ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY – Review

Well, those twelve months blasted past us at “light speed”! Film fans were all a flutter (and full of the “force”) when STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS exploded onto multiplex screens at this time last December and proved that the power of this franchise had not weakened. Now that original trilogy (episodes IV through VI) that began in 1977, and its prequel flicks (episodes I through III) which resumed in 1999, were released in three-year spurts. All that changed when the Disney company bought the series’ home, Lucasfilm, a few years ago. It was announced that new “episode” installments would come out every other year. So just what is this new movie then. The “mouse house” game plan is to have a film “set in the Star Wars’ universe” in theatres every year. In between the episodes there will be “back story” and ‘spin-off” flicks, like the “currently in pre-production” young Han Solo adventure. The new film hitting theaters now is a bit of both, while Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren are prepping for next year. This is a tale that occurs just days before the beginning of the 1977 A NEW HOPE, expanding on an incident mentioned briefly prior to the big final “dogfight” in the stars. Without these new (and old?) characters, the rebellion would have been obliterated. Now, we finally meet the heroes (and villains) of ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY.

The familiar old title card “Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away” beckons us back into this fantasy realm. We’re whisked to a faraway farming planet, a place suddenly under the watchful eye of the Empire. Spy drones hover about the fields tended by Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), who quickly sends his wife and young daughter into hiding. A cruiser lands outside the Erso home, and a high-ranking empire official Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), along with several troopers, exit. Seems that Galen is a weapons designer for the Empire, an inventor who has gone into hiding, rather than create new implements of death. Krennic is quite insistent that he return to the fold. The encounter quickly turns ugly. Galen is brought forcibly on board while his young daughter Jyn retreats further into the caves. Luckily she is found and brought up by a caring neighbor. Flash ahead to “not quite so long ago” and the twenty-something Jyn (Felicity Jones) is now a prisoner of the empire, being transported to a detainment facility. But a determined rebel soldier, Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) , along with a reprogrammed empire droid, K-2SO (voice of Alan Tudyk) are on a mission to rescue her. It seems that her father has smuggled out info about the empire’s ultimate weapon through a defector supply pilot, Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) , who has been taken in by an extreme anti-empire radical, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), the man who raised young Jyn. It’s hoped that Jyn will convince them to hand over the pilot, and point them toward her father. Cassian enlists two rebel sympathizers, the blind, jedi-hopeful Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and his pal, the gruff Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang). Soon the motley crew are embarking on a perilous journey to thwart the empire’s greatest threat, a weapon known as the Death Star.

The superb cast continues the great tradition of a “motley crew” with little in common that joins forces for a noble cause, a trope dating back to THE SEVEN SAMURAI and its most recent remake THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN along with the comic book flicks SUICIDE SQUAD and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The plot’s main driving force is the always compelling Felicity Jones as Jyn, an aimless woman suddenly given a new direction by the quest for the last of her family and a chance to strike back at the forces that separated them. Much like Rey in EPISODE VII, she is on a hero’s journey and Jones conveys grit and determination with every look and gesture. Her intensity is equalled by Luna as the conflicted rebel leader. In his early scenes he shows his ruthless side as a man who doesn’t “play by the rules”, not above deception in pursuit of his goals. There’s a dead quality to Luna’s eyes (he’s seen too many horrors), but his interaction with this group, particularly Jyn, ignites his humanity. He begins to truly care about others once again. They have a worthy adversary in the petulant Krennic, played by Mendelsohn as an effete, arrogant demagogue driven by ego, always jockeying for position. His foppish white uniform with flowing cape may give him a regal flair, but he’s a brutal, cold-hearted thug ready to snuff out anyone in his path. Galen is merely an advancement tool for Krennic, and Mikkelsen gives the beaten-down brilliant genius a haunted quality, an exploited man who decides that he must risk his life to stop the evil he created before it is fully unleashed. As for the rest of the rebels, Whitaker is terrific as the cyborg zealot Gerrera, who is a danger to even those sharing his beliefs. Martial arts star Yen brings a swashbuckling grace to his unstoppable holy man (love his chant/prayer before he goes into battle) and makes an endearing counterpart to the burly Jiang as the pal that is annoyed by all that “force talk”, but always has his back in a fight. Ahmed brings a twitchy, loopy charm as the pilot out of his element. The big scene stealer may be the lumbering, hulking robot K-2SO, whose lingering stare coupled with Tudyk’s droll sarcastic line delivery makes this a great counterpart to the cute “droids” from the previous flicks. Who knew this big batch o’ bolts would have such charisma?

Former effects wiz turned director Gareth Edwards (MONSTERS, GODZILLA) has brought a real sense of danger and desperation back to this film universe. The storm troopers gunning for Jyn and her pals are truly deadly assassins, unlike many in the other films who couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of a bantha. The cities are dark and dirty with death springing from every corner and alley. Edwards knows when to amp up the tension and when to slow things down for the characters to interact and develop. This is greatly helped by the clever screenplay credited to some impressive scribes, Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, and Gary Whitta. They’ve generously supplied several nods and tributes to elements from the other flicks. Fans should delight in spotting familiar props and “beasties”. I don’t wish to spoil the sweet surprises, but we get to revisit characters (some very unnerving) and locales not seen in a long time (the trailers have already shown the “lord of the sith” making a most welcome return). Although we know the fate of the mission, the suspense still grabs us, since they aren’t “safe” like Luke and his crew. Some parents may be concerned about this, but for the right age group (depending on the individual child’s maturity level) this story could lead to a discussion of sacrifice, of offering yourself in the cause of saving others (I’m flashing to that other space franchise with Spock’s “The needs of the many…” ). The fabulous sweeping score by Michael Giacchino (he’s a busy guy!) drops in just enough of the classic John Williams themes to give the action and drama an extra punch. The location work is great. We get the desert and jungles once more, but we also get a tropical beach. For the first time we see stormtoopers going from the sand to the ocean foam while AT-ATs trample palm trees. Best of all, this film bodes very well for the future of the franchise. Yes, we’ll get more installments of the “big story” , but these “single”, “done in one” tales give talented film makers a chance to add their unique visions to the mythos, a time way to “play in the sandbox” in a way. Let’s hope that ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY is the first of many great explorations of that “galaxy far, far away”.

4.5 Out of 5