*MAJOR SPOILERS*
Holy crap. This film has changed the way I will look at films. Wow. I’m sorry if this review is all praise, but that’s all I have to say.. Kinda.
Rogue One is a 2016 adventure/sci-fi film directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. This is the 8th film in the franchise and is the first Star Wars Anthology film, which takes place shortly before the events of the original Star Wars; Episode IV: A New Hope. Rogue One stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker, and follows a group of Rebel spies on a mission to steal design schematics for the Galactic Empire’s new superweapon, the Death Star.
So Star Wars: Rogue One is one of the first films to not feature a Skywalker or even a Jedi for that matter. Although I was looking forward to this film, I was never overly excited about what the film itself would be. Sure I knew it was a Star Wars movie, but since it was an anthology film I guess my standards dropped a little. After viewing this film, that has definitely changed. And not only is this one of my favorite Star Wars films, but this is definitely one of my favorite films of all time!
So lets get into the meat of it, shall we? Rogue One has one of the oddest setups in cinematic history. Although it is an original story, all of us knew the outcome before we even set foot into the theater. We know they’re successful in stealing the Death Star plans, but the real question is: How? I feel like that is what made this film so exciting. While you’re sitting there watching the third act, all you can think about is how or if they are all going to get out alive. The story, and the questions that the film present are what makes this film so fantastic. Even the fan service thrown into each scene is awesome, and leaves a multitude of easter eggs for the die hard fans. It’s the little things that make Rogue One so special, and that’s just the beginning.
The acting in this film is phenomenal, even coming from actors I have never heard of before. Felicity Jones was the absolute MVP in this film, and the way she threw herself into this role was amazing. A couple of stand out scenes include the hologram scene where she is hearing her father for the first time in over a decade as she slowly breaks down, as well as the scene where she has her final words with her father before his death. Felicity nails the entirety of this film, but those two scenes were incredibly impactful to me, and some of the best acting I’ve ever seen on screen. She wasn’t the only standout actor in this film, as Diego Luna was also great as well. I wish I had more time to name off specific scenes that stood out to me the most, but everyone did a fantastic job in this film. Each character had great chemistry and had well defined arcs, that when it came to the point in the movie were they all began to die, I felt like I was dying inside as well. No death was as heartbreaking as K-2SO’s, though. Jesus, I almost had a couple tears run down my cheek on that one. He was easily one of my favorite characters, as he resembled a lot of what my robot in Goodbye, Earth is like.
That also segues into another thing I wanted to talk about which is the general story. This film (as I said above) was a story that we already knew the ending to, as it was basically just a visual explanation of the first few lines of text in Episode IV: A New Hope‘s opening crawl. But this story was also a way to answer some major questions we had about Episode IV in general. I liked the way that they explained the small vent in the Death Star, as well as how the rebels stole the plans. A lot of these very prominent questions were answered in a way that made the original trilogy’s plot holes seem like they were meant to be there in the first place. But the biggest question left unanswered was if these rebels lived on or not after stealing the plans. Although that question was answered in a way that I felt was necessary to the overall story, it was still sad to see these new characters die off so quickly. Sure I loved each character and wanted to learn more about each person’s story, but I understood why they had to go as it showed how important the cause was for them. In the end I think their deaths are what made me love Rogue One‘s story so much, and it keeps continuity throughout the original trilogy. So much for Jyn being Rey’s mom, though.
Before even seeing this film I knew that I was going to be blown away by Gareth Edwards’ visuals. He had previously done the recent Godzillla film, and the shots in that film were absolutely gorgeous. Edwards knows how to show perspective, and I was wowed by almost every shot in this film. There a few shots in particular that stood out to me, but my favorite definitely had to go to the scene where Ben Mendelsohn’s character had just been shot by Cassian, and then looked up into the sky to see the Death Star staring him down. My god was that the most amazing shot I have ever seen. There are so many beautiful shots that I’d love to go on about, but I just don’t have the time to. But one other visual effect that I wanted to talk about was Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia. Holy crap was that some amazing CGI. Of course it isn’t perfect, but that was Tarkin! It looked like Peter Cushing, sounded like Peter Cushing, so in my mind it was Peter Cushing! I was honestly blown away.
As I always mention, there is never a film without sin, and Rogue One does have some short comings. Although the pacing in the beginning of the film is pretty choppy and could be easily fixed by putting all the action on a single planet, the biggest issue I had with this film was the soundtrack. From the first note that we hear, I instantly knew I would have an issue with the film. I understand the fact that it’s not John Williams, or the fact that Giacchino had less than a few months to write the score for this film, but the lack of memorable themes felt like a huge middle finger from the composer to the audience. There were plenty of places throughout this film were we could have heard Williams’ themes, yet Giacchino goes ahead and substitutes his own “original” music instead. Very disappointing. Even when the Rogue One title comes on the screen we don’t hear the opening crawl’s music. Super disappointing, mostly because I usually enjoy his work. For once in my life, I think I would of have liked Desplat’s take on the soundtrack a lot better. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be complaining about a Star Wars soundtrack, but here we are.
But before I close I did want to talk about one scene in particular. Two words: Darth Vader. Holy mother of Jesus, guys.. that ending scene with Vader.. Speechless. Before going into this film I knew we were going to get a little bit of screen time with our favorite Sith Lord, but never in a million years did I expect that ending scene with Vader. In the original trilogy we are made to fear Vader, but never actually get to see why. Even in the extended universe Vader is feared, yet we never get to see the true reason on the big screen. Well.. there we go. Vader kicks some Rebel ass, and that will forever be one of my favorite scenes in cinematic history. Thank you, Gareth Edwards. I love you.
So to wrap things up, Rogue One is not only one of my favorite Star Wars films, but also one of my favorite films of all time. The great story, characters, visuals, and so forth made this film incredibly memorable, as this movie will hold a special place in my heart. Although the score sucked, and the pacing was a little choppy in the beginning, I can forgive most of that. In the end, I decided to give Rogue One “Golden V’s” on theVade Review Bar. So yes, Rogue One is the prequel you’re looking for.
