In 2005, ten years before The Force Awakens, a live-action TV series bridging the prequel and original trilogies was announced. The series went into development around 2009, and its working title, Star Wars: Underworld, was revealed in 2012. Unfortunately, due to budgetary issues, the show never came to be, but the ideas were still being talked about. Around 2014, visual effects supervisor John Knoll pitched his idea to Disney, who greenlit the project to be a film. Both he and Gary Whitta would develop the story, and Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy would pen the script. Coming off the success of 2014’s Godzilla, Gareth Edwards was hired to direct what would essentially be a war film. Around mid-2016, months before its release, the film underwent several reshoots as executives felt it was tonally off. Finally, December 2016 saw the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
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Rating
Synopsis
As a child, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) watched her family be torn apart by the Empire and has been hiding. While being taken to an Imperial labor camp, she’s rescued by a Rebel squad led by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). She’s brought to Rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), who asks her to rescue her father Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). Turns out he’s been recruited by Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to finish construction on a dangerous superweapon, the Death Star. Jyn agrees and goes with Cassian and former Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) to meet with Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Gerrera shows Jyn a hologram Galen left behind, which details an intentional weakness he designed in the Death Star. She recruits warrior Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), mercenary Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and former Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed). Together, they plan to steal the plans to the Death Star.
Review
Back when I saw this movie when it hit theaters, I remember enjoying it but also feeling somewhat indifferent. Having rewatched it again, my feelings towards Rogue One: A Star Wars Story remain the same, though more positive. Much like Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, this film has plenty of fun action sequences but is lacking in terms of characterization. My biggest issue with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the side characters are more interesting than the leads. Alan Tudyk is hilarious as the dry-witted Imperial droid, and the dynamic between Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen is cool. While Felicity Jones and Diego Luna aren’t terrible, the material they’re given isn’t very compelling and is pretty uninteresting. Ben Mendelsohn makes for a good villain, though it’s a very archetypal villain that doesn’t have anything unique to offer. Also, Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker are kind of wasted in this.
One thing I can give this movie credit for is its originality and some interesting ideas they introduce. Unlike the other films where the Rebels and Imperials were black and white, this shows there are some grey areas. This shows that good people are working for the Empire and that the Rebels have done some questionable things. When it gets into the action in the third act, it feels like something out of a war film. In terms of effects, there’s plenty more CGI than practical effects, but they aren’t terrible, though some are distracting. The biggest ones are the CGI recreations of Peter Cushing and young Carrie Fisher, both technically impressive but also unsettling. For all the issues I had with this film, this is easily the best Star Wars prequel to date. Overall, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has good ambitions but isn’t very compelling.
Buy Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3YYpEu3.
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