Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

[A Review]

Who could've ever predicted that the eventual result of Gareth Edward's absurdly ambitious undertaking to tell the story of those rebels and sympathizers who died obtaining the plans to the first Death Star would be a complete and utter success? The kind of success, even, that makes Rogue One integrate into pre-New Hope canon seamlessly, flawlessly, and essentially, much like a key in a lock?

Perhaps not many. But folks, he - without a doubt - has. Every single shot of R1 oozes - bleeds - passion, fandom, attention to detail, and a thoughtful, conscious, deliberate integration of the story's theme (rebellion being built on hope) with its plot (rebels finding the hope in themselves and in one another to rebel in a proactive, meaningful, purposeful, goal-oriented way) - the most difficult endeavor an artist can endure, but by far the most rewarding, should he succeed. 

From its unorthodox, jarring introduction with no opening crawl to its final climactic star ship battle, Rogue One is Edwards' modern space opera magnum opus. Hyperbole may be a common tool of writers from my generation, but this kind of cinematic assessment is as objective as one could possibly make it, within the context of being a non-omniscient human being. 

The visual effects are stunningly on point, while the character development, transitions, storytelling, and motivations are crystal clear, visceral, logical, cowboy, and at the same time, nostalgic - in a phrase: all of the things a Star Wars movie should be, even to the point of retroactively polishing off unanswered questions with gorgeously brilliant and simple, almost obvious answers. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

In a word, Rogue One is - for any and all viewers - transcendent. For lovers of movies, it's spectacular. For lovers of science fiction, it's incendiary. But for lovers of Star Wars, it's downright ethereal. 

From its production value (predictably superlative) to its characters (charming, vulnerable, sympathetic, tough) to its art direction (sleek, dirty, timely, and surprising all at once), Rogue feels just like the Star Wars so many of us have been wishing for since the largely disappointing and overly political prequel trilogy. 

Our heroine, Jyn Erso (the daughter of Imperial scientist Galen Erso, who designed the first Death Star) is brought to living, breathing fruition by Felicity Jones with a wisdom, panache, and openness that few Hollywood actresses of her age pull off today; indeed, Jones carries the bulk of the film's personal dramatic weight in a seemingly effortless performance which, by all accounts, makes us care, and isn't that the entire point of an actor's talent? Her role as Jyn constitutes an undoubtedly impressive feat, by any measure, for anchoring the largest movie franchise in existence. Yes, Jyn is a tough nut to crack, but moments of tender lamentation humanize her without wallowing in self-pity or killing the momentum of the story.

Our supporting characters, including Cassian Andor (flawlessly portrayed by the handsome-as-ever Diego Luna, aging like a fine wine), Bodhi Rook (the mouthwateringly exotic Riz Ahmed), and most notably, the charmingly bitchy K-2SO (Alan Tudyk in his most thoughtful, most attentive, most focused performance to date) all complement Jyn as the ideal - though unlikely, at first - supportive band of rag-tag misfits out to (you guessed it) save the galaxy. In many ways, K-2 steals each of his scenes, and he could even be regarded as the (I'm going there) anti-Jar Jar - as in actually being funny, contributing to the plot in doing so, having superior comedic timing, and adding just enough humor to the story to keep it light, sans detraction or excessive attention whoring. 

Conversely, Ben Mendelsohn delivers the ideally downplayed, suitably venomous upstart Director Orson Krennic, one of the baddies in charge of overseeing the Death Star's construction. Mendelsohn, as usual, fully fleshes out his character - this time, in the most sleazy, conniving, manipulative little mannerisms which fuse into a threatening villain who doesn't steal any of the spotlight away from Vader (then again, who could?) while still making you hate him - all in all, a fantastic performance. 

Vader makes a few appearances, all of which are handled with a subtle wisdom and a self-aware mythology that make his prequel appearances - to be kind - bantha fodder, but it is Vader's very last appearance in R1 that shines like the most dazzling skyscrapers of Coruscant.  

Naturally, what would a Star Wars film be without an epic starship battle over some hotly contested planet/moon/celestial body at its resolution? The Battle of Scarif, in the third act, which serves as the fitting climax to this epic space opera prequel, is - to put it mildly - the greatest starship battle ever put to the silver screen. Topping even A New Hope, Return of The Jedi, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek Beyond in both scope and grandeur - as well as in its production design - Rogue One's climactic battle over the tropical paradise gives a sci-fi geek everything s/he could hope for in terms of pew-pews and ka-booms, quite likely resulting in the majority of true geeks declaring that they "literally can't even". 

If any negative aspects to Rogue had to be pointed out, some shockingly one-dimensional archetypes make themselves apparent in the forms of Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang), the wise old blind mystic swordsman repeating his mantra and the loyal sidekick who defends him, respectively. The fault lies, not in the actors themselves (who have unquestionably poured their souls into their work, both physically and emotionally), but with those who wrote the characters. Donnie and Wen do so well, in fact, that it seems they portray substantive characters where no substance was written. 

But I digress. All in all, this reviewer, without question, "literally couldn't even" when he exited the theater, overwhelmed by the pride, awe, and childlike wonder that only the science fiction genre (and in this case, Star Wars, specifically) could produce. From Wobani to Jedha and from Eadu to Scarif, Rogue One is a nostalgic, thoughtful, magnificent modern space opera masterpiece with lovable characters, breathtaking production design, and a cohesive, purposeful, and meaningful story that everyone should see theatrically before they die.

FINAL SCORE: 97 / 100