Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Studio: Disney
Directed by Gareth Edwards

Dec 13, 2016 By Shawn Hazelett Web Exclusive

History tends to be clean in hindsight. With realized idealism and subsequent idolatry, you can almost forgive certain historians for painting events like the American Revolution with the kind of moralistic broad strokes you might expect from a Star Wars movie. Of course, reality often deviates from the overarching narrative of history. People on the right side of history can lack heroic upbringings or station, and even heroes are capable of weakness, opportunism, and treachery. Rogue One reminds us that Star Wars began with that kind of ambiguity as well.

Jyn Erso has nothing going for her. A career criminal that’s constantly under custody by the Empire, she’s not exactly a favorite within the rebellion, as her scientist father is a key engineer of the Death Star. However, the rebels spring her from custody because they have a use for her—it’s believed that her former caregiver Saw Gerrera (an extremist even on the spectrum of the rebellion) received a transmission from the nearly-completed Death Star. Though she and Saw had a falling out, she agrees to meet him in exchange for her freedom. Accompanied by Cassian Andor (a deadly rebel who’s been fighting since he was six and is immune to human empathy) they set off to a city that almost resembles Aleppo—between stormtroopers, rebels, and street thugs, you almost don’t know who’s fighting who. She eventually finds Saw who relays a hologram message from her father. Yes, he’s been working on the Death Star, but there’s a catch: he embedded a weakness within the design and the rebels need only capture the plans to blow the thing out of the sky.

Except, no one in the rebellion believes her story. Why would they? She’s never fought for anything, much less something with the stakes of a rebellion. Even if true, her story is predicated on the word of an Imperial scientist. The only ones willing to have faith in a career criminal are the rebel hitman, a reprogrammed Imperial droid, a captured Imperial pilot, and a blind Jedi, all of whom are shouldered with the responsibility of saving the galaxy.

Out of the now five released Star Wars prequels, sequels, and spinoffs, only Rogue One is worthy of standing alongside the original trilogy. Not only in terms of quality, but in creativity, imagination, and inspiration. Most of all, it comes closest in capturing the spirit and nuance of that initial, romantic idea that pitted a ragtag group of misfits against a seemingly unstoppable Empire. Director Gareth Edwards builds from the inside out, holding off on the glitz of the macro space odyssey for characters who have dirt under their fingernails and wavering paths and moral compasses. We know the ending going in, but the film maintains an air of uncertainty that’s been abandoned since the original trilogy. That might be the best achievement by screenwriters Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) and Chris Weitz (About a Boy), who mostly avoid the lazy referentiality of JJ Abrams, but use just enough to effectively frame their own clever ideas, which are many.

The beauty of Rogue One, much like last year’s Creed, is how the filmmakers are true to the parameters of the franchise, but are ultimately unafraid to make this film their own. That even extends to the casting. Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, and Riz Ahmed may not be A-listers yet, but are recognizable faces with untapped potential. Like Hamill, Fisher, and Ford before them, they don’t shrink under the weight of the moment—they feel loose and spontaneous and starry-eyed. Like their characters, they know the future isn’t promised and regard this as their opportunity to prove their worth. The resulting characters are so admirable, funny, imperfect, and virtuous that you don’t want the film to end. Rogue One is the most exciting and surprising film of the year.

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