Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first in what is set to be a series of spin-off films in the ever-expanding universe that is Star Wars. Since Disney bought Lucasfilm over four years ago, we have been promised a new Star Wars feature every year. Kicking off with Episode VII last year, we now have at least two more episodes and a Han Solo spinoff to look forward too. No telling how many more of these films Disney is cooking up but rest assured, there will be no shortage of Star Wars for the foreseeable future.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Star Wars, after all, is a galaxy-wide universe, so the amount of characters and stories that inhabit it are infinite. The storytelling possibilities are limitless, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe where everything must eventually satisfy the overall plan at hand.
Rogue One details the events that lead to the acquisition of the Death Star plans that are central to A New Hope, the first of the Star Wars series. There's Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a rebellious young woman whose father (Mads Mikkelsen) has been recruited back into the empire after he tried to escape. As a young girl, she witnesses her mother gunned down by Imperial Troops and her father whisked away by the evil Orson Krennic (a good but underused Ben Mendelsohn). The rest of the crew includes the rebel soldier Cassian (Diego Luna), the sarcastic robot K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), an imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed), and two random characters that somehow became involved, Chirrut (Donnie Yen, awesome as ever) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang).
How these people all come together to steal the plans is somewhat confusing and really not worth breaking down here. What matters is that everyone turns in a fine performance in their respected roles, and while no one delivers the end-all-be-all performance, they are better than, say, the prequels and, dare I say, many members of the original trilogy.
Where the film will get real mileage from fans is the return of many familiar characters. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones again supplying the voice) returns for a brief cameo, and the actor Peter Cushing, who passed away in 1994, has been digitally resurrected to play the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, a role he played in A New Hope. It really is a feat of CGI that this character looked very convincing, and I admired how well they had recast the role until I learned after that it was all CGI.
The film itself is competently directed by Gareth Edwards, from a script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. It sets a dark tone that fans will probably love, and stays true to the spirit of hopelessness for the rebellion, who haven't acquired Luke Skywalker yet. While the Force does enter the proceedings, lightsabers are for the most part absent as the art of the Jedi is extinct. The film even addresses, rather brilliantly, a plot-hole from A New Hope, now tied up and given extra weight and meaning.
One thing that does irk me is the peddling in heavy nostalgia these movies employ. Say what you will about the quality of the prequels, but for the most part they tried and offered up something new. We got pod racers, the federation ships, the federation robots, the Naboo fighters, and several other fresh designs. At least George Lucas was always thinking about how he could make the universe bigger.
The nostalgia factor isn't a hindrance here; in fact it makes perfect sense, given the movie's setting. But coming off the heels of The Force Awakens, which also featured heavy callbacks, I'm starting to worry these will revel in nostalgia too much.
Another shortcoming of the film is that, despite the actor's best efforts, the characters just aren't very interesting. Sure Jyn gets a backstory, but otherwise everyone is fairly underwritten and unmemorable. In a Star Wars movie, you should know the names of all the characters after a first viewing. The Force Awakens established it's three leads well (even Poe Dameron, who doesn't do much, is more interesting than anyone in this movie). Chalk it up to the more dour tone, but in the end I had no idea who most of the characters really were beyond the main heroine and villain.
It's a decent flick, and if you're a Star Wars fan, you'll love it. Casual fans will probably enjoy it too, but they will miss the references that will tickle the more devoted. What I fear, though, is that getting one of these every year is going to dilute the impact these films have. Once every two or three years and they become something truly special, but I worry that soon enough we won't care to see them because, well, it's just another Star Wars movie.
I guess that means the pressure is on Lucasfilm to give us a reason to keep coming back. I'm all for the Star Wars universe; it's a fun, exciting place with a rich mythology with many great stories to be told. But the nostalgia factor, at some point soon, is going to have to go. I want a Star Wars movie that isn't tied to the central conflict of the Empire vs. the Rebellion, or the Skywalkers. I want something that has nothing to do with that. Eventually, nostalgia is going to have to give for some original stories.
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