A restoration of my love for Star Wars: A review of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’
Despite coming out in 2016, I finally got a chance to watch Rogue One for the first time this year, on Star Wars Day. I can honestly sit back after watching two hours of quality cinema and have two varying opinions: Why on Earth did I wait this long? and this has single-handedly lifted my quarantine depression.
Watching Rogue One after experiencing the God-awful mess that is the new sequel trilogy, and placating myself with The Mandalorian, I can candidly say that this film has managed to restore a love for Star Wars that I thought was lost to the corporate void.
The film is, in all respects, bittersweet — the story is precise and contained to the standalone film, while still feeding into the larger Star Wars universe. Despite being a little over two hours, not a single moment, in my opinion, was superfluous or unnecessary. This epic space opera has all the elements of a good story; the plot is gripping and concise, the main characters are well-rounded and developed, the production value is sky-high, and the movie is well-paced, with action sequences generally sprinkled throughout the movie to create a gripping narrative that stretches for two hours, rather than one half being more exciting than the other.
*For a more detailed review, keep reading. WARNING: Spoilers will follow*
The film follows the life and adventures of Jin Urso, the only child of Galen Urso, a known Imperial scientist that went into hiding to escape the Empire. The film opens with her as a child, forced to flee incoming Imperial forces that have come to capture her father in order to force him to work on a new weapon — the next scene is of Jin Urso, under the alias Leanna Hawk, being broken out of a prison thanks to the help of the Rebel Alliance. Introduced to Captain Cassian, the objective of the mission is to meet the rebel extremist Saw Gerrerra; the only way to Saw is through Jin Urso, as he is the one who raised her after Galen was captured. Moving from one uninterested in the rebellion or the Empire and looking only to survive, to wanting to fight for the cause, Jin Urso is able to change the tide of the war against the Empire. Saw Gerrera provides a ray of hope to the Resistance; a defected pilot carries a message by the head engineer, Galen Urso, about the new planet-killing weapon built by the Empire, known as the ‘Death Star’. (Yes, I did perk up at this, always fun to hear the iconic name).
The Empire, having built the Death Star (thanks to Galen’s help), launches a trial attack on the holy city of Jedha, annihilating the entire city (and Saw Gerrera) in one terrifying blow. However, Jin Urso is given a chance to listen to the pilot’s message and realises that her father has provided a chance for redemption by building a fail-safe into the reactor core, making it easy to destroy the entire weapon with one well-placed shot. Meanwhile, Director Krennic has discovered that there is a spy within the Empire and flies to Eadu (Galen’s outpost) to get some answers. Jin Urso, along with Captain Cassian and his rag-tag team including K2S0 (a reprogrammed Imperial droid), blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe and his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, head to Eadu to speak to Jin’s father, with Allied forces, too, planning a trip to Eadu to kill the head engineer. Unlike other droids, K2SO is more than just comic-relief; the film is lightly peppered with witty comments but maintains a consistent tone of brevity.
Things come to a head at Eadu, Galen admitting that he is the spy to Director Krennic, Allied forces opening fire at the base, and Jin Urso and her team rushing in to save Galen. Watching her father die in her arms builds her resolution against the Empire. Though she does lash out at the Rebel Alliance, Cassian bitterly reminds her that, for some, this fight has lasted entire lifetimes, and that she is not the only one to have lost lives to the Empire. Though the story is tightly-knit, the film does touch on the grander ideal that the Rebel Alliance serves, and the sacrifices that must be made to attain such goals, however ugly those sacrifices may be.
Meanwhile, Krennic is summoned by Lord Vader to explain the security breach on Eadu and warns him against further interruptions to the plan. Krennic does call for a meeting with the Emperor, yet is choked off (literally) by Lord Vader; this is the first time the audience gets a glimpse of Vader’s awesome power which he projects with his mere presence; he dominates the room and Krennic with a simple force-choke and the iconic line, “Try not to choke on your aspirations”, before exiting once more (yes, I did pause and replay the movie at least three times to fully soak in the iconic nature of such a subtle display of power, and to marvel at what I think is incredible writing, kudos to the team for what is now one of my favourite Star Wars lines).
Urso’s team (and a few others from the Rebel Alliance) move to Scarif with a repossessed Imperial ship to pick up the plans for the Death Star, and discover the weak link within; the entire planet is covered with a shield save one entry gate. The pilot maneuvers his way in, with a quick game plan — Cassian, Jin, and K2SO move to find the blueprints, while the other members light up the beaches and create a diversion, with the pilot on standby ready to leave. The proceeding fight at the beaches is hard and intense, with waves of stormtroopers coming in, fended off by a handful of Rebel Alliance members. Director Krennic, too, lands at Scarif, and a large number of Rebel Alliance forces, too, converge on Scarif to provide aid to their members; upon hearing of this, Lord Vader brings his forces to Scarif as well. With the shield closing down and Imperial TIE-fighters in the air, the skies and ground are rife with laser blasts and deaths as members from both sides are massacred. Meanwhile, K2SO guides Jin and Cassian to the archive, where the two of them retrieve the plans while K2SO stands guard. In a fight against Stormtroopers, K2SO is killed but saves them by trapping them inside the archive. Though Jin and Cassian manage to climb up and retrieve the plans, Director Krennic arrives on the scene to shoot Cassian and climbs up to follow Jin. The entire structure is topped with a large satellite dish to beam plans up to receiving ships; with the shields closed, this is the only hope left to beam the plans up. Jin manages to transmit the plans to the skies above, while the Rebel Alliance destroy Vader’s ships by crashing them into the shield, effectively wearing it down. Director Krennic is shot in the back by a still-alive Cassian, and Cassian and Jin share a tender moment of appreciation, respect, and relief before heading down to the beaches.
The plan is beamed up and received by Rebel ships, so all seems like it will end on a good note. Unfortunately, no. Îmwe and Baze die in battle, the pilot dies in his ship thanks to a grenade, stormtroopers greatly outnumber the rebel forces, and Grand Moff Tarkin brings the Death Star to Scarif, a final solution to the Rebel problem. The ending is heart-wrenchingly bittersweet; Vader enters the Rebel ships, and in one epic sequence, massacres most of the crew, though a small team does escape with the plans. This sequence, above all others, solidifies the power that Vader possessed, and the kind of fear he rocked into the Rebel Alliance as a whole. General Moff Tarkin orders a single-burst onto the beaches at Scarif, engulfing the whole outpost in one deadly cloud. Jin and Cassian kneel on the beach, awaiting their imminent death, and share one hug — the only moment of affection between two people who have moved from absolute strangers to what would have been lifelong friends. For me, the absence of a kiss between the male and female protagonists is….relieving. The moment maintains its poignancy without being reduced to a cheap shot for romance. The story makes no place for romance at all, and the moment is heightened with a hug, rather than a meaningless, forced kiss.
The last scene of the movie is that of redemption; we see Princess Leia receive the plans of the Death Star, a sign of hope, which also leads to the beginning of the original Star Wars trilogy. Despite being seen as a standalone movie, Rogue One ties well into the original trilogy, maintaining the fierce, invasive power of the Empire while still constructing a fully-fledged Rebel Alliance waiting for the spark to light the flames, given to them in the form of these plans. The movie also explains the reason for the Death Star’s major flaw, turning it from a gimmick into a sign of redemption, a choice made by a man who seemingly had none.
Having seen the nonsense that Disney peddled as the sequel trilogy before watching this movie, I can honestly say I had lost faith in the studio’s ability to make coherent narratives (by Episode IX I wasn’t even angry anymore, just disappointed at how off-the-rails the story was; it transitioned from sci-fi to badly-written fantasy). Rogue One’s tight plot, impeccable acting, and stunning lack of superfluous elements makes it an intense, appealing watch — for long-term fans of the Star Wars Universe and those looking for a foothold into the franchise.
References:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Dir. Gareth Edwards. Walt Disney Studios Productions. 2016. Film.
