up much tension or interest with the characters and story, usually they lack the spark of originality to really stand up on their own. ROGUE ONE however, feels fresh, it avoids that trap and goes on to tell an engaging and thrilling tale, with colourful new characters where the stakes are deathly real in a tough and gritty world and manages to keep you hooked right to its spectacular end.
Right from the beginning, director Gareth Edwards (MONSTERS, GODZILLA) immediately lets you know that this is not the grand space opera of the number-titled films, but something more visceral. This is a war film, and The Empire are no pantomime villains, but an imposing and menacing force once again, with enormous Star Destroyers ominously looming over cities occupied by jet black ‘Death Troopers’, who also flank the films leading antagonist Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and his crisp white cape.
Visually, this is a stunning film, from the battle-cratered beaches of Scariff, to the space battles above and the dusty city on the moon Jedha, the cinematography is gorgeous, aided by once again heavily favouring practical effects over CGI. The old universe and its new aliens feel more lived in and textured than ever, dirty and grimy to match the films darker tone. Edwards gets down in the trenches, often moving away from the wider shots in the old films, with more eye level handheld work, which helps sell the intensity of the fighting and the terrifying size of the Imperial AT-AT walkers. But while the style and story are different than we’ve seen before, make no mistake this is STAR WARS to its very bones, as with THE FORCE AWAKENS, everything is done with care and a love for the series.
Where ROGUE ONE has its wobbles, it’s mainly with the initial set up, at times the pacing feels a little off, having to rush us through several planets and new faces which also leads to a few of the main band of rebels being a little shallow on characterisation. Its not terrible in this aspect, Jyn and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) are both very good, the re-programmed Imperial droid K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk) is destined to be a fan favourite and Krennic is wonderfully nasty, but we only get broad strokes to others and it would’ve been nice to dive into them a little more.
Speaking of more, mildest of spoilers, but the fanboy in my heart craved a few more scenes featuring tall dark and chokey, Lord Vader, but that’s mainly because what we do get is so jaw droppingly phenomenal (one scene will be an all-time classic) that I could’ve happily been served an entire 2 hours being shown round his ridiculously evil looking home, MTV Cribs style.
While there are a few issues that stop it shy of joining the hallowed company of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, when ROGUE ONE is doing its thing of being a different take on the familiar STAR WARS universe, it does hit some fantastic heights, and that can only be a good sign for getting more of this sort of venture going forward. What was very enjoyable (along with the glorious 70’s moustaches on display) was getting to see a grittier side to the fairly vanilla Rebel Alliance, the assassins and mercenaries that do the dirty work the higher ups go on to build on in the original films. These are not noble, whiter-than-white knights, they will cross some lines to get the mission done, there’s no wise old Jedi judging them, they have to get their hands dirty because that’s the nature of fighting a galactic war against tyranny. There’s shades of grey that add depth to the rebellion that is certain to richen the original trilogy.
When its on song, ROGUE ONE is an energetic and interesting STAR WARS film. It finds its feet through the middle and absolutely powers through the most brilliant of final acts, some of which is up there with the best in the series. Its a great addition that will make you want to immediately put on A NEW HOPE and binge the old trilogy all over again.
that lego guy 