Rogue One

After sending his daughter Jyn into hiding, scientist Galen Urso (Mads Mikkelsen) is forcibly recruited by Imperial weapons developer Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to work on the Death Star. Years later, Jyn (Felicity Jones) is freed from prison by Rebel Cpt. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his droid K2SO (voice of Alan Tudyk), who need her to forge an alliance with Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker), who is holding an Imperial defector (Riz Ahmed) carrying a message from Galen. En route to Gerrera, the Rebels join up with Chirrut (Donnie Yuen), a pious blind warrior, and Baze (Jiang Wen), his cynical mercenary friend. Meanwhile, Krennic is facing increased pressure to prove the Death Star’s effectiveness in the face of skepticism from his rival, Grand Moff Tarkin.

Given the renewed interest in the Star Wars franchise stirred by the success of Episode VII, it is easy to see Rogue One, a side story, as an unnecessary attempt to keep milking the cash cow. However justified this cynicism may seem, for a placeholder (until Episode VIII arrives next year), Rogue One is a lot better than it needs to be. For Star Wars fans, it bridges the gap between Episode III and the original/Episode IV, adding context to the earlier stories while bringing back some familiar names and faces (such as Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa and, notably, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader). For those who typically find Star Wars silly or are simply not well-versed in its mythology, Rogue One works well enough as a stand-alone film featuring a darker tone and a lack of annoying kid-appeal characters.

Though it clocks in at over two hours, Rogue One moves briskly with no real lags. Director Gareth Edwards previously helmed 2014’s Gozilla reboot, and he seems to have ironed out the pacing problems that plagued that film. Edwards brings to Rogue One a sharp eye for stylized action, deftly blending martial arts, shootouts, and spacecraft battles. The latter remain a bit visually disorienting – too many objects on screen to keep track of at a time – but no moreso than previous Star Wars films, and the battle that takes up the last half-hour of the movie (during which dogfights play a key role) is executed impressively well. Edwards also helps bring to life new planets, and the changes of scenery are refreshing even if some of the locales are destined to be fodder for the Death Star’s devastating power.

While two hours of kinetic, aesthetically pleasing combat and mayhem would have been enough to satisfy some viewers, Rogue One also manages, as best it can, to add some complexity to the franchise’s central good vs. evil conflict. The forces of the Empire are as malevolent and foreboding as ever, but they are not a monolithic evil. Here we get a look at the political maneuvering and brinksmanship within the Imperial ranks. The Rebels, for their part, take on a more morally ambiguous role than in previous films: Andor is willing to straight-up assassinate Galen if he believes it will halt the Death Star, and the leadership council is fraught with bickering. Though we know, by virtue of Rogue One’s place in the Star Wars chronology, that the movie will end on a hopeful note, it doesn’t take the easy way in getting there.

Unfortunately, that fixed place in the chronology makes for some stilted character development. There are definitely exceptions to this shortcoming: Jyn transitions from cynical criminal to someone who is willing to take up a cause, Andor rediscovers a measure of idealism after making many coldly pragmatic decisions, and Galen shows that it is possible to serve (however unwillingly) the side of darkness and maintain a measure of humanity. Not surprisingly, these roles were the best-acted, and Mikkelsen’s sympathetic turn is a welcome break from the antagonists he usually plays. Credit too goes to Tudyk, whose K2 is the prissy C3PO’s opposite: a combat capable, brutally honest, and insolent (though ultimately loyal). Beyond that, however, the characters are either static, underdeveloped, or both. Cool as he is, Chirrut is a zatoichi caricature, Baze seems to be just along for the ride, it is never made clear what drove Ahmed’s character to ultimately defect, and Krennic is too much of a one-note career climber to be truly threatening. Lastly, a woefully miscast Whitaker gives a distractingly bad performance. He’s supposed to be the Star Wars equivalent of Che Guevara, but instead he comes across closer to a less sinister Robert Mugabe: an aged, deeply paranoid former revolutionary. The screenplay (by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy) is funny in places, but there is also a fair amount of clichéd/uninspired dialogue and a general lack of quotable lines.

Rogue One lacks the grandeur, memorable characters, and world-building of a “proper” Star Wars film, but in unencumbering itself and accepting its place in the larger scheme of things, it also loses grating sidekicks and plot bloat. It is by no means a vital film, but it is definitely an enjoyable one.

8/10