(SPOILERS)
I saw “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” directed by Gareth Edwards twice now to get a clearer opinion and I think the only way for me to fully get my thoughts down about it accurately and truthfully is to go deep into spoilers. Beware if you haven’t seen the film about these rebels stealing the Death Star plans.
There are a few things in “Rogue One” that bothered me. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big Star Wars fan. I can probably tell you what race Greedo is. Ya. I’m that guy. But with being a Star Wars fan-I am a movie fan first. And a good movie overpowers a Star Wars movie. In this Star Wars movie I’ll start out mentioning the two CGI faces that I wasn’t all that impressed with. The first one we see was of Grand Moff Tarkin speaking with Director Krennic. Seeing Peter Cushing’s face on someone else really took me out of the movie. Cushing died in 1994 and that makes it more distracting. No matter what you do to a character’s face with CGI, if the actor is dead, it will always look fake. Was the CGI good? Yes. Was it convincing? No. Good effort though.
The first two acts were blurred into one. It was a bit dry and I fell asleep during the second act when I watched this film the second time. A lot of moving around from different planets, which got me distracted from the main plot of the film. I would have preferred a more direct and linear approach by following Jyn Erso and Captain Cassian Andor on their mission only. They would have their team from the beginning. This way, we would be more invested in Jyn’s mission and her friendships with all of the soldiers around her. “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) does a really good job with this. This other route they went was really boring. I never thought I would fall asleep during a Star Wars film in the theater. I saw the film already, so I knew what was going to happen, but I didn’t care enough to stay awake for it. I jolted myself awake when they get to Scarif. Don’t fall asleep during that fight. It’s worth staying awake for.
I loved the third act of this film as it brings our heroes, villains, and weaponry to the same place on Scarif. Rebels verses Imperials at its finest. Stormtroopers get blown up, blaster fire goes in every direction, the Rebel fleet meets two star destroyers, Scarif troopers throw grenades, AT-ACTs stampede, and the Death Troopers get dropped into the midst of the firefight and cause some heavy damage. Smoke rises, ships crash, bodies fall, everything I wanted in a Star Wars “war” film. This film definitely delivered on that front.
My biggest gripe about this film is it gives us location subtitles. I hate these whenever they come on screen. This is just me, but I feel that it really undermines the audience’s intelligence by reminding us where we are in the movie. First it was Eadu, then Jedha, then Yavin 4, and finally Scarif! There was that planet that Galen Erso gets caught on and the comet station where we first meet Captain Cassian Andor. I didn’t care about those places, hence I can’t remember. I always get taken out of the movie with these things, and what’s worse is we have never seen these in any other Star Wars film. They don’t belong there.
The best part of this film for me was Darth Vader slicing up rebels, berserker style. When Vader’s lightsaber lit up, he proved to us (the audience) that he is the scariest and most destructive living being in the galaxy. He uses every single force power to take out a dozen troops. Force throw, force pull, and a ton of lightsaber moves. This was not Anikan. This was Vader at his roughest and deadliest. The entire movie could have sucked, and this scene alone would save it from a negative review. I would have preferred seeing more Vader in a more key role such as Tarkin was.
I like the movie, but I won’t give it anything more than that. For me to have loved this film would to take out the location subtitles, give more back story to its characters, give me an opening crawl, compose a more memorable score with a melody, less side characters, moving Easter eggs around (R2-D2 and C-3P0 show up randomly for no reason), and more Vader in a plot driven scene. Again, let me reiterate that I liked the movie, but I (as in we) need to like good movies and expect it from Star Wars. I wanted to “love” this chapter of the saga, but I wouldn’t be honest with myself if I said otherwise. So looking forward to “Episode VIII” next year.
Diego Luna (L) and Felicity Jones (C) in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
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