For a long, long time, Star Wars has not been focused on war. It has instead been about the rise and fall of single family, its flirtation with “evil”, and how the war has affected their lives. Rogue One is the first film in the Star Wars universe to actually live up to the name. Or at least, the vision that it conjures.
This film takes place some time after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and before Episode IV: A New Hope. Throughout the film, it gives you hints as to exactly when, but I will leave that for the viewer to determine. The story follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), the daughter of the chief engineer and designer of the Death Star, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). The father Galen, having a crisis of humanity escapes the empire before finishing the battle sphere, and takes his family into hiding. Orson Krennick (Ben Mendelsohn), the Director of Advanced Weapons Research, finds and forces Galen to return to the Death Star to complete it. Galen, fearing for his family, sends his young six year old daughter Jyn further into hiding and entrusts her to a rebel leader, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). 15 years pass, and through a series of events, she meets Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and is co-opted into the rebel cause.
What stands out about this film is that it is nothing like a traditional Star Wars film. It is a World War II film within the Star Wars universe. And I don’t want you to think I am saying this lightly, it is very much a war story. It reminded me of films like Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Battle of Algiers. Like the aforementioned films, while the atmosphere is similar to WWII, Rogue One’s skirmishes rely on imagery outside of just a single war. From the jungles, mountains, and shores of Southern Asia, to the tight alleys and paths of North African or Middle Eastern cities, we are pulled into a world where all of our history’s greatest wars play out in front of us. With lasers. Even the characters are representations of this, as each one has their own accent coming from every part of our world. But, while the battles are large, it sticks to the intimacies of teamwork in the trenches and the importance of a single mission in turning the tide of war.
Gareth Edwards put together two other films preceding this, Godzilla and Monsters. Both films have characters in a world against very real, oversized odds. Rogue One is finally the well oiled machine I think he set out to create with his previous two films. The characters are real, raw, and streamlined. The multi-cultural cast and strong female lead was much appreciated, promoting even further the WWII theme, as well as strengthening science fiction’s brand of equality and unity.
However, as a fan of Star Wars, I didn’t particularly like this direction. The gritty realism laid to waste the fantasy that I come to see when I watch Star Wars. Despite mostly having to do with the Skywalkers in every iteration, I found myself longing for a little magic. I get it, it takes place after all the Jedi-wizards have been put to death and only the Sith-warlocks remain. But there has to be more magic in Star Wars than just Jedi, right?
Either way, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was an excellent film. The story, themes, acting, and design were fantastic. The music was spot on and everything wrapped up and edited to perfection. The script was witty without ever forsaking the tone. Maybe it was finally able to achieve all of this by doing what no other Star Wars film has done and create a real war. This battle wasn’t fought by using magic wands or waving hands, but by the mettle of its soldiers.
