Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring:Â Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Donnie Yen, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed
Rating: 12A
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Release Date: 15/12/16
I didn’t grow up with Star Wars. I came to it late, drawn in by the nostalgia of the Star Tours ride at Disneyland Paris and subsequently flawed by The Force Awakens, my first true induction into the now Disney-owned universe. Thus, I must say, I’m a relatively recent convert to this cinematic world.
I blissfully sat through TFA this time last year and soaked up every second, cheering the female lead and black hero, whilst not giving a damn about its similarities to A New Hope. It was a film seemingly made for people like me who didn’t really get into that universe before hand when, of course, it was far more for a new generation of young children to look up and see themselves represented on the big screen.
So here’s Rogue One, the second female lead in a row and a cast of diverse characters, helping to continue the franchise’s path into reforming the cinematic landscape as it did decades before.
2016 will go down in history as a pretty terrible year but on the small screen and on the big, films like Rogue One, Arrival and Zootropolis (amongst others) will be remembered as coming during a particularly turbulent time and taking a stand.
This new chapter (or previously unpublished preface) isn’t perfect and it doesn’t fill me with as much joy as TFA but it has the spectacle, the guts and the strength of its message to make it into a thrilling new addition.
Though the thing people may take away from it most is its message of unfaltering hope yet, at its heart, it’s a full bloodied war film in a rich, fascinating universe.
I constantly found myself enjoying the scenery, perusing the screen for detail and colourful species. The franchise has these moments down pat as it builds a universe more lived in than any previous instalment and with Edwards at the helm, there are touches of humanity in every nook and cranny.
Many have said that the film’s weakest points are its characters yet when you consider that Boba Fett was previously held on a high pedestal for doing far less, it’s less of a worry.
Don’t give it much thought, this is a movie with a cinematic grandeur so many blockbusters lack and a sense of scale and depth that has been sorely missing from the last few years of summer tentpoles
It’s grungy, down and dirty sensibilities give it style, whilst its eclectic characters are as part of the world as its Hans and Darths. It’s the sort of movie that you may find plenty of things to dislike yet with all the cynicism in the world it’ll leave you enriched.
Felicity Jones is terrific, showing the resilience needed to fit into this world and the strength of her convictions. She leads her gang of rebels from exciting set piece to exciting set piece, with the likes of Diego Luna and Donnie Yen getting the lion’s share of the development.
Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO is a comedic joy, like Guardian’s Drax and I-Robots Sonny mixed together. Though the biggest laugh may go to Yen, he’s the comedy sidekick to rival Moana’s dumb chicken Hei-Hei.
All others, Mikkelson, Whitaker, Ahmed all flesh out the good guys with great new characters.
Over to the bad guys and Ben Mendelsohn is a delightful, snarling cloak wearer who acts the occasionally lacking script into shape. Yet, it’s the return of fan favourites that make their mark the most.
As advertised, Darth Vader returns for some key scenes and is duely back to be terrifying. The second of his big scenes, involving a corridor and a broken door is easily one of the new iconic moments the franchise is spawning at every opportunity.
For me, however, the resurrection of a deceased legend before our eyes, using the majesty of CGI, is a truly jaw-dropping moment. I won’t give it away but the use of the same technology that de-aged Robert Downey Jr in Civil War is used to wonderful effect.
Whilst it still needs work, I don’t doubt that in ten years we won’t need to recast characters, we can just bring them back.
However, this is a franchise that uses practical effects at every opportunity and in the bigger set pieces the effects work only adds to it.
Technically this is perhaps more impressive than the gorgeous cinematography of TFA, recreating the pre-A New Hope era with gritty realism.
Sustained by Michael Giacchino’s lovely John Williams homaging score and there’s little technically to sniff at.
The only flaws that can be called attention to are in its writing as the set-piece jaunts do feel methodical at times. Yet, as the third act picks up to a roaring primal scream of a finale, jaw-dropping moment after jaw-dropping moment topple before you, bringing the film to a devastating yet appropriately fist punching conclusion.
Don’t worry, there are still stakes here, though you may see the final outcome coming it doesn’t take anything away from the film as a whole.
Rogue One is every bit the legendary tale you were promised in the opening scrawl of the 1977 classic and it’s a worthy addition to a franchise that has optimism in spades and isn’t about to let the bad guys win.
Verdict
