Guilty Pleasures #43 - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

When Disney bought Star Wars, it was an expensive process, and whilst Merchandise will likely make them everything they paid and more, it’s good to have a few movies to provide new toys to sell, plus they generally make the big bucks. So began a series of spin-offs, a series that may well have ended with the second one. I’ll leave my thoughts on Solo for another time, but let’s resume our look at Star Wars with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Both these spin-off films are notorious for having trouble behind the scenes. Here the film was subject to extensive reshoots under a different director (which if I think of it, sounds identical to the problems Solo had). Disney wasn’t happy with the vision the original director had for it. Still the movie was successful both critically and commercially, making just over $1bn on a $220m budget, and scoring a respectable 85% on rotten Tomatoes. Does it still hold up? Let’s take a look

We start pretty much immediately in the action, as we’re introduced to *sigh* the child actor playing young Jyn… Star Wars is notorious for terrible child acting and this is no exception but like most Star Wars child actors, she’s on screen for 5 seconds before we can forget about her. She’s Jyn Erso, and her father, Galin, is somehow essential in construction of the Death Star.

The Empire, lead by the blandest Star Wars villain ever, Director Krennic, arrive to recruit him, and by arrive I mean they park half a mile away and walk over, giving Galin plenty of time to send his daughter into hiding. His wife is supposed to go too, but she tries to fight and is quickly killed, of course since the Empire don’t find Jyn, they have no leverage to use against Galin so… that was a dumb move.

Jyn is found by… Saw Garrera? I need to go rewatch that Clone Wars story… I have a lot of questions… can’t wait for none of them to be answered, let’s skip ahead a few years.

Jyn is in an Imperial prison because of stupid reasons. Construction of the Death Star is more or less complete and we’re introduced to Cassian, he meets up with an informant who tells him that an Imperial pilot from Galin Erso’s crew defected and is heading to see Saw Garrera, he mentions that the Empire are working on a planet killer. They’re soon caught by an Imperial patrol and because the informant has a broken arm, Cassian shoots him and heads off on his own.

Jyn is being transferred for some reason and the convoy is attacked by rebels. Jyn tries to break away but gets caught by my favourite droid character, K2SO. He is awesome and has more personality than most if not of the humans in the movie. So, Jyn is taken to the Rebel base on Yavin 4. Mon Mothma tells Jyn that they need her to get an opening with Saw. He’s an ‘extremist’ which in many ways would make more sense if we didn’t see Cassian killing an informant in the last scene.

The pilot arrives on Jeddha and is caught by Saw’s forces, Saw has become old, paranoid and barely even functional and the whys and the hows involved in this are never really explained. Saw Garrera was one of the insurgents on Onderan, he was brash and thought he was in charge but ultimately his sister took the role of leader, until the end where she fell to her death. He was always brash, and favoured bolder moves over smaller ones that would keep casualties low, but how he became so paranoid is weird. So the pilot is given to, I’m just gonna call it tentacles because that’s all we see of it with the promise that this would somehow work out whether what he said is true or not, even if it costs him his mind… This seems bizarrely counter-productive

Jyn needs to find her father so the rebels can bring him to the Senate to testify that the weapon exists, which is a solid plan, but Cassian is later told the mission is instead to assassinate him, which is fundamentally stupid. They head to Jeddha, a warzone as Saw’s forces continue to make things difficult for the Empire, who are mining Kyber crystals there. We meet Chirrut, a blind individual who seems to see through the force, I think? He’s has a partner named Baze and if you want to know about the history between the two, too bad, here's a fight scene.

Saw’s men begin ambushing an imperial patrol and Jyn and Cassian are caught in the middle of it. They quickly rejoin K2SO, who tries to sneak them through as a prisoner, but they’re ultimately caught out when K2SO breaks cover. Chirrut and Baze join the fight and ultimately send the Empire packing, with K2SO leaving shortly after, but they’re then surrounded by Saw’s forces. Jyn manages to spare them by referencing her history with Saw, but they’re quickly captured.

So, time to meet our special guest. It’s CGI Govenor Tarkin. I’ll give it this, the CGI is amazing, his likeness is almost fully realised and you do believe that Krennic is talking to someone, and the voice actor Guy Henry does an uncanny impersonation of Peter Cushing… but I can’t deny it’s also very awkward and it doesn’t help that Tarkin appears frequently in the movie.

He wants the Death Star tested, a single reactor ignition on the Holy City, destroying Saw Garrera and any intelligence the defective pilot had. Cassian, Chirrut and Baze are locked up and Jyn is taken to Saw. Apparently, people had begun to work out who she was, and he abandoned her in order to save her or something. They really only act half interested. I guess they don’t want kids being too upset when they inevitably kick the bucket, which rather defeats the purpose but…

The message from the rebel pilot is from Galin himself. Seemingly addressed to Jyn directly for some reason. He knew the Empire would complete the weapon with or without him so made himself indispensable and created a flaw in the Death Star the rebels could exploit, a blast to the reactor mod through a thermal vent will destroy the entire station. But they’re going to need the structural plans for the Death Star to find it. Pity the guy with intimate knowledge of the Death Star didn’t know enough about the Death Star to be able to pinpoint it himself.

Anyway, just as the message is played the Death Star begins its attack, destroying the Holy City and sending a wealth of debris to crush everything around it. Saw says he can run from it no longer, for some reason, and that’s the end of his cameo in the movie. Thanks to Cassian, the others manage to escape and the rescue the pilot in the cell next to him, aside from stuttering a bit, the mental damage appears to minimal.

They meet up with K2SO and fly out just as the stronghold is consumed. Tarkin is happy and says he’ll be taking command of the project, he points out that the defector likely didn’t act alone and came from Galin Erso’s unit.

So, the next stop on our very big galactic tour is plant Edu, the planet where Galin is currently doing nothing because the Death Star is complete. Anyway, the rebels arrive but have to fly low to avoid being spotted, they ultimately crash and need to steal a ship to leave. Cassius goes out to scout with the pilot going with him. Chirrut asks if he seems like a killer, that the force moves darkly around a person who is about to kill. I don’t know enough to say for certain but I’d say that’s bullsh*t. K2SO remarks that his weapon was in sniper configuration, alerting Jyn to the idea that yeah, he’s going to kill his father because of the idiotic secret plan. Jyn heads off, with Chirrut and Baze soon heading off too.

Cassian sends off the pilot to steal a ship as he prepares his sniper rifle, just as he does so, Krennic’s ship descends on the platform. Krennic asks for the guilty to step forward, none do but as all of them are about to be executed, Galin reveals himself, all the others are killed anyway. I don’t know why you didn’t kill Galin, it’s not like you have any use for him.  Anyway, Jyn is climbing up the platform and K2SO warns Cassian that alliance ships are en-route. They arrive and begin bombing the platform. Jyn tries to rescue her father but he’s caught in an explosion and soon dies, of course they have that final chat that no-one who’s ever died from an explosion ever has had. The empire launch TIE Fighters and begin firing their turrets but Baze and Chirrut provide support from overhead that evens the odds.

They soon steal a shuttle and head out, Krennic having somehow survived it. Krennic heads to Mustefar (cripes, seriously) where he meets with Darth Vader, James Earl Jones reprises his role but because it’s been a few years his voice is not identical. Here’s a thing, Mel Blanc’s Bugs Bunny didn’t sound the same in every episode, he’s still the definitive voice of Bugs Bunny, same for Kevin Conroy’s Batman. Trying comparing On Leather Wings to any episode of Justice League he’s in, there’s a difference, and it ain't just the costume. What I’m saying is, it’s James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Death Star has caused some problems. The attack on Jeddha has been explained to the senate as a mining disaster, and now Krennic needs to make sure the weapon isn’t compromised. There’s a joke about choking on aspirations that’s…. I don’t mind it, honestly. Anyway, Jyn tries to confront Cassian but of course the whole thing is kind of ruined because there’s no real consequence to it, and although Cassian mentioned that he lost everything, I don’t know exactly what, because THE REFUSE TO EXPLAIN HIS CHARACTER!

OK, I’ll calm down, we’re about to enter a much better part of the movie anyway. So Jyn tries to persuade the alliance to join her, in a character 180 I haven’t seen since Thorin recovering from Dragon sickness. Shouldn’t she be angry at them for killing her father? No? Moving on… Many are fearful of the weapon and think it best to surrender. You know this speech would work from pretty much anyone other than Jyn. Anyone who dedicated their life to the cause.

Anyway, with the rebel fleet for now out of the question, Cassian has gathered a small group of rebellion mercenaries and they’re going to use the stolen ship to infiltrate Scarrif and recover the plans. The group head out, giving themselves the call sign Rogue One because shut up, it’s a cool title. Thankfully the Empire are too incompetent to have marked the shuttle as stolen so despite some hiccups they manage to land through the hole in the shield barrier. Jyn, Cassian and K2SO are to infiltrate the base whilst the others wreak havoc and draw away imperial attention. An inspection crew comes aboard and they’re soon knocked out, with Jyn and Cassian stealing their uniforms and K2SO coming as himself.

The rebels begin planting explosives on the landing platforms, but as they do so, Krennic arrives, looking for copies of any communications Jyn Erso made. How about just bringing up the Death Star Plans and looking them over? Nah, can’t have that! K2SO manages to get plans for the area from another droid and there’s no way they’re going to get near the data vault if the stormtroopers aren’t occupied.

The rebels detonate their explosives, with the Pilot giving false intel to aid their efforts in scattering the forces. But not it becomes a real fight for the rebels as the Empire is here and in force. This might be one of the strongest showings from the Empire I’ve seen. So, with word spreading the rebels finally send in the fleet, the Empire in return closes the shield gate meaning the rebels get minimal support on the ground. Leading the rebels as Admiral not Ackbar…

That said the space battles in Rogue One are very good, following the style of the original trilogy, rather than the more cluttered battles we’ve been used to since the prequels. With the shield gate cut off, they need to find another way to get the plans out. Jyn and Cassian enter the data vault and begin searching for the plans. But even to transmit them, they need the shield gate offline.

The pilot and a few rebels begin making a plan to make contact with the fleet, but it requires a master switch triggered elsewhere in the compound and the Empire are not giving up. The breach in the data vault is soon detected as K2SO locks the door and defends them from the oncoming attack. Things aren’t getting better for the fleet as shield gate has launched a massive wave of TIE fighters.

They find the file with the Death Star plans, code-named ‘Stardust’ which was Galin’s nickname for Jyn, K2SO highlights it just as he’s shot to bits. And honestly, this is more tragic than anything that’s to come. But they still need to get word out to the alliance, and since they’re locked in they have to climb the data vault to escape. Krennic himself has arrived to stop them.

More stormtroopers have arrived and turn the tide against the rebels on the beach, they’re having trouble with the master switch. Chirrut eventually decides to trust in the force and walk there, much to Baze’s irritation, he activates the switch but is killed soon after. Baze reacts by going nuts and charging the stormtroopers with everything he’s got until he also dies.

The pilot gets a signal through and tells the rebel fleet and Admiral Not Ackbar that they need to take the shield gate offline. Soon after a stormtrooper throws a grenade into the ship and kills him. Admiral Not Ackbar has an idea, they’d used electric bombs to attack a Star Destroyer and power it off. Now a Hammerhead Corvette pushes that Star Destroyer into another so they both crash into the shield gate. It’s a solid plan and a great visual.

Cassian is shot and falls with his fate unclear as of yet (spoiler: he survives) Jyn gets through a level in a video game and manages to get to the satellite to transmit the plans. Unfortunately, we need a bit of last minute tension so she needs to head to a separate platform to reset the alignment, also around this point Governor Tarkin arrives with the Death Star and plans to destroy the facility the way they did with the Holy City.

Jyn resets the alignment of the satellite and heads back but is confronted by Krennic, she tells him everything for some reason before he’s killed by Cassian. They transmit the plans to the ship as the Death Star destroys the base. I wish I could say I cared more, but this movie didn’t make me care enough about these characters.

The rebel fleet are about to leave but their escape is blocked off by reinforcements, headed up by Darth Vader. They detected that the lead ship is the one carrying the plans, which have no been downloaded onto a disk. Vader boards the ship and delivers the best scene in the movie where he easily takes out all the rebels in his path. They managed to get the disk onto another Hammerhead corvette and launch it. The plans are then delivered to Leia, the CGI on Leia is honestly a bit dodgy but we’ve reached the end of the movie now so…

Rogue One is a movie that probably wouldn’t work if we didn’t already have context to everything. It serves as a decent prequel to A New Hope and thanks to serviceable dialogue and stronger action, making it probably the best of the Star Wars prequels.

The problem though is the character work and themes. Cassian and Jyn are underdeveloped and we know next to nothing about any of the other major players other than surface level stuff. Chirrut is blind, Baze is cynical but loyal and the pilot is likely brain damaged after the tentacle stuff.

K2SO oddly demonstrates more personality than any of the human characters, he’s my favourite character in the movie bar none. He’s also one of the few sources of humour in an otherwise pretty dour movie, I guess Vader and C3PO each get a joke so there’s that.

As a war movie that tries to explore moral greys it ultimately doesn’t work, because aside from Cassian shooting an informant at the beginning and ultimately killing Galan, we don’t see the extent of moral bending they’re capable of, that’s supposedly siphoned off to Saw’s band but we see even less of what they do and what classes them as extremists over the other rebels. Star Wars Rebels would try and expand on this but given the limitations of it being aimed at children, it doesn’t offer very much.

There are some nice bits of fan service, Vader’s action scene in particular but pretty much everything is integrated into the plot without it feeling extraneous like it can in some movies. It is shot really nicely with the special effects being solid, for the most part. The space battles in particular look better than they have in ages.

The actual attack on Scarrif is my favourite part of the movie. It was a bit all over the place until this point, but here it stops being a war movie and shares more in common with a heist movie, minus the boring bits. It provides solid action and gives each of our heroes a decent send-off, even if it isn’t the emotional gut-punch the movie intended.

Rating -75%