*Directed by Gareth Edwards
*Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker, Jiang Wen, James Earl Jones, Genevieve O'Reilly, Guy Henry, Ben Daniels, Alistair Petrie, Paul Kasey, Stephen Stanton, Stephen Wilding
*SPOILER WARNING*
The Plot: In order to destroy the Galactic Empire's super-weapon The Death Star, which has the ability to destroy entire planets, the weapon's developer Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) aids the Rebellion by hiding information on an Imperial base that reveals a weakness for the Rebels to take down the super-weapon once and for all. So a group of Rebels band together, lead by Galen's daughter Jyn (Felicity Jones), in an attempt to capture this information and successfully transmit it to the Rebellion.
As exciting as it is for Lucasfilm to develop a brand new Star Wars trilogy with The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and the tentatively titled Episode IX, we also couldn't forget that new standalone, spin-off films in the Star Wars universe would also be released. Rogue One is the first of these new spin-off films to be released in this brand new official Canon Star Wars universe and although I'm still very excited for the future ahead in the films within the Skywalker saga I think Rogue One was a really solid first effort. It probably was safe to tell this story that would bridge into Star Wars (aka A New Hope) because Lucasfilm is taking its time to tell other stories in the universe that we haven't explored in universe's the timeline at all. But, the amount of effort brought into the making of this movie to really give it that Star Wars feel we all know and love was really something special.
Aesthetically the film looks and feels just like a film out of the Original Trilogy with the use of practical effects. There were a lot of cool looking creatures and amazing set pieces utilized throughout. The production design and the use of the realistic locations was really excellent and it had that lived-in Star Wars feel that felt absent in the Prequel Trilogy. It was a very grounded approach and I'm glad that was the intent because with how the film bridges into the original Star Wars, it would make sense for this film to have the same feel and resemble the style of the next film.
Also, I couldn't help but notice how beautifully shot this entire movie was from the glorious wide takes of certain planets to the brilliant use of handheld shots in the action sequences. It really helped give the film that adventurous scope it deserved. Not to mention that the spectacle of this entire film is nothing short of incredible. Although there are practical sets and creatures to be had, the CGI utilized in every scene of this movie looked gorgeous. The aerial battle on Eadu was a lot of fun and, of course, the Scariff battle was freaking awesome, which I will soon get to.
This also might be controversial to some people, but for me the motion capture CGI utilized for characters Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia both looked stunning. It just blows my mind how far we've come with this technology and maybe it's not completely perfect, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. There was amazing photo realistic imagery down for the recreation of these characters, but it's just going to keep getting better and better. It just amazes me in these scenes how near perfect these creations look and that as opposed to something like Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, there was enough effort involved to not make the CG look totally distracting. I remember seeing the film in IMAX 3D last year and when Tarkin turns around in his first scene after looking out the window, the man sitting next to me just says, "Wow!", in complete amazement. I was completely on board I thought the CG looked incredible in space and even on deck a Star Destroyer!
Now coming back to the third act of this film that I mentioned earlier with the Battle on Scariff, it is one of the single greatest action sequences I've seen in the entire franchise. Beautifully choreographed CGI space battles and there was amazing war combat on the ground as well. When it gets down and dirty on the battlefield of Scariff I totally got the intention of this film feeling like the war film Gareth Edwards sought out to make ever since he discussed it at Star Wars Celebration a couple years back.
I also can't forget the team of Rebels the title of the movie is named after, which is Rogue One, and while I liked these characters fine on screen, that's also an area of the film I thought was a big missed opportunity. I loved sitting through Rogue One and I think it is a very good movie nonetheless, but the characters were very one dimensional to me. The development felt very lacking and it seems as if we needed another section of this movie that devoted a little more of its time to have character moments and get into more of their backstory. I would've been fine if the film had been longer to succeed that aspect with maybe a 3 hour cut, or not to mention a 5 hour long event mini series.
There were mentions about the backstories of these characters, but that really wasn't enough to give this movie more emotional weight. The backstories was something that needed to be explored more and although I do feel there was great suspense and tension utilized in the direction of these action scenes I still feel there could've been more of an emotional pay-off. The arcs of these characters just felt rather incomplete to me and even though I feel Jyn Erso had the most to her and K2SO had amazing personality, I just wish I felt more of a connection to the rest of the characters because the bondage of this group is the heart and soul of this movie, but it needed more of that soul.
Galen Erso had an intriguing story as well and even though I read the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst before seeing the film, which I highly recommend, I feel the film on its own told his complete story well. Orson Krennic I also thought was a very excellent character and I liked that this time around that the antagonist was more human and the conflict he had with Tarkin felt so believable. It was crazy to think that when Tarkin one ups Krennic and the moment before he blows Scariff with Krennic on it, I connected with Krennic and really felt the pain he went through to succeed. It was crazy to think that I could sympathize for a villain despite his selfish desires.
Another flaw that somewhat bothered me was that there were some scenes that had that grounded war movie feel to go along with the gritty aesthetics, but then there were scenes that looked more sleek and the filmmaking was a lot smoother. It does give the impression that this film did probably undergo reshoots when an earlier cut of the film was supposedly more gritty and violent. I'm guessing the film was originally more like the first act with its aesthetics and whatnot. So while it may be noticeable that the look and feel can be different at times that doesn't take away the amount of enjoyment I had as a Star Wars fan viewing this movie. It's a flaw I can acknowledge, but I can still enjoy watching the movie anyway.
Overall, Rogue One is not a flawless movie, but considering it adds to the overall story and opens up more about the universe in a great fashion, with fantastic grounded aesthetics, excellent performances and eye popping action, I can't deny that this movie was an absolute joy to sit through!
Verdict: B+
I can't tell you how satisfied I was with this movie as a Star Wars fan and as a fan of fantasy adventure films in general. Rogue One definitely delivered for me and even though I couldn't quite give it an A- or higher, I still loved watching a majority of this movie. The characters could've been done better, but that was it really.
Stay tuned for my next Star Wars review which will be posted this Friday and that will be for the film that started it all, Star Wars.
Can't believe how close we're getting to The Last Jedi! Very hard to believe!
Thank you for taking the time to read this review and be sure to follow me in the social media links below and a link to a page of my other Star Wars reviews:
STAR WARS REVIEWS
Twitter and Instagram: @alexjcorey
Again, thank you all so much for reading! As always see some great freakin' entertainment. Take care and May the Force be with you. Always. :-)
Comments