Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (12A)

USA 2016 134 mins Dir: Gareth Edwards Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Forrest Whitaker, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed 

‘Rebellions are built on hope’. So runs the mantra of new Star Wars movie Rogue One, the first in a planned series of anthology spinoffs away from the main saga storyline, and indeed it’s a sliver of dialogue that applies to the ethos of the movie as a whole. With its scrappy, gritty, war in the trenches aesthetic, this is a Star Wars movie whose own rebellious nature is built upon hope, hope that this enduring franchise can still surprise, enthral, throw us a curveball.

Under the auspices of Monsters and Godzilla director Gareth Edwards, the movie is mostly successful – with some large-scale caveats that may or may not stem from its much-publicised reshoots. Away from the gleaming retro pastiche of last year’s The Force Awakens, unfairly criticised for cleaving too close to the tone of the original trilogy when it did in fact possess smart twists, Rogue One is a self-contained story, the arc of its characters confined to just one movie. As a result, it’s something of a bold narrative experiment within the wider Star Wars universe, getting us to invest emotionally in a group of rebels whose fate has already been foretold by the opening of 1977’s A New Hope, with which the climax of this film dovetails.

It’s the story of the rebellion’s do or die mission to steal the plans for the Galactic Empire’s new super weapon the Death Star, although Edwards along with screenwriters Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy (who supervised the aforementioned reshoots) obfuscates for much of the first half, torturously dressing up what is a very simple story as we jump from planet to planet. Chief among our rebel characters is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones, nicely understated), whose involvement stems from the fact her father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen, distinguished and tortured) is instrumental in the weapon’s design, having been coerced by social climbing security chief Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, superbly booable), who wants to demonstrate the power to the most significant audience possible.

Meanwhile compromised rebel Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), defected Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Jyn’s militant former mentor Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker) and sardonic, reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) all occupy the murkier end of the heroic spectrum. It’s another bold move, the traditionally clear waters of Star Wars morality muddied as our ostensible good guys are often forced to stoop to the level of their dreaded Imperial nemeses. 

It’s less family friendly than what we expect but helps lend a refreshingly spiky and relatively adult tone, more so than the ludicrously incoherent political wrangling of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy. The multicultural cast, also including Hong Kong martial arts superstar Donnie Yen as Force believer Chirrut Imwe and China’s Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus, further gives a tantalising sense that this galaxy’s rich plethora of characters have barely been tapped.

Even so, with all the location jumping from desert planet Jedha to rebel base Yavin 4 and beyond, not to mention significant dialogue tossed off as casual exposition, the first half verges on the incoherent. Add in some unconvincing CGI replications of key actors (one now deceased) from A New Hope who are placed at the forefront of important dialogue sequences, and these are significant issues not easy to shelve. Meanwhile of the two highly anticipated Darth Vader appearances, it’s only in the closing stages that he attains genuinely spine-tingling and terrifying proportions.

Nevertheless, Edwards is fantastic in establishing a terrifically visceral and grimy visual aesthetic that wonderfully simulates the lived-in feel of the original trilogy; it’s also brilliantly effective in meshing with the tone of this particular entry, one that finds the rebels at their lowest, most desperate ebb and the Empire very much in the ascent. As he proved with both Monsters and Godzilla he’s also accomplished at conveying a genuine sense of overwhelming physical scale, the awe-inspiring lensing of the Death Star reframing the familiar as something truly towering and fearsome. 

And then and then… We finally get to the showdown on the beaches and lush jungles of planet Scarif and the movie activates the excitement hyper-speed button, Edwards’ much-vaunted war movie ambitions finally taking shape. As Michael Giacchino’s stirring, John Williams-aping score interweaves his own soaring elegies around the iconic, pre-existing franchise themes, the AT-ACT walkers go on the rampage and the  franchise puzzle pieces finally click into place, the movie attains the kind of dramatic tension and bittersweet gravitas long dormant in the series. With superb performances from Jones, Luna and, especially, the always welcome input of Mendelsohn and Tudyk, the movie finally delivers on that all-important sense of hope.