With The Rise Of Skywalker on the way in December I decided to do retrospectives on each of the films. I am going in the order of the story which means we’re continuing on with Rogue One. Coming out in 2016, Rogue One was not only the first of the Disney Spin-Offs but was actually the first live action Spin-Off to hit theaters. It promised to feature a more adult themed Star Wars film by being something more of a war film than any of the previous films. Did that work for them? Well let’s look back together and find out.
In the opening to this film we get to see a young Jyn Erso run away from her home while her parents face down Director Krennic. Ben Mendelsohn plays Krennic and he’s incredible in the role. I personally don’t think he gets enough credit for it, the same way that Krennic doesn’t get enough credit in the film. Mads Mikkelsen plays Galen Erso, Jyn’s father. He doesn’t get a whole lot of Screen Time but he makes up for it playing Galen with a quiet resolve. Jyn gets away and is raised by Saw Gerrera, A rebel leader.
We do a time jump and see that Jyn is in an imperial prison. You never really find out exactly what gets her there but you do hear about her stealing imperial weapons. It’s after this that we’re introduced to Cassian Andor. Cassian’s an interesting character because of the fact that he’s fighting for the Rebellion but there’s a lot of gray areas for him when it comes to collateral damage. This is shown pretty clearly when he kills his informant to cover his tracks after the imperials find him. I’m very split on this but if it was any actor besides Diego Luna than I probably would’ve just hated it but fortunately, Luna plays this part incredibly well. The next time we see Cassian, he’s breaking Jyn out of an Imperial Transport. When he takes her back to Yavin 4, she’s told that they need her to help them get to Saw Gerrera because he currently has an Imperial Defector held captive and the Defector has a Message from Galen. The Rebels have only heard rumors of the Death Star at this point and they’re trying to find out what’s true, what isn’t and how it can be stopped. So their plan is to get the location of Galen from the pilot and then extract him for Information.
Jyn and Cassian head to Jedha but not before General Draven makes sure to tell Cassian that extracting Galen isn’t the mission but taking him out is. This is where me and the movie struggle. Why take out Galen? I understand the whole “Who knows what he’s creating for the empire” But honestly, even if he was imperial…then he has no place to go but down following the construction of the Death Star. K-2SO is Cassian’s first mate, he’s a reprogrammed Imperial Droid and he’s probably the best character of the film. He’s got a wit that only Alan Tudyk could pull off and he has an incredible amount of heart for being a droid.
We then see the Imperial Pilot, Bodhi Rook. He’s been sent by Galen to give a message to Saw and Saw doesn’t believe him because he’s the worst and he thinks that everybody has turned against him. He has this threatening scene that you can barely understand because Forest Whitaker is doing a really weird accent with this performance. That being said we do get to see that Saw is a broken man, he’s got 2 robotic legs and uses a breathing mask. It never really explains how he became this way but if you know anything about Saw then these injuries make sense. Saw’s a man who wants a fight so bad that he’ll look for them wherever he can find one. He also is so paranoid that he’s willing to use the ridiculous tentacle monster against Bodhi just to make sure that he’s telling the truth.
When Jyn and Cassian get to Jedha City they run into two men, Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus. Chirrut is a blind man who is a devout believer in the force. He’s not a wielder but he still trusts in it deeply. Baze is basically his muscle cause he carries this massive blaster that’s basically a gatling gun. I love both of them for just being great characters but I also love that they’re called The Guardians Of The Whills. It’s an old callback to what The Force was called originally in the early screenplays by Lucas and it’s a fun nod for fans. Plus, Jedha itself looks awesome. It’s an old planet that is full of giant Jedi statues that have fallen down or been brought down by the empire. They also mention that they’re taking out the Kyber crystals from all of the old temples to power the Death Star which is why Jedha is under Imperial Control.
Saw’s militia attacks the imperials in the city streets and Jyn and Cassian are caught in the middle of it. The lack of music in this scene is one of my favorite parts because it has a very tense build up and then blasters start going off and it’s just great. There’s a great scene that shows Jyn saving a little girl in the middle of the fight which I really enjoyed because Jyn is very clearly the moral backbone of this film. So it just solidified that for me. After the inital fight, K-2 shows up and after they get held up by an imperial check point. Chirrut comes out and defends them. It’s a great scene cause we really get to see Donnie Yen in his element. He’s an exceptional actor and martial artist and I was glad we got to see both sides of that in this film with him. After he just takes out an entire squad, another comes through and Baze covers him. It’s a great moment for the two of them because they keep bickering during it and the following scenes.
Jyn and everyone else get taken in by Saw’s militia and this is when we learn more about why Jyn has mixed feelings about Saw as a whole. He left her a few years back because people were starting to figure out that she was Galen’s daughter. Cassian and the rest are imprisoned and this is where the group meets Bodhi Rook. Bodhi is messed up following the ridiculous tentacle monster cause supposedly the tentacle monster makes you lose your mind. We don’t really see this from Bodhi beyond a little bit of Stuttering and not being able to remember things that well, kinda makes me wonder if that scene was even relevant. Hmm, just like the rest of Saw’s scenes…
Anyways right after that, we get to see Galen’s message to Saw and Jyn. Galen reveals that he’s been playing the empire the entire time and set up the weakness in it that no one would ever see. Mads Mikkelsen and Felicity Jones both do an amazing job of carrying the emotional weight of this scene even though one of them is a hologram. Jones’ reactions to seeing her father for the first time since she was a child is one of the stronger scenes of the film. It’s followed by us seeing the first test of the Death Star. It’s epic in scale but naturally it’s incredibly sad. The Entire city of Jedha is destroyed and now the shockwave is coming for our group. Flies in with the U-Wing and saw implores Jyn to go out and fight the empire. The narrow escape from Jedha is another great sequence.
It’s at this point that I feel like I should mention the imperials. Krennic is still just great because he’s trying so hard to be relevant and Grand Moff Tarkin has come into the story. Tarkin is pretty great because they used CGI to basically bring Peter Cushing back from the dead. Typically, I would hate this but I actually loved this aspect of it. It was done in a very tasteful way and did more to honor his role as the character. If you ever get a chance, check out the behind the scenes video here. It’s got some great info on not only rogue one but on CGI in general. Now I know you’re probably thinking back to : “But Vance hated CGI Yoda in the prequels.” Well, I didn’t mind him in II and III because they actually allowed him to emote. I absolutely minded him in I because he wasn’t originally CGI. I enjoy CGI when it’s done well and I love practical effects. When they can come together to create new worlds is when it’s my favorite.
We follow up from here with Eadu. Jyn and the crew are heading there to find Galen while Krennic is heading there to kill him and his team for Galen sending Bodhi out with the message for Saw. They crash on Eadu and Cassian and Bodhi go out to find Galen. Cassian has the orders to kill him but he refuses at the last second. Jyn gets to the Platform right as the Rebels start attacking. I always Love seeing X-WIngs, they’re genuinely my favorite starfighter. They start attacking and Chirrut and Baze are following Jyn and trying to keep her safe. It’s a very exciting scene but it ends in heartbreak like most of this movie because Galen dies right as Jyn gets to him. Cassian gets her away and K-2 and Bodhi found an imperial ship for them to take since the U-Wing was too damaged. When they leave the the planet is a scene that I’m still not sure how I feel about. On one hand, I like Cassian but I still feel like he’s wrong here. On the other hand, Comparing Cassian to a stormtropper was a pretty low blow for Jyn. That being said, the more I think about this scene, Jyn’s not really wrong.
Following this is a fan service scene where we get to see Darth Vader’s castle and we get to see him Force Choke Krennic to intimidate him. Is it necessary? Probably not. Did I love every second of it? Yep. Does Vader have a sick castle? YEAH HE HAS A SICK CASTLE! OVER A LAVA WATERFALL EVEN!
Now we get to the other Rebellion Leaders and they all basically suck except for Admiral Raddus, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa. Everyone else, pretty much the worst. They all deny Jyn except for the three I mentioned and they all basically just want to go back into hiding or even surrendering. They’re all so stupid which is why Jyn’s speech is so important. “Rebellion’s are built on Hope.” She says, repeating Cassian’s words from earlier. Jyn wants to go to Scarif to get the death star plans but they refuse to allow it. It’s really weird to think that here they’re all angry at each other yet, in like a week’s time they’re going to blow up the death star and have a medal ceremony for Luke and Han.
The last hour of this movie is the best part. Jyn walks out to an entire group of people that are basically prepared to go by themselves. They’re all willing to follow her because she’s a natural leader. There’s nothing else for her than to finish out her Father’s legacy here. They take the imperial ship they stole from Eadu and call themselves Rogue One. They go to Scarif and their plan is to cause multiple distractions on the various platforms of the island while Jyn, Cassian and K-2SO head into the data tower and steal the plans. When the fighting starts, the rebellion realizes what has happened and Admiral Raddus has already left with his fleet which I think is hilarious. He was already leaving by the time they were finding out about it. The rebellion gets there and they’re able to send in a few ships before the planet wide shield gets brought back up and now the rebels have some Air Cover. The battle looks to be going well until more imperials show up. The rebellion is alive but the empire is too powerful for them right now. They succeed in getting the plans but K-2SO dies while protecting them. Chirrut has his final moment here when, while pinned down by Death Troopers he calmly walks across and hits the switch which allows them to communicate with the fleet. He’s killed at this point though and Baze runs out to him. Baze holds him and responds with the words that Chirrut has been saying the entire film. “I am one with the force, the force with me.” He then gets up and keeps repeating them while mowing down death troopers and Stormtroopers. It’s a great finale for him and Jiang Wen kills this scene before his character finally dies while looking back at Chirrut’s body. Bodhi’s death is the only one that really upset me because he doesn’t even get anything more than just a random grenade. I mean, it makes sense but still. I think he deserved better. He is able to complete his mission though and is able to communicate with the fleet beforehand. Cassian and Jyn head to the top of the tower and send the plans to the fleet. Jyn confronts Krennic beforehand and tells him the truth about who she is and that her father will now have his Final Revenge against the empire. Cassian shoots Krennic and leaves him there before heading down to the beach with Jyn. Tarkin has moved in with the Death Star and intends to use it to kill Krennic. The irony of him killing Krennic, who now knows that there is a flaw in the Death Star, is one of my favorite parts of this entire film. It makes Tarkin’s overconfidence in A New Hope even better. Jyn and Cassian sit on the beach while they wait for the Death Star blast to take them. Cassian tells her that her father would be proud of her. It’s a tragically beautiful moment and it works really well for these characters.
The final scene of Vader chasing after the Death Star plans and just destroying the troopers while always be one of the most epic and terrifying moments of the series. It’s so well done with the lighting of the hallway and everything. Plus I love that shot of him just standing there staring at the Tantive IV as it flies away. We then end with Leia being asked what they were given with those plans and she simply says Hope.
I used to not like Rogue One as much but I liked it a lot more during this viewing. It’s a very sad film because you know that all of your primary characters are going to die at the end but it’s still a great film overall and it ends on a good note because if the film does one thing well, it’s set up the Rebel Alliance for absolutely needing Luke, Leia and Han.
4 Times Where This Movie Tries Too Hard.
As I said, I do like this movie more now but I still think there are areas where it tries to hard with the war theme.
Draven’s Stupid Orders
It does not make sense to kill Galen Erso. It just doesn’t especially when you have multiple sources saying that he isn’t an actual imperial. Plus, why not extract him for information like you originally planned to do.
Cassian attempting to follow those stupid orders
I mean, I get that he’s the soldier and I get that he changes his mind but still. Plus, Jyn is absolutely correct about him when she says “You can’t talk your way out of this one.”
The Bor Gullet
I mean, it’s just ridiculous. There’s no defending it. Plus it doesn’t even have an actual effect on the movie as a whole! But it wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for…
Saw Gerrera
I love Forest Whitaker but Saw is just a useless character. He really serves no purpose besides being another “Hmm, is he a hero or a villain?” Style Character but at the same time, he’s one who does absolutely nothing for the story as a whole. I really just hate Saw’s character personally. But fortunately he won’t make a comeback in any of the shows or the games or anything…oh no!!
