★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Back in October, a viral ad campaign for the latest Call of
Duty game stated everyone's distaste for 2016 loud and clear, with the tagline
"Screw this, let's go to space." Given all that's taken place since, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – with its
cast of multinational talent, themes of hope and resistance, and an incompetent
villain with bad hair who sneers at the one woman who dares to defy him –
couldn’t be more relevant if it tried. It’s less of a fingers-in-ears escape
from reality and more a hyper-realised reflection.
Much like the political horizon, Rogue One takes us into uncharted territory, as the first of
Disney-Lucasfilm’s planned array of standalone Star Wars stories taking place around the main saga. This first
entry details the events leading up to A
New Hope, in which a desperate Rebel Alliance attempts to steal the plans
for the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. Felicity Jones stars as Jyn
Erso, a galactic delinquent with a familial tie to the Empire and a habit for
disregarding orders. As the film progresses, she reluctantly amasses a band of
heroes including disillusioned Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Alliance
Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his sardonic droid partner, K-2SO (Alan
Tudyk), plus monk/warrior duo Chirrut and Baze (Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen,
respectively). Ben Mendelsohn plays the increasingly infuriated Director Krennic,
whose connection to the Erso family provides the starting point for the story. Forest Whitaker also appears as frazzled extremist Saw Gerrera, one of the films many ties to The Clone Wars animated series.
Though this new addition to the saga fills a hitherto
unknown gap in the recently re-established Star
Wars canon, there are nods aplenty to Expanded Universe material, the place
where the mission to steal the Death Star plans was first uncovered (as seen in
the Dark Forces video game). Jyn’s
father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen, who spends a lot of time getting rained on),
bears the forename of the original creator of the Rebel Alliance, Galen Marek
(better known as Starkiller) from The
Force Unleashed series, K-2SO smacks more than a little of HK-47 from Knights of The Old Republic, and there's
an X-Wing versus Imperial walker denouement plucked from the cover of a Michael A. Stackpole novel.
It's images like this swarm of buzzards taking on an
armoured behemoth that helps Rogue One
forge its own identity within the larger series and sell the apparent futility
and hopelessness of an ailing resistance. The down-and-dirty camerawork itself feels spontaneous, even guerrilla, while establishing shots see the scale games director Gareth
Edwards employed to brilliant effect in Godzilla magnified tenfold. Cinematographer
Grieg Fraser turns this giant toy box into pure eye candy, with the Death Star
as an irresistible jawbreaker at the centre.
Appropriately, while there is a chewy surface beneath, you might
break your teeth attempting to get in: a somewhat higgledy-piggeldy first act means
that initial character interplay is rushed, which makes seeing them as anything
more than another set of archetypal action figures a little difficult. Of the
bunch, Jones, Ahmed, Yen and Luna provide the most rounded personalities. If
there is any justice in the world, Luna will soon be a gigantic star, and Yen will
get further chances to demonstrate his comedic timing. Those with the least to
prove (Ahmed and Jones, arguably) still give everything. Oh, and Mendelsohn is
great fun as Krennic’s frustration mounts, because no-one does irritable
scowling quite like him. A scene between his white-caped thug and a certain
helmeted figure is a gift.
Now, for the Bantha in the room: those troublesome rumours
of re-shoots intended to lighten the tone or bring the spirit of the film back
in line with the other episodes. Fear not. Unless (like me) you’ve scrutinised
the trailers more times than is healthy, any sign of later interference is
inscrutable. The Force Awakens may be
a more structurally coherent film, but this
is a very different beast; a war movie more than a fantasy. The spectacle
of Stormtroopers getting thrown about in huge explosions is followed by a
grimace and a burst of dirt and shrapnel rather than a punchline. Humour is present
of course, thanks mostly to Tudyk’s figurative (and completely literal)
straight-faced delivery, but it’s less a continuing gag and more a reprieve. The
grit and the grime is tangible, and all the (admittedly stellar) practical
effects showboating of Abrams’ instalment seem piecemeal compared to what
Edwards has achieved: the most ‘realistic’ Star
Wars movie since 1980.
While we’re talking The
Force Awakens, those who complained endlessly that it’s similarity to A New Hope signified Lucasfilm taking no
risks with the franchise ought to be silenced, and possibly even more outraged now.
Rogue One is most definitely a Star Wars prequel not only in the
chronological sense, but also with regards to its risk-taking, its attempt to
re-invent the series, and an insistence on blurring the line between physical
and digital filmmaking like never before. No, not every gamble pays off, but whether it
leaves you aghast or amazed, the sheer audacity is gobsmacking.
The effectiveness of fan-service as an antidote should never
be underestimated, however, and I doubt there’ll be a single dissenting voice rising
against a note-perfect and utterly crowd-pleasing conclusion. These closing
moments allow the movie to slide snugly into place with all the satisfaction of
completing a high-scoring Tetris combo, with the blip-blop sound effects replaced
by Michael Giacchino’s score. This, too, is where the film breaks from
tradition. Giacchino’s music is not a symphony of motifs and themes, but a
continuous soundscape that blends occasional call-backs with new material that,
nevertheless, still retains that epic quality we’ve all come to expect.
As someone with a great deal of expectations, what I’m
happiest about is how so much of this movie reminds me why I love
this ridiculous franchise in the first place. The year between The Force Awakens and Rogue One has been a year of massive
personal upheaval, and returning to a galaxy far, far away to find it still discovering
ways to entertain and – most importantly – surprise me is one heck of a
Christmas present.
