Harry Situation Reviews: Star Wars: Rogue One
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
STAR WARS
ROGUE ONE
It's been a year since the last awesome Star Wars movie.
Fans everywhere eagerly await for this new addition to the
new canon created by the enterprising empire, Disney.
Yet the shadow of doubt shrouds as suspicions that this
new film would be no different than the Prequels. Could this
film match that with the original films and stand its own, or
will it fall to the dark side, canceling future plans of anthology films?
And yes, I know the title of the film is actually Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story, but let's be honest, Star Wars: Rogue One
sounds a lot better, doesn't it? Calling it A Star Wars Story is like
calling The Hobbit trilogy Hobbit: You Know...Lord of the Rings & Shit.
So yes, Star Wars: Rogue One is not exactly part of the main saga, but a spin-off anthology film. The story takes place just before the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope where a renegade named Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) is hired by the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans to the infamous imperial weapon, Death Star. To accomplish this mission she recruits fellow rebels such as intelligence officer Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna), the blind warrior Chirrut Îmwe (played by Donnie Yen), the imperial droid K-2SO (played by Alan Tudyk), and a character from the Clone Wars animated series Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker). Can they succeed in their mission? If you saw A New Hope, I think it's a safe bet that they did.
I don't think I need to explain my love for Star Wars, do I? But you really didn't click on this post just to read about how much of a Star Wars fan I am. You want to know what I thought of this newest addition to the Star Wars Saga. How did this spin-off film stand out with the main saga?
It...
Was...
Fine. But that's also the problem. It's just fine. Don't worry, this review is completely spoiler free.
Let's go over the positives first. I liked the two lead characters. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna delivered pretty well done performances. I thought the characters of Jyn and Cassian were interesting enough. I think my favorite character in the whole film is K-2SO. He's pretty much C-3PO if he had balls, and he usually had some funny lines here and there. Some of the side characters were also pretty cool too.
And I know some of you are wondering about Darth Vader. It should come to no surprise to anyone that Darth Vader is in fact in this movie, however, he's there briefly. But when he's there, he has the best scenes in the entire movie.
Now let's talk about the action. This is one helluva action packed film. It felt so real and gritty that it really puts you in the middle of all of it. What I liked about Gareth Edwards (director of Godzilla 2014) as a director is that he does scale so well. The AT-AT walkers look so gigantic in comparison and how the Death Star eclipses in front of an entire sun is pretty awesome. The blend between practical and computer generated effects worked perfectly in this film that you feel you really are in the Star Wars universe.
Sadly, this film suffers from some flaws, and to a die hard fan like me those flaws really stand out. Let's talk about the characters again. Yeah I said that some of them are cool but I can't for the life of me remember half of their names, and that's just the ones that are introduced. I had to look up Donnie Yun's character's name because I couldn't remember. I don't even remember the name of his best friend. This film has the weakest characterization out of any of the Star Wars films.
What's one of the main things that keeps you coming back to watch Star Wars over and over again? The characters. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, Lando Calrissian, Emperor Palpatine, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Wedge Antilles, Padme Amidalla, Yoda, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, Ahsoka Tano, General Grievous, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Bane, Darth Revan, Asajj Ventress, Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Fives, Delta Squad, Galen Marek, Admiral Ackbar, Darth Maul, HK-47, Bastila Shan, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, Zeb, Hera Syndulla, Chopper, Agent Kallus, Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade Skywalker, Jango Fett, Cad Bane, Bossk, Aurra Sing, Mother Talzin, Wicket, Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke, Poe Dameron, BB-8, Maz Kanata, Hondo Ohnaka. These are all the characters of various Star Wars media that I can list at the top of my head, and, honest to God, I literally did this without looking up a single name. That is how much of an impact each Star Wars character listed made to me and all fans. I can name and remember them because they stood out the most. Sadly, none of these new characters stood out to me and have left very little impact to me.
Let's also discuss the main villain. He's an imperial officer named Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn). My god, he is the most pointless villain in the Star Wars Universe since General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith. He does nothing. He's not at all menacing. He gets one-upped by better villains in this movie. Again, all other Star Wars villains usually felt some kind of impact that not only stuck with me and the fans, but also, in some way, affected the course of the Star Wars Saga. Darth Vader froze Han Solo in carbonite, Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Jinn, Grand Admiral Thrawn's brilliant tactics nearly destroyed most of the Rebel fleet, Kylo Ren killed his own father. This guy did nothing that made him a standout villain. He didn't do anything that was all that villainous.
There were also characters throughout the film that were completely CGI. I'm not talking motion captured, I mean CGI'ed to be every part of the movie. I'm not going to say which characters they are but the fact they were onscreen really distracted me from what's going on because it looked like I was watching a cutscene from a PS4 game.
The worst part was trying to get through the first half of the movie. It felt so slow and so unfocused that I had a real hard time trying to follow what was happening. Luckily, things really start to pick up in the second half and a lot of awesome shit starts happening during the climax.
How does Rogue One stand overall? As an action science fiction movie, it's good. As a Star Wars movie it felt very underwhelming, especially to a die hard Star Wars fan such as myself. I don't hate it, and I don't think its a bad movie. I'm not saying that at all. It's not a bad start for anthology films. It just didn't leave the kind of impact I wanted, unlike all the other Star Wars films. I'd still say it's worth checking out. I'll definitely watch it again and again because it's a Star Wars film, but I wish it could have been much more.
Light Side: Dark Side:
-Lead characters -Weak characterization
-Some cool side characters -Weak villain
-Great action & battles -Distracting CGI characters
-Great practical & CGI -Unorganized first half
-Epic climax
-Great cameos & nods
The force is strong with this one. Final Grade: C+
There, we finally have it. Here's my take on Star Wars: Rogue One (and yes I'm going to keep calling it that because it sounds so much better). Have you seen it? What are your thoughts? Do you side with the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire? Jedi or Sith? Please be kind, leave a like and comment below, and check back for more reviews here on Prose!
Best Quote:
Chirrut Îmwe: "I'm one with the force, the force is with me."