Star Wars: Rogue One Review
Well, I’m sure there are tens of reviews on this site of the movie, so thanks for checking this one out. Anyways, I’ll cut right to it: Rogue One is a brave movie for Lucasfilm since they’ve been purchased by Disney, and the real reason why it’s such a brave movie is not to be revealed here. No worries for those wanting a fresh experience. I may hint at some potential spoilers, but I won’t be that guy and just put out what happens in the open. So, my overall impression is this: the first hour and fifteen minutes are a slow burn that feels good for a while, but then gets on your nerves. Then the last hour is among the most spectacular Star Wars finales ever filmed. The film was heading for a six or seven out of ten, then the ending happened. For those fans of the franchise, you may be disappointed with the start, but by the end you will be cheering.
So the basic story is around Jyn Erso, the daughter of a scientist who just so happens to be the guy who develops the planet-ending destruction of the Death Star, the ultimate power the Galactic Empire can possess. Early in the film she is somewhat recruited by the Rebel Alliance and alongside Cassian Andor and a small group of heroes, they try and get to her father, Galen, and figure out a way to destroy the weapon and give the rebels a bit of a building block to start the war to take the Empire down. Their journey takes them into heavy imperial forces throughout the galaxy and a fight to the finish that will leave many dead, but will also spread hope throughout the galaxy. Or in one sentence: this is what happens about five minutes before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) starts.
So where to begin? Well, Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are fantastic as Jyn and Cassian. The two have an odd relationship that was never really featured in the original trilogy, one where they never really trust each other but realize they have to work together if they want to make it out alive. In particular, Luna’s character just feels like one that would fit into this franchise. In fact, in some alternate universe, he feels like the type of character that could fight alongside Luke and Han in A New Hope. Then there’s the other standouts: Donnie Yen as a force-sensitive blind man who kicks all kinds of ass even as he is, Jiang Wen as a non-believer in Yen’s force sensitivity but whose character also feels like a nice fit for the films, and especially Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, a former imperial droid reprogrammed to be a more fun version than C-3PO. Yeah, I said it. Plus it’s great to see Ben Mendelsohn as the evil Director Krennic, the man with the plan as far as the Death Star goes.
The visual effects are pretty great, and the mix of practical and visual effects is solid. There’s times where the difference is easy to see and others where it could be one or the other. In particular, there’s some special effects used to recreate some classic characters, who they are I won’t say here, but it was almost flawless, at least in my experience. It was great to return to the era of the original trilogy again, not that I’m not interested in seeing the continued adventures of Rey, Finn, Poe, and the others, but it’s nice to mix it up. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Godzilla (2014), director Gareth Edwards brought his A-game to this one, and he’s made a pretty great Star Wars movie. As mentioned before, the last hour of the movie, the climactic battle where the heroes have their last chance to steal the plans of the Death Star, is so well made, so exciting, and so much better than the boring second act that it redeems almost all of those moments. It’s probably alongside A New Hope and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) the most satisfying concluding act in any Star Wars film. Again, yes, I’ll go that far.
Yeah, the beginning was kind of striking. This is the first film in the franchise not to feature the Star Wars fanfare and banner at the start that launch the opening crawl and start us off, and instead we just get the classic, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” then just start. It was very jarring and I could feel a few fans around me were pissed already. There’s a lot of jumping around to different planets in the first ten minutes and with the exception of bringing the crew together, nothing really happens in the first hour. It’s just a lot of setup for characters, which was fine, and yes, by the end I cared about them, but usually a Star Wars movie starts with a big boom, something that gets us started. Only this film and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) start off with something slow and introductory. It’s a nice way to distinguish this one from the saga films, but at least Return of the Jedi had a few moments of action and suspense in that opening half hour, whereas Rogue One almost takes forty-five minutes to get to that. There’s a whole section of the film where we have to have motivations set up for some of the characters and we get just more backstory, more backstory, so on and so on, and that felt extremely slow. Again the ending makes up for this, but it almost felt like a stretched out second act just to add to the runtime. Oh, and there are tons of cameos that have no purpose. Nothing that added to the film and nothing but extra stuff that would have been fine as deleted scenes.
So overall I’m happy with this one. It’s not the best Star Wars ever, and it isn’t as good as Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), but this is meant to tide you over until we get to Star Wars Episode VIII, and it also explores the original trilogy era again, which I will always welcome. Good performance, a solid story, and a magnificent finale make this one worth seeing. For those huge Star Wars fans out there, there is a lot to love and a lot of familiar elements even in the most unfamiliar story in the franchise. A lot of cool easter eggs that sure, maybe not everybody is going to love, but they might enjoy, and a lot of the signature Star Wars elements. So for an anthology film that is supposed to differentiate itself from the saga but also fit into the universe, they couldn’t have done much of a better job.
My rating: 8/10.
