A couple of nights ago we watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the next movie in the Star Wars chronological timeline after Solo: A Star Wars Story.
This is not a review and it isn’t meant to rain on anybody’s opinion of this movie – it’s simply an attempt to articulate my own feelings about it. Your mileage may most definitely vary.
Rogue One was well-received when it was first released in 2016, and it seems to have held up well with both fans and critics. I remember going to see it at the theater and being blown away. I’ve only watched it a couple of times since, but that isn’t because I didn’t like it.
Warning! Spoilers Below (if there can be such a thing as spoilers for a movie released in 2016).
What I Liked
Secret Mission. Rogue One harkens back to classic WWII movies – the kinds with plots about spies and/or secret missions behind enemy lines – like The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, or Where Eagles Dare. It was great fun to watch this type of story play out against the backdrop of the Star Wars universe.
Cassion Andor. Usually in Star Wars stories we’re given Big Damn Heroes – Jedi Knights and/or cocky fighter pilots whose actions tend to be black or white. Cassion Andor is none of those things, which makes for a refreshing change. Instead, he’s an Intelligence officer who lives in the gray spaces and who has done his fair share of things he’s not proud of, and yet, he’s at least as much of a hero as anyone in the Rebellion.
Jyn Erso. The daughter of a suspected Imperial collaborator who still believes in her father.
Chirrut Îmwe + Baze Malbus. It’s possible these two characters may be my favorites in the entire movie. I love Baze’s devotion to Chirrut. “I’m one with the Force; the Force is with me.”
K-2SO. I always love a snarky droid, and K-2SO is no exception. Bonus that K2 is voiced by the incomparable Alan Tudyk.
Rebel Alliance Disagreement. The fact that the Rebel Alliance Council couldn’t even manage to agree that they should try to steal the plans for the Death Star foreshadowed the problems to come after the Emperor was finally defeated (at the end of Return of the Jedi). If they couldn’t agree on this, how were they going to agree on how to govern in the New Republic? No wonder the First Order was able to make inroads so quickly.
What I Was Ambivalent About
[scratches head] Can’t actually think of anything.
What I Disliked
Use of Digital Image Mapping. I’d say the one thing about the movie that I absolutely detested was the use of digital images of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher superimposed over other actors’ bodies/faces for Tarkin and Leia. I found it creepy and uncanny – and frankly unnecessary. The story could have been told in a slightly different way without Tarkin. And as for Leia, well, we all knew it was Leia without her ever having to turn around. Why not just have the actress playing her keep her back to the audience while we hear Carrie Fisher speak?
Conclusion
I loved this movie. Is it perfect? Of course not. It is, however, entertaining and eminently watchable.
Still, unlike with Solo, I find I don’t watch it very often. The ending is too gut-wrenching and emotional for me to just casually put it on. At the same time, I’m glad they didn’t pull their punches to create a “happy ending” (where, say, Cassion and/or Jyn survived) – that would only have cheapened their stories.
