Here's what you need to know; after years of running from her family's Imperial past, Jyn Erso is finally hunted down by the Rebellion, who have a job for her. Information has surfaced regarding a new weapon the Empire has built, one that can destroy planets, and Jyn's father has suddenly re emerged with a message that could turn the tide of the war. Not knowing who she can trust, Jyn sets out to find her father and unearth the secrets of the Empire's planet killer, before it is used to end the Rebellion completely.
The film opens like a Star Wars film should, with a shot of deep space, following the familiar Long time ago far far way, but with no crawl, instead just a lone ship flying through some planetary rings, a ship belonging to the film's villain, Director Krennic. The intro sequence with the ship and the farm sets things up very nicely, with Jyn's hatred of the Empire being ignited by her mother's murder, and the scene sets up a very juicy concept with Krennic and Galen which we'll get to, as well as a clever visual bigging up of the Death Troopers, as one of them picks up a Stormtrooper doll, the symbolism is pretty clear. Something Rogue One really plays with, which is great to see, is the idea that the Empire is a real threat to the people of the galaxy, Stormtroopers are everywhere in this film, and on occasion the film shows you them searching homes and harassing people on the street. Saw and his crew are terrified of Imperial spies, as if they're literally everywhere, always watching, it's a palpable paranoia. The streets of Jedha are crawling with Stromtroopers, Imperial droids, and Imperial machines like the ATST, not to mention the Destroyer looming over the city, like a very big, very metaphorical oppressive boot. Krennic and Galen meanwhile embody another idea, that being the Banality of Evil; this is something I did a bit of homework on over my multiple recent viewings of the film, and hopefully I've got it right. Krennic and Galen are both with the Empire, an evil, oppressive force looming over the free people of the galaxy, and both are crucial to the development and construction of the Death Star, this is where Banality of Evil comes in. The Death Star is a weapon that can destroy entire planets, the Empire hopes that fear alone is enough to keep the galaxy in line, fear that resistance will be met with the full destructive force of the Empire's own planet killer, peace and order through fear. Krennic sees that as a necessary evil, a vital step in ensuring peace and order in the Galaxy, and he sees the evil of building and using a weapon capable of genocide as justified in pursuit of a greater good; Imperial dominance, and his personal success within the Empire. It doesn't matter how many people die because of the Death Star, they are a necessary sacrifice for the end goal, it needs to be done, for the betterment of the galaxy. Krennic can justify building a planet killer, Galen however cannot; Krennic can put aside his moral reasoning, while Galen sees the tremendous evil in the Death Star, he has retained his moral reasoning, and made the decision to lie to the Empire and deliberately design a flaw in the Death Star, one that could put right what he and Krennic have done. It's this plus his apparent need for recognition in the Empire that makes Krennic such a good villain in my opinion, and his finale is brilliantly poetic, while Galen is an interesting character in his choice to betray the Empire, and again, his finale is interestingly ironic. What's truly scary, and brilliant cinema, is a tiny scene that depicts Galen, Krennic and Lyra drinking socially; hammering home this Banality of Evil idea, when Krennic and Galen aren't building a genocide machine, they're normal people, Krennic isn't a Sith like most Star Wars baddies, he's just a normal person, and someone as casual as that, with no magic powers, being capable of committing such large scale evil, is genuinely frightening.
It's here though that we get into flaws, because even I can admit that this film isn't perfect. Jyn Erso has an interesting backstory; a fugitive who's dad is an Imperial scientist, and who was raised by a terrorist, these elements of the film are somewhat explored, with Jyn pretending Galen is dead, and the first time we see her in a jail cell is arguably symbolic not just of her criminal lifestyle, but of her internal struggle, of her attempts to escape her family's past with the Empire. This metaphorical prison is also played with with Cassian, but unlike Jyn, who has a prologue to set her up, Cassian just has a scene where he says he's been fighting the Empire since he was six. You can gather that the Empire killed his family, but the film never shows it, or tells it. Cassian is supposed to be this heroic figure, who lost something he loved, and decided to do something about it, but with so little development, he can only be judged on his actions in the film, and on that, he's a bit of a dick, I'll get to an interesting idea this applies to later, but Cassian just isn't a terribly interesting character. Neither for that matter is Bodhi; he's an Imperial who, like Galen, decided to make a choice to rebel against the Empire, but apart from that, he isn't much of a character, there's a scene where he is mind raped by a squid thing, and this scene is crap, it's so out of place in the film, it serves no purpose, and it doesn't develop Bodhi, I'll get to the mind raping squid later though. Chirrut is one of the film's better characters, since he's a badass warrior monk, it's just fun to watch him clean house with Stormtroopers, and his character serves a larger purpose; while the rest of the Galaxy has given up believing in hokey religions, Chirrut still hangs onto his belief in the Force, in a bleak, hopeless world, he's a tiny shard of hope, hope that the balance in the Force will one day be restored. This surprising amount of depth spills over to Baze Malbus, a character with a close friendship with Chirrut, that's never really explored. What's interesting about Baze is his perspective on the Force, like the rest of the Galaxy, he's given up believing that the Force can save the day, yet in Chirrut he sees hope, Chirrut even points this out, that Baze, while mocking him for his Force delusions, secretly hopes he's right, secretly hopes that the Force is real, again, it's a surprisingly deep concept, and while Bodhi and Cassian are flat, Baze is a walking tank, he's cooler by default. Meanwhile there's nothing bad to say about K2SO, he's just a cool robot, he says what he wants, when he wants, and while his heart is in the right place, he's very cynical and blunt. He does however have a problem that many characters have, that being a lazy introduction, Cassian, Chirrut and Baze all have this problem, and it's such a tiny niggling fault, that could have been fixed so easily, but instead it's either them or someone else saying their full names, and sometimes even their occupations, with seemingly no context or reason. It would have been so easy to fix, literally as simple as, for example, swapping the word 'Malbus' with 'here', Chirrut asking for Jyn's name before introducing himself, or K2SO apologising for man handling Jyn on Wobani. Instead it's another flaw to these characters, the majority of which are already really lacking in meaningful development, even with the deeper ideas they embody.
Let's get back to the good shit again, and dive into Saw Gerrera. Saw Gerrera plays up one of this film's strongest themes, that being the line between good and evil, and how difficult it is to discern. The phrase 'Heroes of the Empire' is one I can't stop thinking about; since it's true, it opens the idea of if the Empire didn't lose the Death Star, they'd have probably won the war, Krennic's dream of peace though terror would be achieved, Galen would have been a hero, who's baby was used by the Empire to bring peace to the Galaxy, again ignoring the billions killed to get there. The film hints at this ambiguity with Cassian early on, which is a great scene, but this dynamic doesn't really come into its own until you see Saw Gerrera. When Saw shows up, it's pretty unsettling, his metal feet clunk on the floor, his walking is heavily laboured, his voice is strained and wheezy, something that's a bit jarring at first, admittedly, a bit weird. By far the best example is his breathing, as when Bodhi is taken to him, he breathes through a mask, and it's a sound that sends a shudder through Bodhi. The obvious implication kind of parallels Krennic and the Banality of Evil, the rebels have disowned Saw and his gang, seeing them as too fanatical and extreme, he, like the Empire, has a goal, a greater good, and acts of evil are permissible on the road to that good. When you see him, a lot of his body is machine, he has trouble breathing, and is completely paranoid, implying that his fight has been a long and very gruesome one, and at this point he has given up his moral reasoning, he and his crew are terrorists, and as seen on Jedha, they will gladly risk civilian casualties to hurt the Empire. This is, however, where we get back to the mind raping squid thing, that scene that does nothing for the film; as morbid as it sounds, I think this scene should have just been a torture scene. I say this since a torture scene would inherently have been more unpleasant, it would have reinforced the moral ambiguity of the film, since torturing someone is more evil than a squid, and it would have added to Bodhi's character, who's decision to rebel would have been met with cruelty. Really the only reason I can think of is it's too morbid for the younger viewers, but Star Wars has done torture in the past, shit, Kylo Ren tortured Poe in The Force Awakens, so why was the Squid thing even a thing. It would have had the same result from a character and story perspective, but would have added to the film on a deeper level. Cassian's speech before the final Scarif battle further cements this theme, as he admits that he and many of the rebels have done terrible things for the Rebellion, and have told themselves it was for a cause they believed in, weirdly though the scene doesn't stick out all that much, despite that confession being a bit of a big deal, probably since Cassian just isn't a very likable character.
It should be apparent that I like Gareth Edwards' films; I've reviewed all three of them, and am now dissecting his third and latest film. What makes Gareth Edwards's approach to directing so interesting to me is something can't fully determine, but I love him as a director. What worked so well in Godzilla and Monsters is the perspective; despite both films being epic sci fi scenarios, Monsters passes the more conventional sci fi route for a smaller and simpler personal story about two people crossing the exclusion Zone, it's a quiet, personal story, with no action scenes, and only the occasional encounter with an alien, this is perhaps a result of the low budget, guerrilla nature of the production, but it makes the film more special, more unique. Godzilla is considerably more epic, since it's about a Kaiju, but again, that personal story is at the core of the film, and Godzilla's presence is handled in an undeniably interesting way, which is why I describe Godzilla as the Godzilla film I didn't know I wanted. Gareth Edwards makes sure that the focus is clear in his directing, Godzilla, while only having ten minutes of Godzilla, masterfully shows the size and destructive force of him, and effectively conveys that film's most fascinating, almost Lovecraftian concepts. Rogue One is less elegant than Godzilla, but the DNA that made it work is still there, Rogue One's approach to Star Wars is grounded and visceral, the line between good and evil is blurred heavily, neither side has cleans hands, or clean helmets, a clever visual cue. The Force, while still a presence in the film, is kept very subdued, keeping happy and wonderful ideals subdued in the process, and runs in the same vein as the Kaiju in Godzilla, only replacing Lovecraftian horror with a fleeting sense of hope. Perhaps more so than Godzilla or Monsters, Rogue One has fun with the humanity of its characters, not in an emotional sense, but in a sense that they aren't superheroes, and while their efforts are invaluable to the War, it would still be going on without them, ultimately, as you see in the original trilogy, while the Rebels would have lost without them, they're only human, and they are ultimately forgotten in this larger conflict. Again comparing this film to Godzilla, Rogue One is very good at conveying scale; one of my favourite things in the entire film is a single shot in the Scarif battle of an ATAT emerging from smoke, it's a beautiful shot, and it conveys the same sense of wonder and horror that you get in, for example, the Godzilla reveal in the final act of Godzilla, with him emerging from smoke and roared so loudly that it was fucking scary in the IMAX. Speaking of wonder and horror, the Death Star eclipses a sun in this film, if that doesn't convey scale, I don't know what does, and it's symbolic of not just the Station's immense size, but of its ability to cast darkness across the galaxy. The film's depiction of the Empire is also in line with this idea, while it has a planet killing super weapon, it's also an occupying force, it's tyrannical towards the people under its occupation, that's something more personal and invasive than any planet killer, like I said before, nothing sells occupation and oppression of the people like a Star Destroyer hovering directly over the city.
The film obviously has a few big action scenes, all of which are different from each other. First up is the confined, violent confrontation between Saw's gang and the Imperial convoy. This is a great scene, as there's no insane big battle, it's a very contained little skirmish, and unlike most Star Wars battles, it's in a densely populated city, filled with innocent bystanders who, while battling the Empire, Saw has carelessly put at risk. This skirmish also features a tank, which is cool, because tanks are cool. The film further blurs the lines with a bombing run on an Eadu Imperial facility, which, like all bombing runs, and like the skirmish on Jedha, causes collateral damage. The film's big finale comes on the tropical planet Scarif, and is a mix of ground battles on the beaches of the planet, and space battles as a rebel fleet rains hell on the planet's defences. Like Godzilla, the film wisely puts its smarter ideas on hold to let the audience enjoy some action, some very enjoyable action. The ground battle is very entertaining and intense, as the tide is constantly turning, as ATATs get thrown in, followed by X wings, followed by Tie Strikers. Meanwhile a huge ship battle is being waged above the planet, with a rebel fleet facing off against Star Destroyers and the Shield Gate's defences, and Tie Fighters, lots and lots of Tie Fighters. Yet while the film is now prioritising being entertaining over being clever, this is easily the bleakest moment of the film, I mentioned this in my original review, how the film goes a bit Magnificent Seven in its final act, I loved it then, and I still love it now. Something I love even more now is the scenes with Tarkin and Darth Vader; Tarkin's addition in the film was one me and my friends weren't expecting, and what's amazing is how well they did it; since Peter Cushing's been dead for twenty years, we were somewhat stunned to see him back from the dead for Rogue One. The CG is stupidly impressive, but it's still CG, which does mean it looks a bit off, falling nicely into the uncanny valley, it's still worth saying though that this is the best recreation of a deceased actor that I've seen in a film ever, and his scenes are handled in a very tasteful and sensible way, even with the ethical issues of resurrecting dead actors with CG. One character not brought back with CG is Darth Vader, and while one of his two scenes is just ok, the other Vader scene is fantastic; it's possibly the scariest scene in Star Wars movie history, with Vader going after some rebels like a monster from a horror movie, it's possibly even the best scene in the film, and it's awesome.
I appreciate that Rogue One is not perfect, easily the biggest flaw is its characters, and the issue the film has with developing them. But by the final battle, those issues become negligible, when so much else about this film works. Gareth Edwards knows how to direct a film, and Rogue One is not an exception to his rule, it very effectively encapsulates it's more meaningful ideas, provides an interesting new way to look at things like the Rebellion and the Force, and has some seriously kickass action scenes, top that off with a bold and intense ending, and you have Rogue One; a film that is still my favourite film of last year, and is still a must watch. On a side note, I hope my old media teacher is reading, I reckon this very long, analytical review would be something she'd appreciate.
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