Rogue One: Review

This must be the most fast paced star wars movie. Welcome everyone to the review of the most anticipated movie of the year ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. Well yeah they made another one before the actual sequel comes out, just to extract as much as they can from the pockets of you plebs but hey who cares?

The movie starts with the backstory of the main character, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), the lone child of Imperial scientist Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) who played a pivotal role in the construction of the first Death Star. Jyn is a great protagonist. Realistic, capable and not too heroic but still does the right thing at the right moment. But not to be confused with Rey. Rey would be an understatement to our more hardened war vet. She is not as fortunate as Rey but she is just as awesome (even more in some ways). She joins a band of misfits that includes a cold-blooded Rebel assassin named Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who is no replacement for Finn or Poe but a good enough character on its own although he feels a bit rushed and incomplete at moments; a blind but still lethal warrior-priest named Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) (my personal favourite in the new expanded universe); Chirrut's stoic, cranky but loyal best friend Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), a legendary marksman; former Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), who defected the empire along with Galen Erso, and Clone Wars veteran Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), an extremist leader of rebels whose cyborg legs and assisted breathing make him a light-side-of-the-Force answer to baddies like Darth Vader and General Grievous (plus for some reason his voice is funny too).

  

The movie's most prized reveal and the most ‘alive’ droid yet would be K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk), a reprogrammed Imperial enforcer droid who can be a badass sidekick and is still as petulant and pouty as C-3PO and tends to blurt out everything that comes into his ‘circuit’. Frankly he’s brought more to the film than R2D2 or BB8 ever did. I know those two are the most beloved and adorable droids ever but in terms of character, they’re still just beeping ball-ish beings. C-3PO does almost nothing ever except being a kind of a comic relief. But no K-2SO is different. He is better. He is witty, he’s got a sense of humour and he can fight. He is a martyr whose death will leave a void just as big as his human counterparts.

This is the one thing weird about this movie. The lead duo Cassian and Jyn are given sufficient screen time but still they somehow don’t feel much polished as characters whereas newly introduced side characters such as Baze, Chirrut and K-2SO leave a lasting impact both on the film and the viewer’s hearts. Well this was bound to happen. The movie was totally self-contained. And by the interval everyone should’ve realised what’s gonna happen in the end. Yes, none of these amazing characters survive as we move to the immediate start of ‘A New Hope’.

Rogue One is a movie for someone who’s never seen a star wars. And at the very same time it will be most appreciated by the hardcore fans who can recognize all references and character reappearances. Rogue one is actually much more darker and original than the rest of its predecessors. It may be a spinoff but it never forgets where it came from. The absence of Jedi and the Sith may take away the entire feel of the ‘Star Wars’ soul but the movie speaks more on a local level. It shows the struggle when there is no Jedi or princess on any quest to protect or annihilate anybody. It highlights individuality, freedom and what it really means to be a rebel. How the life of anyone involved in the struggle can be so unpredictable and fragile when they’re fighting for a cause. A cause they might believe in but without any backing of any kind except the ‘hope’ to succeed. Well they do pave way for ‘hope’ (quite literally) by the time it concludes.

At times, I think this whole movie was made just fill the biggest plot hole in the star wars franchise. The infamous weakness of the greatest weapon ever. One blast in the correct, really tiny almost impossible to hit place and boom, all of it is a pile of rubble. A weapon as ominous and as humongous as a moon comes with an Achilles heel. This was never explained that why would the empire allow such a massive lapse to exist in the embodiment of their ultimate dream. A sword through which they can conquer anything and establish an unprecedented rule of dread but comes with such a huge weakness.

The old score by John Williams still works and incites the same magic and inspiration it did ages ago. The performances are solid with the side characters stealing the show and the returning characters proving to be satisfactory. The direction by Gareth Edwards is top notch except a few too many cuts here and there. The Godzilla (2016) director shows the AT-AT walkers beautifully and all the fight scenes although extensive but are thrilling to the core. Not much is seen in this flick in terms of space warfare but the ground battles are just as mesmerising.

As for the presentation- At the beginning, the movie feels too much restless. Like its in a hurry to establish too many converging storylines. We cut through so many planets and places and people that its almost hard to keep track. After that though, when the commotion starts to settle down and we see the picture rather clearly things become enjoyable. That is the thing about this movie, it isn’t very exciting but enjoyable. You don’t long for what’s going to happen next as the plot is pretty straightforward but you enjoy whatever’s happening on the screen. The movie reaches its pinnacle at the very end when we see Leia escape and we see Darth Vader wreak havoc on the Alliance soldiers. It was horrible. It was terrorizing. It was overwhelming. It was awesome. Vader is just as cool or even more so as he ever was. Just seeing him move through the smoke and kill people is nothing short of a spectacle.

The Verdict

So this is what we have. Another full length feature of the universe far far away. I’m glad to be living in an era when we get so much of star wars and that too all entries greater than the rest. Rogue One at certain times feel like a compilation of star wars memes. Its got everything the internet ever wanted from a star wars spinoff. Moreover it lays rock solid ground work for the ultimate tale, the space opera of the century which started it all ‘Episode IV’. Rogue One is an aboriginal gloomy tale of the alliance’s efforts to resist the fascist imperial regime and how the spark of faith in a handful of troublemakers can ignite a flame of struggle for the generations to come. Without much turbulence, the movie goes straight in one direction and leads to the definitive finale it sought. The movie is adequately emotional albeit unusually sombre and despondent for a franchise like this but proves to be an indispensable addition to George Lucas’s spiritual saga, ripe with enough thrills and satisfying clashes, memorable characters, successfully depicting the sacrifice that made possible the creation of a new hope (hehe).

So this one is a definite go ahead. Watch the movie. If the Phantom Menace let you down, this is the prequel you were waiting for. If you’re a star wars fan you won’t be disappointed. If you’re not, this would be the best time to become one.

The author finds Felicity Jones much more attractive than Daisy Ridley (those eyes!). And now that we're done with both male and female human leads, can we please have a star wars movie starring an Ewok?

 P.S.- Darth Plagueis is Emporer Snoke