Rogue One a darker take on Star Wars

Felicity Jones in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Image courtesy Disney.

What makes Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the most interesting Star Wars film to come out in the last two decades is its undercurrent of darkness. This isn't the fantastic journey of New Hope or  Force Awakens, the Ewok festival of Return of the Jedi, or the lesson in political gamesmanship like entries one, two and three. Rather, it's heart is in the same place as the series' best entry, Empire Strikes Back, and the darker, grittier tone lends itself to a space opera rooted in the most basic battle of good against evil. Both films find the rebels in a dire situation, facing impossible odds and a relentless, malevolent force aimed at their destruction.

Desperation is the driving force behind both Empire Strikes Back, and Rogue One. For the characters of Rogue One, the circumstances are driven by the fear of an unknown weapon of mass destruction (the Death Star) and how little knowledge they have of the weapon’s capabilities. That the weapon can destroy planets is horrifying; that the Rebellion has no way of fighting such a thing in its early stages is almost worse. Desperation though is a strong motivator, enough to have a small collection of fighters, criminals and traitors (Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, a Droid voiced by Alan Tudyk, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen) to risk their lives to stop it and an evil Empire director (Ben Mendelsohn). Characters in films like this need a persuasive enough motivator to send themselves into such a dire, fatalistic situation, and the stakes in this case are heavy enough to provide a justifiable reason to engage in a doomed mission. Star Wars films need that despair and hint of menace to work. The prequels lacked that feeling of darkness (aside from a Padawan slaughter in film three) and even last year’s very fun Force Awakens felt a little light in its tone. The darkness in Empire Strikes Back, New Hope, and Rogue One is required to sell the underlying message of hope these films offer as well. Light doesn’t seem so bright and isn’t as necessary before the darkness sets in.

Even the Rebellion isn’t immune from dark acts. Rogue One is more honest than any previous Star Wars film about the nature of the Rebellion. This is not the clean cut army of fighters shown in films past, a group devoted to both peace and the power of the force. The rebels portrayed as cutthroat murderers, doing what is best for the greater good even if and when it leaves their hands dirty. War is an ugly process in which the good fight is never pure and unsoiled, a point the film emphasizes as it gets deeper into the moral quagmire.

Even with the emotional heft Rogue One can’t escape the calling siren of fan service. A few cameos from characters featured briefly in New Hope come across as distracting and add nothing to the film’s narrative, coming across more as cute than anything. Also at issue is the bizarre decision to depend on a digitized version of Peter Cushing to carry several scenes. That the ersatz Grand Moff Tarkin doesn't come particularly close to bridging the Uncanny Valley (and indeed blinks eerily on a few occasions) points out the uselessness of the endeavor. Director Gareth Edwards and his collection of writers could have worked around Tarkin's existence in a similar fashion as it does with Obi-Wan Kenobi; acknowledging the existence of the character without digging up the corpse from the grave.  

Still, Rogue One saves its strongest stride for the ending, a sizable battle akin to Return of the Jedi in scope and framing. Edwards showcases his solid digital directing skills in rendering a large scale battle. That the film contrasts the gritty Rebellion fighters to the almost pristine ones used by the Empire retains the hint of verisimilitude in this otherwise fantastic universe.

Rogue One is different from the Star Wars films of the past, a bit of a safe experiment by Disney to expand the franchise’s cinematic universe. That the experiment works as well as it does is at least moderately comforting given the plans to add more of these secondary stories in the coming years. Rogue One isn’t perfect, but it at least brings back the desperation and verve (and space battles) that make the best Star Wars so memorable.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 133 minute

Genre: Sci-Fi

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Target audience: Everyone who has ever seen a Star Wars film in the past 40 years, along with their kids.

Take the whole family?: The action gets heavy toward the end, and the film has a pretty nasty cruel streak. Still, the general lack of blood makes this at least tolerable for kids around age 9.

Theater or Netflix?: You're probably going to see it in theaters, so it really depends on how much money you're willing to shell out. The traditional 2D version was solid, so that should suffice for people not willing to pay for the 3D and/or IMAX experience.

How diverse is the casting?: Leagues greater than the original run. Although the main cast remains male dominant, the featured character is female like in Force Awakens, and the secondary characters are a mix of people representing multiple cultures. More notable are the random pilots and soldiers in the Rebellion that offers a broad array of diversity that reflects the necessary unity of the Rebellion's efforts.

Watch this as well?: The best of the series and the one worth rewatching the most frequently is Empire Strikes Back. New Hope, Return of the Jedi, Force Awakens and Revenge of the Sith are all at least watchable.