Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is just the War film amongst the Stars we’ve been waiting for.
George Lucas is a special man who reached for the stars and gave us Star Wars: A New Hope back in 1977. People had finally found something much bigger in common. He pressed on and gave us the film’s sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, both which took our all time favorite trio – Han, Luke and Leia – on a journey like no other across space, one which was way ahead of its time.
Over the years, his company Lucasfilm exposed us to the ever expanding universe, which has shaped a lot of the films we see today, in terms of special effects and grandeur storytelling. And with the growing canon on paper, games, film and television, we knew that the pop culture world had found something special.
Yes, Lucas had given birth to what turned out to be one of the most life changing franchises of all time.
Sure we felt that pinch after Disney announced more films, and immediately forgot about it after last year’s spectacular addition Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which our love for the franchise, making us prepare ourselves for more to come.
For all the newbies reading, who don’t know what Star Wars is about, do continue if you want a glimpse into a world that will potentially make no sense to you at all.
Let’s make things easier for us all and look at this new installment picking up a few decades after Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The Empire has finally won and has managed to hug the universe with its dark ways. Following the fantastic new trend of having a heroine protagonist, we find ourselves following the path of a young rebel named Jyn Erso played by rising star Felicity Jones. While her pursuits are ordinary, her backstory is not.
Being the child of the Empire’s research scientist Galen Erso is a heavy burden to carry for this wanderer as she loses him to his other child, the infamous Death Star. Getting swept into the rebel alliance’s chronological goals to defeat the Empire, she journeys across the galaxy with her friends who happen to have the same agenda, to look for her father and find the space ball’s weakness.
Remember the successfully staged attack by Luke Skywalker and the rebels on the Death Star at the very end of Star Wars: A New Hope? A fan would probably chase you down if you didn’t.
Assuming you paid sufficient attention to that captivating story, it was successful because of a certain set of Death Star blueprints. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is about how Jyn Erso and her rebel crew ‘Rogue One’ stole the blue prints for the rebellion.
If you’re like me, you would’ve thought after all those marathons that you were well versed with the world Lucas created. Sure it still exists but is far more ruinous. The stakes a higher than we anticipated and only will be quite fulfilling if you haven’t been keeping up with all the visual marketing for this film.
Being a prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope, this film puts into effect the concept of reverse engineering to develop it from the ground up in terms of storyline to say the least, which is quite ironic seeing this film is the epitome of such a concept and is one of the most interesting things you’ll see done on film.
The concept of a standalone film is that it stands alone, and this film takes advantage of that. Without any moral obligation to live up to its predecessors, it steps out of its comfort zone and dives into deeper waters.
So if you asked yourself why Star Wars: The Force Awakens was too close to the originals, this film does the opposite.
Even after Godzilla fame back in 2014, Gareth Edwards isn’t a household name amongst the film community. With the entry of this surprising prequel/sequel, it looks like he’s doing something about that. With a 40 year old established franchise, it’s not easy changing a strong preset, and occasionally monotonous, game. Entering old shores and new, Edwards manages to teach this old dog new tricks, delivering to us the darkest Star Wars film to date.
But it doesn’t end there, not by a long stretch. ‘Different’ is what the British director set out to achieve, and the film proves he can knock on the right doors. Set in a dystopian looking backdrop, we are exposed to both the calm and harsh sides of multiple planets and their alien inhabitants. And if you’re looking for a familiar flavor, you’re bound to catch on several occasions glimpses of the past, all of which weave together the prequels and the original films.
The first batch of stormtroopers prevail, spreading the Empire’s unreciprocated love all over.
Justifying these horrible shots are the existence of other types that come in all shapes and colors who are accompanied by the nostalgic AT-AT Walkers. Adding on are the ever increasing alien races and cultures, all of which are quite intriguing to discover as and when they surface over every film. The gritty rawness of this installment is far from unappealing and will make you revisit classics like The Blade Runner and post-apocalyptic films like 12 monkeys.
Amongst the ruins, lies the hopeful rebel alliance but not in the way we’ve seen in past films. In this warzone of a film, we see their true nature which is quite ugly. While we’ve grown to love those aerial dogfights over the past 40 years, the intention behind them has always been lost behind John Williams’ beautiful score.
Undercover spies, assassins, and convicts, the alliance has it all and has kept them all in check as they battle the real enemy.
Lucas came up with one of the most badass villain accessories (the planet killer) almost 40 years ago and it can still take your breath away. This untold story had an untold leader in charge of it, Orson Krennic. Played by Ben Mendelsohn, the clumsy man in white was responsible for Jyn’s unfortunate loss and eventually, the Empire’s.
While the Jedi are no more, the force is still a strong myth. But not all has been forgotten for this is the era where former Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker terrorized the galaxy. Hold on to your hats, for the most iconic villain of all time Darth Vader comes to us in his prime, all in the form of the boldest cameo you’ll ever see onscreen.
Not only does Edwards get all of this right, he manages to show off an impressive transition between the overly high tech world seen in the prequels and the backward world in the original film series. Here’s where the film takes true form as a ‘filler’ in the franchise.
While the first quarter is a bit questionable in terms of pacing, the third act not only makes up for it, but outshines its the following film in more ways than one. The moment Jyn proclaims, “Rebellions are built on hope”, you know she has won your heart as she sets out with her more-than-memorable friends to save the galaxy.
J.J Abrams and Gareth Edwards understood that the prequels were a mess in many ways, and brought in more talented actors who can deliver lines with more emotional depth. And if you’re a true fan, you’ll join me on this when I say that in terms of visual effects, you’ll never see anything like what they’ve cooked up for this film (no spoilers, only tickling your curiosity for now).
Star Wars has always meant the universe to us with its uplifting characters and high stake rounds with its iconic enemies.
The fact that it was always ahead of its time and still is in many ways makes almost each and every one of them a true classic.
With that being said, Gareth Edwards has proven himself as an imaginative director, managing to shed new light onto this one-of-a-kind saga with his originality. Just when thought we’ve seen it all he manages to cook up nostalgia with a more darker, grungier tone. This is what we’ve been waiting for, the freshest addition in a long time, which also happens to be one of the best of them all.
