Well, the Star Wars movies finally have a tropical island planet.
But in addition to fulfilling that wish of mine, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is more than a highly solid entry into the series and one of the highlights of 2016.
Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the previously unheard of architect of the Death Star. For those few unfamiliar, that’s no moon but a space station that eventually becomes powerful enough to blow up whole planets. Dad Erso though is working as more or less a prisoner of Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendolsohn).
Jyn however has evaded the Empire but still causes trouble here and there, until she’s broken out of custody by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) of the Rebel Alliance. Hearing of an Empire defector (Riz Ahmed) in league with her father, they set out to find him and what Galen communicated to him. Along the way they pick up Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) to help in the fight, as well as encounter Saw Gerrerra (Forest Whitaker), the man who took in Jyn as a child.
Probably the worst thing I can say about this picture is that it lacks the opening crawl (i.e. the yellow words scrolling across the screen that detail the backstory). Come on, even Masters of Teras Kasi had that. And speaking of the game side, yes it is a bit of a bummer that this means Kyle Katarn probably won’t ever make it to the big screen (or at least not that part of his story).
Otherwise, it delivers on all fronts. The action is thrilling, the characters are engrossing, the actors are a wonderfully eclectic collection, and despite knowing how it will end – literally where the 1977 film begins – still manages to throw in effective shocks and awes. The CGI here is amazing on a level on par with how the originals were perceived. It really needs to be seen to be believed.
Something interesting is noticing how the story’s time period is taken into account and some of the tech isn’t quite refined yet. The AT-ATs (a.k.a “robot camels”) make an appearance in the climatic battle, but can be destroyed rather easily with a few X-Wing laser blasts. As one might remember, the next time they’re seen (chronologically speaking) in The Empire Strikes Back, they are much more heavily armored and immune to lasers.
Episode VIII will be upon us this time next year, and if the momentum holds strong may very well eclipse this and The Force Awakens. But for now, Rogue One won’t disappoint fans of the franchise or scifi/action in general. The tropical island planet alone is worth the price of admission.
