Movie Review – Rogue One

Tweet

2016 – spoiler alerts Stunning movie presented as a stand-alone Star Wars movie though in many ways this is an extended prologue to Episode 4 – A New Hope. Before seeing it I already knew that Darth Vader appears along with The Death Star, as the story deals with the anti-Federation rebels who steal the blue-prints for The Death Star. From the premise and that the characters involved in that raid are not seen in A New Hope, I already suspected that few if any of them would survive the movie. The plot begins with both Rebellion freedom fighters and Federation storm-troopers looking worn out and dirty from a prolonged and bitter struggle. Though serving a good cause, the rebels are prepared to do anything to survive and get missions completed. Pursued by Stormtroopers and aware that a disabled colleague cannot climb with him to freedom, one of the heroes shoots the man dead before fleeing alone. Another resorts to torturing a captured pilot who had served the Federation and now struggles to be trusted by the Federation. Into the mix comes Jyn Urso, (Felicity Jones) daughter of the scientist abducted and forced to work on the Death Star, as he is believed to have built in the design flaw that could allow the rebels to destroy it (as Luke Skywalker will do in A New Hope). Jyn believes she is being drawn into a rescue mission but some rebels are out to assassinate the scientist. Ultimately it all leads to a desperate attack on a Federation archive to capture the Death Star Blue-prints, with the Death Star already in use to destroy cities with forces that make nuclear attack look moderate. It will be A new Hope before the planet killer blasts Alderan out of the sky, but it is already a very lethal devise. The special effects and spaceships look amazing especially in the colossal battle that dominates the closing half of the movie, but the most jaw dropping effect is the CGI recreation of Grand Moff Tarkin, even creepier than usual given that the original actor peter Cushing is dead, yet here he is. Interestingly, the captioned text on Youtube making of features refers to the character as Grandma Tarkin. Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) is a mysterious Force obsessed mystic who seems almost-Jedi-like in his convictions, though he is a blind warrior, based on the martial arts movie hero Zaitochi. The best character by far is a droid, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a former Federation robot who has been reprogrammed to serve the Rebels His cynical stance suggests he is channelling Marvin The paranoid Android. His last stand is rather a sad moment. Ben Mendelsohn, as Krennic, a military leader responsible for the archive is attempting to undermine Tarkin, and briefly tangles with Vader, (unseen by any of the main Rogue One rebels) but Krennic’s arrogance will lead to the relay teams that will get the vital clues as to how to destroy the Death Star to Leia and ultimately to Skywalker. Strong, sometimes emotional movie, with battle scenes to rival saving Private Ryan and a stronger sense of the tragedy that comes of a galaxy under the fascistic jackboot of a political and military super-power. A great movie with lots of cool nods to the later stories. For example Jyn walks accidentally into the space pirate who will lose an arm to Obi Wan in A New Hope, but he walks on without giving in to starting a similar fight with her. Arthur Chappell