Since 1992
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(Lucasfilm Ltd.’
By Lucas Allen
Not only will we be seeing the continuation of the Star Wars saga starting with last year’s “The Force Awakens,” but we’re also getting new stories that take place in and around the franchise’s timeline.
In this case, the first of these is the story of the vital part in the saga that directly lead into the original (middle chapter) classic, “A New Hope.” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” will be seen by hardcore fans everywhere as the one prequel film that the prequel trilogy could’ve been.
The lead character is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) a rebellious young woman who doesn’t care about the Empire or the Galactic War that followed. She’s then rescued by the Rebel Alliance before being placed on a special mission with Rebel Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and reprogrammed Imperial robot K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). Their mission is to rescue defected Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) from ex-Rebel leader Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and recover a message from Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the designer of the Death Star and Jyn’s long lost father.
He revealed that he made a small but pivotal flaw that could destroy it and leave things wide open for the rebellion. This leaves this ragtag group of heroes with the addition of blind warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and his friend Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) to take on the Empire and steal the Death Star plans.
Meanwhile, the station’s evil director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) tries to keep things in line despite being under the supervision of Grand Moff Tarkin (a very digital Peter Cushing, voiced by Guy Henry) and being lorded over by the all-powerful Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones).
Without the usual opening text crawl, this spin-off still retains many of the elements that made the original trilogy something special with fans around the world. In fact, this one, like “The Force Awakens,” has plenty of callbacks to the earlier films that will bring a smile to even the most cynical of viewers. Director Gareth Edwards (2014’s “Godzilla”) definitely put a lot of love and effort in bringing back the magic and style of George Lucas’ original vision.
But it should be noted that this film doesn’t share the original’s lighthearted tone but instead goes for a darker tone like “The Empire Strikes Back.” From the first scene to its incredible action-packed final act, it has the audacity to do something with characters that will shake you to the core. Some will come out of it feeling shocked, while others will simply be fine with it. In fact, this is more dramatically shocking than the best prequel of the bunch, “Revenge of the Sith.”
Fortunately, Edwards made sure to keep up the levity by adding some good humor and exciting action to keep the experience going. Tudyk’s K-2SO delivers some hilarious one-liners that work in every scene he’s in, while the third act taking place on and above an Imperial planet is a combination of classic Star Wars memories and the opening of “Saving Private Ryan” that is sure to satisfy.
Also, the visual effects are a delight to watch, especially the motion capture to bring K-2SO to life. Plus, for longtime fans, even those who can get past the creepy uncanny valley, the filmmakers made sure to pay tribute to the legendary Cushing with a memorable final performance.
As for the cast, it’s certainly a pretty well-acted film because of them. While Felicity Jones’ character is no Leia or Rey, her good acting helps give the character a serviceable purpose. Luna does a good job being the more scruffy and uptight anti-hero, while Yen and Wen are among the highlights. Whitaker seems to be playing over-the-top by pitching his voice higher and contorting his face. Vader is only in the film for a couple of minutes, but James Earl Jones’ superb voice acting along with an unbelievable last moment of greatness is good enough.
While certainly not as great as some of the better films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” still gets things right and very entertaining. No doubt you’ll be seeing it no matter if you love this series or just love movies in general. Now let’s wait patiently for next year’s Episode VIII.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.5 stars (out of four)
